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1) What kind of game is Evil Dead: Hail to the King? |
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Evil Dead: Hail to the King is a third person survival horror/action-adventure game.
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2) When is the game coming out? |
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Currently the game is slated to come out October 31, 2000 for Sony PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast, and PC systems.
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3) How many playable characters will there be? |
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Just one
– Ash. After many long hours of debate, we decided that fans would
most want to play as Ash… and rightfully so! The films revolve
around Ash specifically, and he's such a great character that to
offer other playable characters would be rather pointless. Even if
the story did not revolve around Ash, players would still choose him
over any other selectable characters. He's too good to pass up!
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4) How many enemies will there be? |
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Right now
there are about 20 different enemies including ED favorites like
deadites, skeletons and even Evil Ash! And keep an eye out for some
other cameos not to mention a wide range of new enemies with cool
models, animations and AI.
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5) Weapons. What about weapons? |
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Expect
all the ED faves like the axe, shotgun, rifle and chainsaw not to
mention some cool upgrades that allow you to beef up your existing
weapons.
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6) How does this game compare to other survival horror titles? |
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We have a comparable number of environments, levels, weapons, enemies and
cut-scenes. We have balanced action with suspense and puzzle-solving and tossed them all
into an intriguing story-line. The most advantageous feature so far showcases a special
freedom of movement. That is, the player can move Ash around the environment while
simultaneously attacking with either a left or right-handed weapon. To our knowledge, no
other horror game offers this feature. Furthermore, the game is presented in 24-bit color
(a first for a game of this type) and bypasses load times for the PC and DC skus.
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7) Does the title remain true to the films? |
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Absolutely—we'd be crazy not to. The game begins 7 years after the
conclusion of the last ED movie: Army of Darkness. Bruce returns to the infamous cabin and
once again must fight the legions of darkness spawned by the Necronomicon. We have
included everything that made ED a hit: chainsaws, boomsticks, the Necronomicon, Ash,
deadites and much more. Best of all—we have included a plot that expands of the ED
mythos in order to give the game a bit of originality. Fans will love it, and gamers not
familiar with the films will love it as well.
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8) So whose genius idea was it anyway to make Evil Dead an interactive game? |
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We doubt
that THQ was the first game-publisher to want the license, but in
the end we got it! The initial idea was something Scott Krager, the
game's producer, had been pursuing for quite some time, even before
coming to THQ. He tried to get the game off the ground at the game publisher where
he previously worked, but was unsuccessful. After coming to THQ, he again made it a priority
to get an Evil Dead in development. Fortunately, the company realized the value of the
license and gave it the greenlight. Also fortunate was getting the Heavy Iron folks together
to develop the game. They are a talented group and big fans of Evil Dead.
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9) How much have the filmmakers had to do with the game? |
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At this
point, Sam Raimi's involvement is primarily limited to approval
because of his busy schedule with The Gift and Spiderman. However,
we received initial feedback on the design from Rob Tapert, the
producer of all three Evil Dead films, and Sam through Renaissance
Pictures, which is their production company. In fact, it was the
filmmakers who wanted to return to the roots of Evil Dead and
include the cabin and woods as one of the primary locations.
Bruce Campbell has
also been involved. In addition to recording the voiceover for Ash,
he was generous enough to visit the Heavy Iron offices early in
production and will make future visits once the game is post-alpha.
Ultimately, Bruce will end up being the most involved of the three
Evil Dead principals being he's the star of the
game.
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10) How much new material has Bruce Campbell recorded? |
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Quite a
bit. There is roughly 45 minutes of story in the game, almost all of
which features Ash. So, we recorded lots of Ash dialog not to
mention several new one liners as well as the favorites. During the
voiceover sessions, Bruce also provided several adlibs and a lot of
extras. He is a very funny guy and has been great to work
with.
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11) Will Evil Dead be similar to Resident Evil or other games in the horror genre? |
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The
Resident Evil games set a great standard that we seek to surpass in
certain areas. For example, the prerendered backgrounds are
animating, which allows for more detailed, lively, visually
appealing environments in which the player will be able to interact.
We won't have to rely on sprite overlays to create animated ambience
within the various locations. The animating backgrounds will also
allow us to move the camera. So, the game will include a combination
of static camera angles and cinematic camera moves, which will be
used for cool reveals and such.
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12) What else will make this game really unique? |
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In addition to some of the above-mentioned features, some other facets of the game that
will help it stand out among the competition include freedom of movement in combat. Ash
won't have to pivot in one location in order to use a weapon. Instead, the player can run
around and simultaneously use the selected weapon. Additionally, the player will have the
option of using two weapons simultaneously with the chainsaw attached to his right arm and
his left hand free to use one of the other available weapons.
