Gaming News - July 2002
Montreal, Quebec (July 23, 2002) - Strategy First today announced
their upcoming game Robin Hood. The game will give players the chance to
play as the famous outlaw as he tries restore King Richard to the throne of
England.
From Strategy First:
In one of the most exciting PC games of the year, players are immersed into
the magical world of Robin Hood. As Robin Hood, players are sworn to return the
throne to King Richard. To do this, they must collect enough gold to pay the
King’s ransom and chase Prince John from the Kingdom.
There are over 40 separate missions of three different types;
- Robbery and Infiltration: here players must find their way into enemy
castles in order to seize riches amassed by the Normans on the backs of the
poor; free hostages; attend secret meetings; or prevent the marriage of Marian
to the despicable Guy of Guisbourne.
- Castle Attack: here players must help the Saxons to conquer an
enemy-occupied castle. They must weaken strategic Norman posts in order to
make an invasion by the Saxon army possible.
- Ambush: a smaller mission in Sherwood in which players must stop the tax
collector’s convoy by trapping and attacking its escort or weaken enemy troops
on their way to sieges.
Before every mission, players select five team members on the basis of their
individual abilities. To successfully complete the operation, players must rely
on their skill as tacticians and utilize the competencies of each of their
companions, without getting them captured or killed.
The simple and highly intuitive interface enables players to easily
coordinate the actions of all five of the characters. For example, while Friar
Tuck is taking down a guard, Stutely is putting the final touches on the trap he
is setting, and Robin is crawling between two bushes, positioning himself for
the arrival of the tax collector’s carriage.
At any point, players may choose to turn on the ”view cone” or ”detection
cone” displayed for only one enemy at a time that enables them to determine
their field of vision. The system is coupled with a set of small icons that are
displayed above the heads of all enemies appearing in a scene and symbolizes
their mood: exclamation points for alarm, question marks for worry, storm cloud
for annoyance, etc. In addition, the color of the symbols represents the
intensity of the emotion: a red exclamation point indicates a maximum state of
alarm.
There is no imposed linear order for the missions. Players have a choice of
several missions of different kinds. They can proceed as they wish, even
favoring certain types of missions over others if they so desire.
Scenarios involve all of the most memorable faces of the Robin Hood legend:
Maid Marian, Little John, Friar Tuck, and others. As players move through the
story line, they recruit new companions, each with their own special talents.
For example, when a player has saved Maid Marian, she joins the ranks of the
rebels.
More than nine places have been modeled: Sherwood Forest, Nottingham Castle,
Lincoln, York, Leicester, Derby and 3 forest intersections. Each of them offers
one or several different atmospheres: day, night or fog. The ability to interact
with the environment is also highly advanced. Players can open doors, enter
buildings, go upstairs, leap onto ramparts, cling to vines, set off traps, lower
drawbridges, and so on.
From castle dungeons to York Cathedral, all decors have been extensively
researched in order to recreate an authentic medieval atmosphere and ensure an
impressive level of detail and an unparalleled feeling of realism.
Join the excitement and adventure of Robin Hood scheduled to hit retail
stores in Winter 2002.
For more information about the game log onto
www.wanadoo-edition.com or
www.strategyfirst.com
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