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Hidden and Dangerous Interview
by Dan Dimetrescu of www.pcgaming.ro
 

Q: Can you compare the character control interface to other 3D shooters ... How much freedom of movement and action will the player have ?

A: Hidden and Dangerous is not a shooter. When you stay face to face to an enemy, your chances to stay alive are 50 to 50. In fact, there is a possibility to switch over to 1st person, controls are like in other games - mouse turning around and aiming, ctrl firing, side arrows strafes. Of course set up control options are included.

Q: Can you elaborate more on "your chances to stay alive are 50 to 50?"

A: Each enemy has its own abilities, like you have. Some good snipers shoot you down in one shot. Some worse soldiers shoot worse, depends on how our designers set them up. I wanted to say when you don't take cover and just shoot at the enemy, if you do not kill him for the first shot, he will start firing at you without any delays.

Now it depends who is sharper at the moment. You can help yourself when you do not stay like in a shop window, but lay down. It also depends where you/enemy are hit - if in head, you are killed, if in some limbs, they can shoot more times at you until you die.

H&D

Q: Will the player be able to climb walls or trees, crawl, swim through water ? Is it possible to hide the corpses of killed sentinels (like in Commandos), and if yes, will the enemy react to the sentinels absence ?

A: You can climb ladders, crawl, swimming is not included. You can't hide the corpses, but you can take all the weapons they have.

Q: Also, how does the tactical interface of the game work ? What actions can be programmed into the members of the team ?

A: When you start the game, you recognize very soon that running and shooting will keep you alive for only seconds. You have to cover well, think tactically and use all your men to complete the mission objectives. All you can do by yourself you can order in a tactical map (the game stops when you are in map mode), walking, firing, using objects, opening doors etc. The best thing on it is that you can synchronize your actions and get in a room full of enemies from let's say 3 sides at once.

We all at Illusion when playing the Beta of Hidden and Dangerous find usually lots of other ways to complete the mission, sometimes the AI programmer is surprised how clever the enemies are - they can climb the ladder when you lay on the roof and are trying to snipe out other enemies, they pull our their pistol when controlling the machine gun and you run out of their range... their behaviour is really unpredictable.

Q: Are the player's soldiers totally dependent on his actions, or can they manage themselves while he's tied up with other jobs (maybe defending himself in 1st person perspective)? Will they defend themselves intelligently if they come under unexpected attack ?

A: Yes, your buddies are very intelligent. If someone starts firing at them or they see some enemy (and have orders to kill, not to hide) they start firing. Of course, they are worse than when you control manually someone.

Click to continue

 

H&D

Q: How will the player control the vehicles in the game ?

A: Easy. Just come at the car door, press the USE button and your soldier sits in the car. Depends on what door you stay when using it and the car, all your men can sit within one car, some can use built in machine gun etc. Driver controls the car, so you can easily run out when the Germans chase you, or shorten distance between two places.

Q: Is this possible in multiplayer too ? Can one player be the driver, another one the gunner, etc ?

A: Of course and this is the best example of multiplayer! One drives the car and another one, sitting in the body of the car, can shoot at enemies. How funny :)

Q: How realistic would you say "H&D" is ? Weapons ballistics ? What weapons will there be modelled in the game ?

A: In the game you will find all main weapons used within WWII, accurate look, proportions, number of bullets etc. It depends what player uses the weapons, because each of your soldier has his own abilities. When someones firing abilities are 60%, it's not very good to make him a sniper :))

Q: What other abilites (like the 60% percent here) will the characters have, besides shooting ?

A: Shooting, reaction, stealth, strength, endurance.

Q: Is accuracy only a matter of weapon type and shooting ability of the character? How is the aiming achieved in 3rd person perspective? Something automatic like in Spec Ops ?

A: Yes, you guessed right. But more tough. In Spec Ops you just pushed the fire and then you shoot automatically at the target, in Hidden you have to aim close to the target, then the program will help you.

H&D

Q: Can the weapons fire through wooden walls/doors?

A: No. But they can shoot through holes on the fence, if you shoot at the pit (Alpha texture), it will go through, if not, the bullet will stop.

A: What objects (besides weapons) will the player use ? Binoculars, wire cutters, mine detectors? Are there any silenced weapons, or maybe knives ?

A: You have lots of objects at your disposal. Binoculars, mines, flare guns, grenades, hand grenades, lots of guns, bazooka, panzer faust, knife (silent weapon) and some objects you find on your missions. But do not expect some healing potions or flying weapons like in Spec Ops or Quake games, only what you can find in real life.

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