Red Asphalt Interview

Last week we showed off screens and video for Interplay's upcoming driver/shooter Red Asphalt. Today, an in-depth Q&A with RA's producer, Chris Parker.

GS News: The game was originally intended as Rock N Roll Racing 2. Why did that change? Parker: The original idea was to make a sequel to the widely popular Rock N Roll Racing. But as the design of the game formed up and we decided to go with a first-person 3-D engine rather than the original's isometric view, we essentially decided to abandon the old Rock N Roll 'style' for an all new and different Rock N Roll. Sometime after that the story was written and it was just a bit too different to be an official sequel, and so eventually the name changed. Its still Rock N Roll in spirit - that's what we call it in-house - and we refer to ourselves as the Team Rock N Roll. GS News: How is the game different in theme and gameplay?Parker: The basics of the game are still the same. You choose a character and advance through several worlds with different tracks. Throughout the course of the game, you win money, which allows you to buy new cars, upgrade your current car, etc. The actual gameplay is a mix of racing and combat, you either win by going faster or by blowing your opponent off the track. The differences are quite numerous. The game is 3-D, so that changes all the gameplay parameters, from basic control to your tactics. Since the hardware is so much more advanced, the look of the game is a lot better, with tons of different effects, styles and geometry. We have also done a lot of work to make the game very fast. It is running at 30 fps almost 100 percent of the time, and you literally feel like you're flying through the tracks sometimes - whereas RnRR gave you a bit more time to think. On top of all that, there are six different cars (only four in RnRR), six characters (there might have been more in RnRR), and more upgrades.

Stylistically, you are going to find Red Asphalt is totally different from Rock N Roll. We implemented a side story to go with the game, which is told through FMV. The tone is dark, and the humor is dry, and on the whole it's extremely cool. The narrator for the game is Mike Haley, who was also the voice of Maxx (if you remember that MTV animated series), and our movies are not unlike that. The graphic look of the tracks is pretty much whatever we thought looked interesting and fit within certain themes: city (LA), lava/fire/rock (hell), futuristic (neo), mountains/greenery/ancient civilization (cloud). GS News: How would you describe the game to someone who'd never seen Rock N Roll Racing?Parker: It's a combat racing game in which you choose a character and then race through multiple worlds. Throughout the game you collect cash for upgrades and experience points for your character. You spend these to better your equipment and your character. It's got a cool side story. But basically, it's just a fun game. GS News: What's the story on how the game came together? I understand it was being worked on out-of-house at one point. Why did it go internal?Parker: We had a number of problems both internally and externally. I can't really talk about it too much except to say that the relationship between the developer and Interplay wasn't working. Neither of us was happy with what was being done, and so eventually it was brought in-house. GS News: What sort of soundtrack have you put together for the game? Any popular tracks?Parker: The soundtrack is primarily industrial with some techno accents. The music was done both in-house and out-of-house via Interplay's audio department, and is really good - but doesn't include any 'known' music. There are ten tracks. GS News: Will it have an announcer a la Rock N Roll Racing?Parker: No. There is a reasonable amount of voice-over, but it's primarily in the form of taunts and screams. GS News: How many different weapons and option combinations can you have for each car?Parker: Each car has a set offensive and defensive weapon. You also have tires and suspension, armor, and engine upgrades. Each of those has four levels (or can be upgraded 3 times). GS News: How many play hours do you think the game holds?Parker: Our play-testing department can actually finish the game in around 3 hours, but we figure the average person will take around 6-8 hours to beat it the first time. The tracks take some practice, but we made it so that you shouldn't ever have to race the tracks on one world more than twice, unless you never place. Each of the characters has a different ending, and we incorporated a bunch of cheats that should be fun to play as well. GS News: Why make a link cable game when everyone else has seemingly walked away from the peripheral?Parker: We wanted a two-player game. We couldn't keep anywhere near the level of graphics we expected and have a split screen, so the cable was our only option if we expected to ship with two-player. GS News: What's next for the team?Parker: The team is actually going to be going a couple different ways. We think the title is going to be one of the sleeper hits of Christmas, so we're already talking about how cool it would be to do a Red Asphalt 2 on one of the next generation of console systems. But that's probably just a dream. Until then we all have places on other Interplay products that are coming down the pipe.

Red Asphalt is due in October for the Sony PlayStation.