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Over the summer I had the privilege of working with a group of doctors, graduate students, and other professionals on a very special video game code named the “P.E. Game” or patient empowerment game.
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Mike Anderiesz talks character development, building new worlds and epic ambitions with two of the creative minds behind the new RPG on the block

With The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim proving one of our collective games highlights of 2011, and the likes of Witcher 2 and The Old Republic snapping at its heels, a rejuvenated RPG market is suddenly brimming with quality.

Yet debut developer 38 Studios has bold plans with Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – not least by breaking a few of the genres oldest rules.

Founded by former professional baseball pitcher Curt Schilling, 38 Studios established instant kudos in 2009 when it took over Rise of Nations developer Big Huge Games from THQ.

It meant that this first game from the Rhode Island-based studio became a collaborative effort involving two teams, a combined staff of almost 300 and nearly five years of development.

Ahead of the game’s February launch, I caught up with two of the game’s key creative forces – “creator of worlds” R.A. Salvatore, and art director Todd McFarlane.

“Curt [Schilling] and his friends had a basic idea of what they wanted” says Salvatore. “I was responsible for fleshing out a broad history of the world, but there were so many people involved on both teams.

“Even my old D&D group worked for me as research assistants. I was really excited by the potential of coming up with a whole philosophy for how Amular worked – everything had to make sense. You can’t just stick a pile of rocks in a forest and call them ruins, you have to know their history and it has to be consistent with everything else.”

Though better known in the US, Salvatore’s skills at weaving deep, compelling and, above all, plausible sci-fi mythologies underpin Reckoning’s epic ambitions. Certainly, the world of Amular has been carved out in painstaking historical detail.

Key to the look and feel of the world was the guiding influence of renowned comic-book illustrator and entrepreneur McFarlane. Though enthusiastic about the concept, he was in no doubt about the scale of creating a new franchise in today’s RPG-savvy market.

“The hardest task of making an RPG is that if you set down 10 people, you’ll get 10 different reasons why they like them,” he says. “That’s very different to a car racing or even an FPS. Some people want to see the map, others to level up, others to quest. It’s all important to each one, so we decided not to treat any of those areas with less significance.”

As a result, Amular is not just epic in scale (five massive areas – including Forest, Coastal and Desert regions – and more than 150 hand-crafted dungeons) but ambition too. It begins in a conventional way, choosing your character from four playable races – the Human (Almain) Elvish (Dark Dokkalfar and Light Ljosalfar) and the nomadic Varani.

Your hero can then be customised for appearance, before embarking into the game’s mammoth single-player challenge, which Salvatore estimates will last more than 40 hours, excluding the hundreds of optional side quests. Reckoning helpfully puts main quest conversations first, so you can see at a glance which NPCs are most worth interacting with.

Which brings us neatly to combat – by no means the game’s most distinctive feature, but probably the one that gamers will debate the most.

Reckoning uses a hybrid system of simple hack and slash (controller buttons mapped to main weapons such as swords, bows or magic staffs) and quicktime events (for boss battles and some finishing moves). The result is a combat system that veers more towards the more cinematic style of God of War than the more realistic Witcher 2.

This may not please hardcore fans of either game, but it’s a system capable of impressive combos, including the eye-catching “Reckoning Mode” where time slows down and moves can be chained together.

McFarlane is pleased with the balance of fluidity and finesse that Reckoning’s combat system has achieved.

“We wanted to make sure the action was big and huge in an RPG context but at the same time avoiding have to hit six buttons,” he says. “We kept the sequences simplistic to avoid it being a ‘combat game’ – yet doing those exact same sequences with a different character will achieve a completely different effect. It’s cool as hell, but not frustrating.”

However, although much of your game time will undoubtedly be spent in combat and questing, Reckoning’s most innovative feature is the concept of Fates & Destinies. Originating from the game’s mythology, it’s an element that will have a potentially profound effect on the gameplay, depending on how you approach it.

Most RPGs and MMOs treat character progression as something written in stone; indeed, the only way to succeed is to pick an upgrade path and concentrate on maxing out those abilities. Effectively, if you choose to be a warrior, that’s what you are from start to finish.

