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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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