Warhawk E3 PS3 Preview
- May 10, 2006 17:01 PM PST
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Sony kicks off E3 with a special Warhawk preview. But given the series' air-based pedigree, will the addition of ground-based combat weaken the experience? And how does the PS3's motion-tracking controller work in gameplay?
The first day of E3 kicked off with our first behind-the-scenes PlayStation 3 game, Warhawk. Series fans should know that Warhawk completely missed the PS2 hardware generation, but developer Incognito said that they were limited by the old hardware, and were waiting patiently for the next-gen Sony platform. Well, the wait is over and Warhawk is making it's way to PS3.
Sony still lists all the PS3 titles that were announced at its press conference on Monday as "prototype" titles, meaning they are not yet officially launch titles. But we expect Warhawk will be ready at launch.
A few of us editors were privy to a special demo by Incognito in a room behind Sony's booth, and they gave us the rundown on exactly what they are trying to accomplish with the franchise, followed an in-game demo.
For starters, they wanted to start from scratch with Warhawk. The game is a mixture of in-air shooting and ground combat, though single-player missions will not allow you to switch from air to ground. The explanation for this was that the game needs to be tailored to offer meaningful battle either in air or on foot, and this cannot be done when a player is allowed to exit the plane whenever they please. The setting is of an epic and ongoing war, and you'll fly as pilot Zach Archer, part of the Eucadians, and proceed along a journey that is heavy on story against the enemy Chernovans. No other story details were revealed.
Warhawk will offer 32-player (at least) multiplayer combat for online and split-screen, and you will be able to take split-screen online for LAN party purposes. All online play will be free, keeping inline with Sony's network plan for the PS3.
In regard to the 3D motion-based controller, Incognito says that the controls are very responsive, though they didn't have a new controller to demonstrate. They also said they were toying around with the idea of a motion-based controller for a while, gambling on the chance that Sony would actually release 3D controller. I guess the gamble paid off. But, for those that don't like it, there will also be the option to use regular analog stick controls.
Load times for the demo were ridiculously fast, at only a few seconds at startup. Levels do not load in game, as everything is streamed off the Blu-ray disc or cached to the hard drive.
Warhawk will probably only support 720p, not 1080p, but will have hundreds on-screen enemies during battle.
We expect more on Warhawk in the months leading up to the PS3 launch.