Reckoning takes a different approach. You start the game as a blank slate, able to buy three main paths – Might, Finesse and Sorcery, with each path containing around 20 upgradeable Abilities. However, at any leveling-up point you can choose to specialise in other areas, creating hybrid characters that may combine Abilities from all three paths.

As you level up you also unlock one of eight Destinies, which help shape define not only your combat style but also your profession. For instance, Rangers are perfect stealthy assassins but if you want to add magic to the mix, you can simply accumulate enough points to switch Destiny to Archanist.

It remains to be seen whether such a dynamic form of character development will either empower or baffle the player, but Salvatore believes it enforces a kind of open world realism and flexibility so far unseen in RPGs.

“Your hero is the first person to come through the well of souls and be reborn,” he says. “But these powers have consequences that affects every aspect of the game: what does that mean to the world? What does it mean to religious institutions who rely on the power of an afterlife or to the parents of the last person who died at the well of souls?”

This flexibility also extends to other areas of the gameplay. Looting and Crafting, for instance, has been designed to cater for fans of both expediency and depth. You don’t need to access the Inventory to select, equip or discard items if you just want their value in credits; but if you want to delve deeper, you can head for a town and start experimenting with the game’s three distinct crafting systems – Alchemy, Blacksmithing and Sagecraft.

Use Sagecraft, for instance, and you can start socketing weapons with magical gems; if not, you can still gain bonus points (and a cool onscreen appearance) from collecting complete sets of armour items.

There are also nine non-combat skills – some which have unexpected affects on the gameplay. Improving Stealth, for instance, not only introduces some fantastic stealth kills, but opens up corrupt career paths like pick-pocketing. Neither are you all alone in your quest. There are six joinable faction, including Nomads, Travelers, Scholars and Warrior Priests.

So, given it’s a game that thwarts easy summaries, how pleased is Salvatore with the way Reckoning has translated his original vision into a living, breathing, role-playing experience?

“I don’t want to say it will raise the bar,” he says. “But it does bring something a little bit different. With Reckoning, I wanted a world that had beauty and horror – something really frightening that was worth fighting against and then giving you all the tools to do it. I think fans are going to like what we’ve achieved.”

And if they do like it, there’s clearly a big future already planned for Amular. Reckoning only features a small part of a persistent world that will be fully revealed in a forthcoming MMO codenamed “Copernicus”, which both development teams – including Salvatore and McFarlane – are already hard at work on.

Although neither would be drawn on an ETA, having made a fortune from multimedia franchises such as Spawn, McFarlane in particular understands the potential value of an original IP. However, it’s also clear that Amular means more to him than just a string of lucrative sequels.

“I appreciate all the 2s, 3s and 4s attached to successful RPGs – you don’t have to spend as much time reminding people what it is,” he says. “But even Hollywood can’t survive on just sequels, so is there’s room for new ideas? That’s a question people have been asking us from day one … now it’s up to the consumers.”

Reckoning sounds like just the kind of start to 2012 RPG fans were hoping for.

• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning will be released for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 on 10 February

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As another fantastic year on PlayStation draws to a close, industry experts tell eu.playstation.com their video game highlights of 2011.

“The unveiling of PlayStation Vita in January all the way through to the launch in Japan on 17 December 2011 has been great. On PlayStation 3, the launch of Killzone 3, LittleBigPlanet 2 and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception stood out, along with the announcement of The Last of Us.” Shuhei Yoshida, president, SCE Worldwide Studios

“What a year it’s been: we started with three massive games in LittleBigPlanet 2, Killzone 3 and MotorStorm Apocalypse, and rounded it off with Resistance 3 and the incomparable Uncharted 3. Add to that some great new PS Move experiences like DanceStar Party, Start the Party! Save the World and Medieval Moves, and there was truly something for everyone in 2011.” Michael Denny, senior vice president, SCE Worldwide Studios, Europe

“There was a ton of great stuff in 2011, and if you were to twist my arm, I’d have to say Uncharted 3. The game just looks amazing and continues a great narrative in a way that few titles have been able to accomplish. No other game gets closer to film quality cutscenes.” Dayne McClurg, community manager, Gotham City Impostors