We also feel the enemies are more varied than previously seen in the genre. There is a
wide variety of enemy types the player will encounter as they progress through the game.
Overall, they have more moves, move more quickly and have more personality. Just as seen
in the Evil Dead films, many of the deadites will even verbally taunt you. So, the game
won't be just a string of encounters with slow moving zombies but instead enemies that are
more varied with respect to look, moves and personality. Also, one-liners will actually
affect enemy AI. At any point during gameplay, players can hit the one-liner button
causing Ash to throw out one of his signature zingers. The cool thing is that the
one-liners will affect enemy behavior, making them more or less aggressive, for example.
And last but not least, we have Evil Dead as a setting. The game will include several
of the cool elements seen in the films, but will also add to its existing mythos by
providing new environments, enemies, characters, weapons as well as a storyline that
continues the saga of Ash and the Necronomicon. And of course, players will be able to
assume the role of their favorite square-jawed, shotgun-toting, chainsaw-armed hero,
Ash... one-liners and all.
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13) Will you use CG sequences or segments from the films? |
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There will be a couple of pre-rendered movies and several in-game cinematics, all
featuring Bruce as the voice of Ash. There will be no live-action movies or segments from
the films. We have a great story to tell and feel that it will compliment the gameplay
perfectly. Our goal is to have players immerse themselves into the story as much as the
gameplay.
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14) What is the basic storyline? |
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Eight years have passed since the events in the last Evil Dead film. Ash has returned to
his normal life and even has a new girlfriend, Jenny. But lately he's been having horrible
nightmares about the Necronomicon, deadites, the woods and other strange things. With a
lot of convincing by Jenny and accompanied by her, Ash returns to the infamous cabin in
the woods in order to confront his fears and put an end to the nightmares. Once there, he
is again faced with the challenge of battling deadites and other evil forces that have
crossed over to our world because of the Necronomicon. Ash's evil half appears and is set
on an evil mission, which Ash must stop in order to save Jenny and ultimately the world.
About halfway through the game, Ash travels back in time through a vortex opened with the
Necronomicon and ends up in ancient Damascus at the time the book is being written. There
he meets the translator/author of the Necronomicon and uncovers some of the secrets behind
its origins as he tries to stop his evil half from carrying out his mission.
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15) What are the differences between the PlayStation, Dreamcast and PC versions of the game? |
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The basic design will be the same between the three platforms, but one primary difference
will be the graphics. We intend to take full advantage of the Dreamcast and PC by creating
a separate set of art that is comprised of higher poly models. Because we will be using
the 24-bit, high resolution, pre-rendered backgrounds, every available poly will go toward
the 3D models for Ash, the enemies, the NPC's and any other 3D objects. This will allow
for really nice-looking detailed models. Moreover, we will take advantage of any other
visual effects the Dreamcast and 3D accelerator cards offers. Additionally, we intend to
use the VMU in some manner, but we are still deciding on how best to do that. Lastly, we
are brainstorming ideas of possible hidden goodies that are specific to each platform.
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16) Are the environments based on the films? |
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The game is basically divided into two halves. The first half is set in the woods, which
includes the infamous cabin. The second half is set in ancient Damascus at the time the
Necronomicon is being written. The cabin and the "claw" bridge are locations
from the films that are included in the game. And we have been very careful to be faithful
to the films when recreating these environments. We captured a slew of stills from Evil
Dead 2 so we could use them as reference when building the cabin. If you've seen any
screenshots, you'll see that the cabin looks nearly identical to how it looks in Evil Dead
2. The rest of the woods contains new environments and Damascus is comprised of completely
new environments as well -- all very cool. Each half is different in terms of visual
content, but both are inspired by the Evil Dead universe.
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17) How many locations are in the game? |
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The number of locations depends on your definition of location. There are about 15 main
areas, each of which is broken down into sub-areas. The game is not mission or level
based. Rather the player (as Ash) makes his way through the various environments, which
are linked together. We are shooting to have no load times between areas, which will make
the experience pretty seamless. Currently the load times are pretty quick, and we're
confident we'll be able to speed them up even more once we start optimizing the code. Evil
Dead will not have any "animating door" load screens between areas. Overall, the
game follows a linear story and similarly linear structure, but at certain times you can
choose the order in which you progress through the areas. This is especially true during
the first half of the game, which takes place in the woods -- a very open type of
environment.
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