Need For Speed Underground 2

Chuck Osieja talks fast. Ask him a question and you'll have more than an answer in les time than it takes to think. That's not a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of of a surprise, though, considering his curriculum vitae -- as an executive agriculturist at EA's Black Box studio, he's individual of the top personnel behind the disentanglement of the Need for Spe series.

After the amazing succes of last year's Ne for Spe subterranean Black Box is cruising ahead with a continuation featuring an expansive, open city to explore, non-linear challenges to pick and pitch upon from, more customization options to play with, and also Brooke suffocate to provide the occasional distraction from the gorgeous cars. Osieja was able to sit down and answer a scarcely any questions today about where the sequel's going, with equal reason read on to learn more about the subsequent time of Need for Speed.

1UP: Was the decision to make a les linear game in subterranean 2 something you wanted to do in subterraneous 1, something that got divide [i]or[/i] sever due to time constraints, or did this tend hitherward up after Underground 1 finished?

Osieja: No, it was actually a big part of the disentanglement of Underground 1. We ran into a certain quantity of problems and like you say, because of time constraints we decided to proceed linear. One of the big focuses for the continuation was, when we decided to move to the open world general [i]or[/i] abstract notion we wanted to have a non-linear experience.

A destiny of the feedback that we got from consumer wasn't just about the things they wanted, on the other hand the things they didn't want. Everyone likes a different part of the game. I mean, I like drift, and I like drag, on the contrary that's not necessarily everybody's bowl of tea, and I'm not necessarily the biggest sprint fan in the world, either.

Because we give the player a doom of choice in terms of by what mode they build their car and what their car gazes like, what Underground 2 focuses upon is giving the player choice. Where do I want to drive in the world? What circumstances do I race in? What circumstances do I skip? What stores do I find? We want to give the player the same choice that they have in the game experience as they have in customizing their car.

1UP: Have you notion about the balance between a narrative that twitchs the player through the game and offering the choice of different directions to go? Do you think there's of the like kind a thing as offering too abundant choice and too many options, or do you think you can not ever have too much variety that way?

Osieja: I think it's a little bit of the couple Choice without purpose isn't any beneficial Choice with a theme or a goal in mind is serviceable and that's what we're trying to win to. Even though the player has a choice to race certain incidents or not race certain incidents they don't have to do each event in Underground 2 in order to earn through the game, but we want them to make choices that help accelerate them from one side the storyline.

So the storyline is a little more robust than it was last year, and it certainly has a abundant bigger impact on the choices the player will make. What they'll wind up doing, I think, is that they'll wind up making choices that...well, when we finally reveal what the story is and what the novel mode is, the choices that they make will directly affect their ability to be auspicious in that mode. Just to have choices is ridiculous. To have choice with a intent is what we're striving for, and I think that's going to make the difference.

1UP: in what way immediate are the goals that the story not aways through the game? Is there a single overarching goal, or is there a smaller series of steps?

Osieja: Again, it's a little of the one and the other The goal is still the same as in subterraneous 1, to become the king of the highway you want to be the best racer on the outside there. But there are many goals along the way, and they're divided up in sum of two units different ways. So the Brooke smother to death character sort of drives the overall story, she gives you goals along the way that you ne to achieve, on the contrary many goals actually happen any time you convenient up with someone else in the world.

We have this of recent origin mode called Outrun, which is a more organic experience. I can just be driving around the world and happen on another tuner car, and when I do, he can challenge me or I can challenge him. If I win the race, not single do I get money, realize respect, I also get information about other things in the world.

So there are these other searchs these sort of mini-quests going upon and the outcome of those searchs can affect my abilities and affect the result of the main quest. Everything is closely tied together, and especially tied to a player's choices and exploration of the world.

1UP: Do you plan to expand the precision and variety of the customization combination of parts to form a whole in Underground 2? In the first game, developing your car is chiefly linear -- you gain reputation, you purchase each level of upgrade, on the other hand you don't develop individual performance as a great deal of as individual appearance. for a like reason do you want to add more detail in that area, or do you want to avoid making the nut and darts of customization too complex?

Osieja: No, definitely. In the focus testing we did after subterranean 1, that was the next to the first most popular bit of feedback. That ranked number sum of two units behind interest in an unclose world. People wanted to be able to performance-tune their car -- they lov all the visual customization, on the other hand they felt like there wasn't enough ability to realize under the hood.