“Showing off WipEout 2048 and Little Deviants on PS Vita for the first time in public at E3 2011 was a big highlight for me. And playing Uncharted 3 in stereoscopic 3D with my youngest son – it’s just such an awesome game, great story, brilliant pacing, Hollywood style action and all in superb, quality 3D. Hats off to the ‘Dogs’ for another truly amazing game.” Mick Hocking, vice president, SCE Worldwide Studios

“It’s got to be Uncharted 3. I’m a huge fan of the series and it’s a stunning title to experience.” Nick Craig, vice president, Codemasters

“For me it’s been inFAMOUS 2. I loved the first game and I think the second one is just so much better. I’m playing it through for the second time as the villain right now.” Simon Bursey, art director, BigBig Studios

“Killzone 3 showed clearly how far you can push the rendering power of PS3 – great look and feel, and a very well executed game. Batman: Arkham City was a fine successor to the beautiful Arkham Asylum and it’s fantastic to see a small studio like Rocksteady create such a strong new Batman series.” Tore Blystad, game director, Hitman: Absolution

“Not strictly this year, but it has to be Gran Turismo 5. It hasn’t been taken out of my PlayStation 3 since 2010, and it has basically helped me become an actual racing driver.” Jann Mardenborough, GT Academy winner 2011

“It’s been a stupendous year for the discerning gamer, hasn’t it? Call me biased, but seeing EA SPORTS FIFA 12′s online stats go through the roof this year stood out. Also, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception, Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City – Deus Ex: Human Revolution too. That’s about three months of non-stop playing right there.” Matt Prior, associate producer, EA

“I always enjoy seeing how game series I used to work on go: Dead Space 2 and Need For Speed The Run are two of those, and both are great.” Glen Schofield, general manager, Sledgehammer Games

“I loved The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and I found Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Batman: Arkham City to be pretty epic.” Ara Demirjian, assistant producer, SCE Worldwide Studios

“Killzone 3 was a lot of fun. I’m about big guns: the bigger the shells the better, and that missile launcher in Killzone 3 [the WASP] was immense.” Randy Varnell, producer, Gearbox Software

Check out our video to view more PlayStation highlights from 2011, including the pick of the year as chosen by Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

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Over the summer I had the privilege of working with a group of doctors, graduate students, and other professionals on a very special video game code named the “P.E. Game” or patient empowerment game.
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And we’re into the top 10 of our favourite games of the year. Have we got it right, or horribly wrong? Have a look and let us know in the comment section

Tuesday’s countdown from 15-11 prompted an interesting debate on the relative merits of Battlefield 3 and Modern Warfare 3, as well as lots of other juicy issues. What will today’s five titles inspire?

One thing you won’t find is smartphone titles – we’ll be running a separate list for those. But what of your favourite console titles – will they be adequately represented? Judging by some of the excellent games talked about in the comments section for the previous instalment, the answer is a resounding … maybe. Some of them.

Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s continue with our arbitary and highly subjective Top 20!

10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (Activision, PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

Oh lord, here we go. Modern Warfare 3 – a glorified map pack, a sullen, cynical insult to gamers, a shameless exercise in pro-imperialist messaging. Or wait, maybe it’s more of what Infinity Ward has been doing really quite brilliantly for the past decade. Super smooth, turbo-charged military mayhem, wrapped around a loopy plot that stretches the game’s naturalistic framework to breaking point. And the multiplayer, with a group of friends and a few hours to kill, is still some of the best fun you can have with virtual firearms and close-proximity combat. Modern Warfare 3 is meaningless, it’s silly, and it has certainly been the most divisive game of the year – we all understand what some people hate about it. But crafted with great care to do exactly what the series always has done and always will, MW3 isn’t part of the problem or the solution, and it certainly isn’t going to destroy the industry – or, indeed, humanity. It’s a game where you shoot baddies, and shoot ‘em good. Frankly, we’ve giving up feeling guilty about enjoying it.

