Bond
09-20-2003, 10:55 AM
During a recent meeting with Peter Molyneux at Microsoft's X03 event in France, we were shown the latest playable version of BC--a game which, according to Molyneux, came about as the result of a conversation he had some time ago about what he would do if he could travel back to prehistoric times and alter the course of human evolution.
Our demonstration got under way when Molyneux took a couple of tribe members out in search of food, which, on this occasion, turned up in the form of a herd of dodos. The herd was assembled at the bottom of a valley and, as we looked down on them from above, Molyneux explained that hunting them didn't necessarily mean that we had to make our way down there with spears. He proceeded to push a large boulder down into the valley, which, as luck would have it, landed on one of the dodos when it reached the bottom. You might think there's nothing particularly ingenious about that, but the fact that other tribe members witnessing these kinds of actions will eventually learn to perform them themselves is definitely something special--and more than a little reminiscent of the creatures in Black & White.
The dodos are, unsurprisingly, one of the less challenging creatures to hunt in BC, as we saw for ourselves when Molyneux attempted to tackle a small group of raptors. The raptors were obviously a lot more intelligent than the dodos, and, as anyone who has seen Jurassic Park would expect, they definitely like to work in groups. Molyneux's tribe members were quite skilled with their spears, though, and once the raptors had been slain, the hunters headed off in search of further excitement.
What the group actually found was a small opening in a cliff face that led seamlessly into a huge, dark cave. There were no creatures to be found inside, but when the group left the cave and came back outside, the first thing we saw was a large tyrannosaurus rex fighting with a group of raptors. The T-rex was an impressive sight to behold, but, according to Molyneux, it was actually only a third of the size of its mother.
As our demonstration came to an end, the question of tribe-versus-tribe combat came up, and Molyneux explained that while there will be no human-versus-human combat in BC, players will be doing battle with an intelligent race of simians. He went on to say that although their appearance will be different, the simians will be as intelligent as the humans in every way, and he even stated that, on occasion, players might find simians spying on their tribe and stealing ideas from them.
BC is currently scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2004 and looks to be shaping up very nicely in terms of both gameplay and visuals. For more information on BC, check out our previous coverage of the game.
Source: Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/bc/preview_6075356.html)
Screens:
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/screen1/537533_20030523_screen004.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/screen1/537533_20030523_screen007.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/screen1/537533_20030523_screen010.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/screen1/537533_20030523_screen011.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/screen1/537533_20030523_screen016.jpg
Our demonstration got under way when Molyneux took a couple of tribe members out in search of food, which, on this occasion, turned up in the form of a herd of dodos. The herd was assembled at the bottom of a valley and, as we looked down on them from above, Molyneux explained that hunting them didn't necessarily mean that we had to make our way down there with spears. He proceeded to push a large boulder down into the valley, which, as luck would have it, landed on one of the dodos when it reached the bottom. You might think there's nothing particularly ingenious about that, but the fact that other tribe members witnessing these kinds of actions will eventually learn to perform them themselves is definitely something special--and more than a little reminiscent of the creatures in Black & White.
The dodos are, unsurprisingly, one of the less challenging creatures to hunt in BC, as we saw for ourselves when Molyneux attempted to tackle a small group of raptors. The raptors were obviously a lot more intelligent than the dodos, and, as anyone who has seen Jurassic Park would expect, they definitely like to work in groups. Molyneux's tribe members were quite skilled with their spears, though, and once the raptors had been slain, the hunters headed off in search of further excitement.
What the group actually found was a small opening in a cliff face that led seamlessly into a huge, dark cave. There were no creatures to be found inside, but when the group left the cave and came back outside, the first thing we saw was a large tyrannosaurus rex fighting with a group of raptors. The T-rex was an impressive sight to behold, but, according to Molyneux, it was actually only a third of the size of its mother.
As our demonstration came to an end, the question of tribe-versus-tribe combat came up, and Molyneux explained that while there will be no human-versus-human combat in BC, players will be doing battle with an intelligent race of simians. He went on to say that although their appearance will be different, the simians will be as intelligent as the humans in every way, and he even stated that, on occasion, players might find simians spying on their tribe and stealing ideas from them.
BC is currently scheduled for release in the second quarter of 2004 and looks to be shaping up very nicely in terms of both gameplay and visuals. For more information on BC, check out our previous coverage of the game.
Source: Gamespot (http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/action/bc/preview_6075356.html)
Screens:
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/screen1/537533_20030523_screen004.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/screen1/537533_20030523_screen007.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/screen1/537533_20030523_screen010.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/screen1/537533_20030523_screen011.jpg
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2003/screen1/537533_20030523_screen016.jpg