Most games do co-op poorly. In most cases, Player 2 winds up as a throwaway character with no bearing on story direction. Even more likely, they’re a clone of the primary character, whether in appearance, skill set, or both. Dead Space 3’s John Carver defies the cooperative norm. Should you decide to bring him along on Isaac Clarke’s journey, the EarthGov Security officer becomes as important to the unfolding narrative as Isaac Clarke.
“We wanted somebody who would complement him that the story would find useful,” Dead Space story producer Chuck Beaver told IGN. Where Isaac is the engineer, the smart guy, blue-collar and gets by on his wits, Carver brings in a military background. He’s more trained, has strategy with what he’s doing. He’s tougher and isn’t as susceptible to the emotional [stress] that Isaac is. There’s a different set of skills he brings to the battlefield, and that’s what we wanted [in a co-op character].”
From concept to creation, Carver has been constructed as his own man. He has his own past, his own inner-demons, and weaknesses Isaac isn’t as susceptible to. “Carver was on a fairly top secret security team working on the planet Uxor, which turned out to be a Marker site after the Marker program restarted after Dead Space 2,” Beaver explains. “He didn’t know his wife was a researcher on the Marker program, and a high-level one as a matter of fact. [The graphic novel] Liberation follows her story as he follows up on what she was doing…so he gets roped into the Marker story.”
We wanted Carver to be a monster inside and out.
To reinforce Carver’s importance and independence, Visceral wanted Player 2 look and feel like a different person than they’re used to with Isaac. Carver’s military past left him struggling to come home and coming to terms with what he’s seen, and “his body reflects that,” said Beaver. “He’s got scars inside and out.” When Visceral first started sketching out what this second character would look like, “Ben Wanat, the creative director, gave him this huge gash that made him almost look like a monster. He wanted Carver to be a monster inside and out,” Beaver said. “He’s grappling with how to become more human in the face of more monsters. We had to dial that back a bit.”
The final version of Carver retains the scarred face. He has a different history, ethnicity, and relationships than Isaac, and therefore behaves significantly different than the main protagonist. He’s brought to life by Desperate Housewives’ Ricardo Chivera and was fully motion-captured the same as any leading role would be. His red visor isn’t simply a visual tool to tell you which guy is which, either. He’ll unlock entirely different armor than Isaac because of his past as a ranking officer -- whether that’s purely cosmetic or has an effect on skill bonuses remains to be seen.
Dead Space fans have been on edge since the initial reveal that Dead Space 3 would feature co-op multiplayer. Beaver promises that panic and tension remain regardless of who’s present in your play-through. “You will be so surprised when you play it, a lot of [the horror] doesn’t go away. We have a lot of monsters trying to eat your face, and there’s more of them, the waves are harder,” he said. “The addition of one friend doesn’t take the edge off, it changes the way you feel because you have someone with you.”
Co-op was an inevitability. Visceral started talking about co-op extensively with Dead Space 2. It wasn’t possible for them then because of time and resources, but Beaver says “we’ve had it on our mind for a couple games.” It wasn’t until Carver that cooperative play made any logical sense anyway. With Isaac having conquered (most) of his psychological issues and had time to cope with his trauma, Dead Space 3 presents the chance for someone else to bear the burden.
You can let him suffer if you play single-player, or bring Carver and his baggage along for the ride. Isaac’s story plays out relatively similar either way. Carver’s won’t.
Mitch Dyer is an Associate Editor at IGN. He is quite Canadian. Read his ramblings on Twitter and follow him on IGN.
Source : ign[dot]com
No comments:
Post a Comment