9. Minecraft (PC)

Minecraft isn’t so much a game as an unstoppable indie phenomenon, a sort of reality TV documentary about design, a meta-game, a way of life. There was a time when its creator Notch wasn’t an internet celebrity – how weird is that? But now, with this creative, procedural role-playing build-’em-up, he and is team have not only invented a new sub-genre, they have instigated a movement in which games aren’t simply released, they’re sort of evolved and mutated over months of beta-testing and semi-availability. If Minecraft were an X Factor contestant we’d all be marveling over its “journey” as emotionally manipulative music played in the background and chunkily pixelated figures congratulated each other in slow motion on the screen. Minecraft is quite probably the greatest story indie gaming has ever told.

8. Super Mario 3D Land (Nintendo, 3DS)

Could it be that the world was ready to love 3DS all along – we just, you know, needed the right games? Well, Super Mario 3D Land is the right game. Taking elements of the original Super Mario Land and combining them with a twist of Super Mario Galaxy, this is a platformer in the traditional Nintendo mould – and by that I don’t mean unchanging and stifled, I mean traditional in the sense that it’s filled with magic, innovation and joy. Whereas in other 3DS titles, the stereoscopic effect has been little more than an annoying parlour trick, here it enforces the beautiful level designs, the sense of space and of Mario’s place in the world. Not the most far-reaching or ambitious Mario title, but as a standard-bearer for this maligned platform, it could turn out to be one of the more important.

7. Uncharted 3 (Sony, PS3)

Oh Nathan, there really is something about that boy. Whether he’s leaping across rooftops as a teenage rapscallion, floundering in the desert or navigating through a seemingly endless boat graveyard, he has so much charm he virtually seduces us through the game. Other titles aspire to be cinematic and think it means epic set-pieces and orchestral music; Naughty Dog knows that cinema is as much about relationships. The surrogate father/son interplay with Sully, the touching rapport with Elena – these are human interactions we can really invest in, so much so that they become genuine rewards for our perseverance. But, yeah, the epic set-pieces are astonishing too.

6. Dark Souls (Namco Bandai, PS3, Xbox 360)

The concept of “player skill” has been largely abandoned by mainstream developers keen to just nudge us gently through their narrative adventures, like kindly care home workers on a seaside day out. Not Dark Souls. Namco Bandai’s dungeon romp is a twisted, pitiless exercise in providing a system and then bashing the gamer over the skull with it until they can do it properly. So many disturbing enemies, so many customisation and progression decisions – all housed within a towering gothic world that combines the nightmarish vision of a Piranesi prison etching, with the intricate workings of a Swiss-made watch. We should all get down on our pathetic knees right now and thank the black empty universe that games like this still exist.

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The most troubled cop in the history of gaming is back, with astonishing animation, a bruising story and a potentially brilliant new take on multiplayer

Max Payne. Maximum pain. Never has a video game character been stuck with such an autobiographical name. We were, after all, introduced to this archetypical tough New York cop just as drug addicts slaughtered his wife and baby.

In the game’s sequel, sadistically subtitled The Fall of Max Payne, he forms a spiky relationship with assassin Mona Sax, only to see her gunned to death by a Russian mobster at the downbeat finale. Even for a tough New York cop, that’s got to hurt.

Fast-forward eight years and things aren’t getting any rosier. Max is unemployed and living in a dingy apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. He’s washed up, washed out, addicted to painkillers and propping up bars like some reject from a Bukowski poem.

With a pitiless eye for detail, the art team at Rockstar Vancouver has crafted a nightmarish bachelor hovel for the character, all empty takeaway packets, peeling wallpaper, busted furniture and god-knows-what staining the carpets and mattresses.

Then on a snowy night in New York, Payne bumps into an old colleague, Raul Passos. Raul tells him there is lucrative security work available in South America; he says there’s a job Max is perfect for. “What, you can get me work sitting in a bar all day feeling sorry for myself?” Max growls in that distinctive monotone. “Where do I sign up?”

But Payne needs an escape route – he’s just killed the psychotic son of a notorious mob boss, Anthony DeMarco, and pa is out for revenge. Back at the wretched flat, Passos is selling the job to Payne, when DeMarco and his mob turn up for a shoot-out.

And we’re into the action. “This game is all about the mechanics,” explains Rockstar’s VP of development, Jeronimo Barrera. “We wanted it to be the most fully-realised third-person shooter ever made; it needed to have the craziest physics, the most accurate and responsive controls. It had to be visually stunning. Running around shooting people is essentially what you do in this game – but it had to be the most fun you’ve ever had running around shooting people.”

As Payne bolts through the rotten corridors of his decomposing building, bullets smash through windows and heavies can be heard clambering upstairs, shouting insults. Although the Rockstar spokesperson showing me the game stresses that this is not a cover shooter, there is an “intelligent” cover mechanic – on the Xbox 360, hitting X makes Max stick to any nearby wall or object suitable for protection. From here, he can spray bullets in any direction, angling his gun around or over the obstacle.

There is environmental damage, too. As Max fires back, the window frames shatter; objects smash and fall. It’s a detailed, intricate world.It’s also typical Rockstar.

Just as Max appears to be cornered at one point, a mad-eyed Vietnam vet bursts out of a nearby apartment with a shotgun, blasting down a couple of mobsters, and shouting: “Come to me you sinners, you evil men – you will be cleansed in fire!”

Later, we can sidetrack into his apartment, which is stuffed with bomb-making equipment, the walls covered in scrawled messages. It’s the sort of surreal interlude that harks back to the previous Payne titles, but is also heavy with the movie references we know from GTA and Red Dead.

So Payne escapes and heads down to the vast Brazilian metropolis of São Paulo (“You’ve been kicked out of the force … and you’ve killed a lot of people,” says Barrera by way of explanation). There he takes on a job protecting wealthy real estate magnate Rodrigo Branco, whose trophy girlfriend has been kidnapped by a street gang. Naturally, they want a suitcase full of cash for her safe return and Payne is going to be the transfer man.

This all takes place in a nervy, exciting sequence in a huge football stadium. The drop is due to be made on the pitch, but things go awry when a paramilitary group turns up and starts blasting at everyone else. Cue a desperate series of chases and shoot-outs as Max and Raul race through the labyrinthine complex, looking for the gang member with the cash.

We also witness one of the game’s many interactive cinematic experiences, where the speed slows down and Payne gets to attempt a ridiculously showy stunt. In this case, he gets onto a gantry above the stadium’s press box where a sniper is looking to take out Raul. Max grabs a rope and swings down into the chamber, shooting his way through the glass screen and into the face of the would-be assassin. Game over.

It’s a function designed to empower the player and capture that sense of invulnerability inherent in the great action movie characters. Players will find that during these sequences, their ammo will top up and they’ll be harder to injure. It’s about not just capturing the obvious tropes of action cinema – the visuals, the gunplay, the choreography – but also the underlying narrative systems. The cheats.

There’s another similar feature named Last Man Standing, which comes in to play if you’re fatally wounded – on the way to the ground, you’ll get one final chance to shoot the enemy, via a shaky reticule. Take him out, and the game will instantly employ any unused painkillers you’re carrying to boost your health and revive you.

Also in the spirit of the classic Hong Kong action movies, Payne is never far away from a discarded gun; all of which can be picked up and wielded. The weapon wheel system will be familiar to any Red Dead Redemption veterans. To access an item, you hit the button to bring up the wheel and cycle through Payne’s available armoury. He can carry two single-handed weapons, dual-wielding them if he chooses – he’ll happily leg it around with a Beretta in one hand, an Uzi in the other. He can also carry one rifle or carbine.

Of course, the defining weapon in the Max Payne armoury has always been bullet time. Initially inspired by the bullet ballets of John Woo and Ringo Lam, it allows players to trigger a slow-mo action sequence in which multiple enemies can be targeted and shot without fear of recourse. There’s a lock-on system in place, but players can choose to free aim their way through these encounters. However you go, it remains a gameplay concept of skewed genius, simultaneously boosting the player’s abilities and providing moments of breathtaking cinematic clout.

In Max Payne 3, the system functions in the same old way – access to bullet time relies on a dedicated power gauge, which is filled during shoot-outs. But of course, what’s new is the impressive graphical fidelity, and the sheer fluidity of the movement.

Rockstar has employed NaturalMotion’s Euphoria physics-based animation system – every leap, roll or fall is procedurally driven, based on a richly detailed 3D character model, susceptible and reactive to all the forces of velocity and impact. The physics system also comes into play via the contextual bullet contact, which ensures that leg, arm, body and headshots all lead to very different reactions. Enemies never go down the same way twice.

Furthermore, the animation has none of that floppy “rag doll” feel that cursed early experiments in physics-based movement. During the stadium sequence, we see Max leap across corridors and crunch into walls, bracing himself for impact at the close of the dive. He’ll also chuck himself backwards over low walls, landing with sickening solidity on his back, guns firing between his legs.

Cleverly, however he lands, you retain multi-direction control over shooting. If he leaps across a room and lands on his back, you can stay prone, turning and blasting in all directions, before getting back on to your feet. It gives the game a sense of physical fluidity and adaptability, which also heightens the cinematic feel. Midway’s Strangehold got close to bringing us the athleticism of the Hong Kong action flick, but Max Payne 3 ramps up the sheer physicality.

Next, Rockstar shows me a sequence that takes place later in the game, but still before Max transforms into the bald-headed, hulked-up figure we’ve seen in the screenshots and trailers. He’s at an old bus depot, looking after Raul’s girlfriend Giovanna, when that pesky paramilitary group turns up again. There are shoot-outs in an old bus cemetery, where the rusting skeletons of ancient vehicles provide the only cover. Yep, it’s an escort mission, but Giovanna will generally run and hide, taking care of herself, while you engage the masses of black-clothed soldiers.

Inside a bus repair garage, Payne climbs the scaffolding to an upper level, and we get another slow-mo sequence. This time, he grabs hold of a rope that’s running to the floor level and slides down it, taking out enemies en route. There are, it seems, plentiful nods to Die Hard as well as the likes of Killer and Hardboiled.

Next, Max bursts his way into an office area and, during our shotgun shoot-out, blasts an enemy though a window, showcasing the animation and environmental destruction in one gloriously OTT second. Each shoot-out ends with a bullet-cam moment, as we follow the projectile from chamber to final enemy, the impact complete with a requisite spray of claret. It’s gruesome stuff, but guiltily satisfying.

This section shows how Max Payne 3 will transition between scenes using a new variant on the comic books frames that told the ongoing story in the first two titles. Now. We’ll see 24-style animated story sequences – or “motion comics” shot from multiple views, as we’re taken between narrative chapters and locations.

Shoot-out sequences are also intercut with story and dialogue moments, though Rockstar has been keen to keep the flow between mo-capped plot sequences and the physics-based animation of the game as smooth as possible. Indeed, the mo-cap sequences with Max actor James McCaffrey and the rest of the cast were all filmed at Rockstar’s own studio in Brooklyn.

The team apparently built elaborate sets to replicate game maps, allowing the actors to interact much more naturally with their environment, and allowing closer parity with the in-game action. Plus, every non-interactive story section will feature Max carrying the weapons that you’re actually holding in the game at the time; it’ll also show any scars or blood stains that he’s picked up during play – a small point, but a cool one in terms of continuity.

Our demo ends with Max and Giovanna bolting into a bus, with paramilitary goons in hot pursuit, one of them wielding a grenade launcher. Giovanna gets behind the wheel and decks the accelerator as Payne shoots out a nearby fuel depot and AI enemies scatter. Panicking, she drives the bus straight into a brick wall. Another fine mess for Mr Payne.

Elsewhere, Rockstar has revealed a major multiplayer component to the game. The range of 16-player modes are all designed to capture the campaign’s cinematic intensity and emphasis on acrobatic gunplay. Alongside standard deathmatch and team deathmatch options the key draw is likely to be the innovative ‘Gang Wars’ newcomer, which, like the multiplayer in Uncharted and Assassin’s Creed, brings a narrative slant to the action.

Built around set-piece locations from the campaign (with previously inaccessible areas like rooftops, now opened up), teams compete to achieve a series of objectives, all accompanied by Max Payne’s usual gruff monologue and book-ended by the graphic novel cut-scenes.

Somehow, Rockstar has managed to incorporate bullet-time into the action. When a player triggers it, everyone in their sight line is caught in the slow-mo treacle, making for bunch of easy, rapid kills. There’s also a range of new special abilities known as bursts, which become available when the player fills an adrenaline gauge.

Killing enemies and looting their bodies builds the meter, and each burst power has three levels of power. Participants can loot the bodies of fallen enemies to find ammo and painkillers. XP is earned though kills and assists unlocking new weapons and bursts. It’s also possible to start a vendetta against any player that kills you twice – get them back and you earn bonus XP.

It sounds like an interesting concept, and married with the visceral combat and dark narrative of the single-player, suggests we’re in for the first essential shooter of 2012. Whether Rockstar can work its peculiar magic on such a linear experience is the main question.

Players can briefly explore certain areas of each location, but this is a narrative ride, with no open-world freedom. Remedy, the original developer of the first two titles is no longer involved – now a group of Rockstar Studios, including Vancouver, the creator of school-based adventure Bully, are at the helm.

There is a realisation that this is a significant undertaking. “Max Payne invented a lot of the vocabulary of the third-person shooter,” says Barrera. “It was one of the first to really tell a story through the action.”

Yet, on the flip side, the linearity has allowed Rockstar Studios to absolutely cram each locale with scene-setting detail. San Paulo, from its mansions to its slums, has been rendered with a real eye for the diversity of the place; members of the design team went out there for six weeks, soaking up the atmosphere, the music, the culture and photographing everything.

There’s mass poverty, but also great wealth (Barrera delights in telling me this place has more helicopters per capita than any other city on Earth), and apparently, you’ll meet resistance from all areas of society during the game, battling both highly trained military squads and favela gangs – all with their own AI behaviours.

The story of Payne’s quest for redemption looks to be a classic action thriller arc – the stuff of Brian de Palma or Tony Scott (Man on Fire is apparently a favourite movie with the Houser brothers). And at some point in this story, as in all wayward action flicks, the anti-hero realises he’s got to stop running and face whatever’s coming for him.

That’s when the clippers come out and the new Max emerges. We can expect all hell to break loose – it’s what Rockstar always promises and usually delivers. One way or another, the pain is going away.

• Max Payne 3 is due out in March 2012 on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360

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Doctor Who is coming to PS3, Vita and PC courtesy of a new collaboration between BBC Worldwide and developer Supermassive Games

BBC Worldwide has announced a new Doctor Who game for PS3, Vita and PC. Subtitled The Eternity Clock, the downloadable title will be the first in a series of new interactive adventures for the Time Lord. It’s due to materialise on Earth early next year.

From the little info the BBC is handing out at the moment, players are set to take on the roles of the Doctor and River Song as they explore the universe in the Tardis. According to the press release, time travel will form the basis of the game’s structure: “Changes made in one time will impact another, creating multiple possibilities and challenging players to solve puzzles across the centuries.”

The story has been co-written by the BBC Wales team responsible for the TV series, and Matt Smith and Alex Kingston will be voicing their roles. There’s no mention yet of any other major characters from the series appearing in the game, but more announcements are planned soon.

For now, the pairing of the Doc with River rather than with Amy suggests the timeline of the game is around the sixth series or possibly after. Interestingly, you’ll get to play as both the Doctor and River, maybe swapping roles to solve different game elements. It also suggests the possibility of co-op play.

Eternity Clock is being developed by Guildford-based independent studio Supermassive Games, previously responsible for PlayStation Move titles Start the Party and Tumble. We’re promised, “photo-real graphics, television quality scenes and highly realistic characters”, which moves us on visually from the browser-based series Doctor Who: The Adventure Games – these took a more stylised approach.

Next year will be an interesting one for Doctor Who-loving gamers. It should also see the release of Doctor Who: Worlds in Time, a free-to-play MMORPG from US developer, Three Rings. Co-published with Sega, this one was expected at the end of 2011, but will surely arrive at some point in 2012.

So, a downloadable action-adventure with the Doctor, River Song and a range of multi-chronological challenges … thoughts?

Games

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Keith Stuart

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