Kill Switch Inteview

We managed to catch up with the legendary Bitmap Brothers team who were responsible for such classics as Speedball and the Chaos Engine to find out more about the PC port of Namco’s Kill.Switch. With the console ports having already received much praise we think this is one title PC gamers should keep their eyes on. Now on with the interview…How is it that a studio most well known for original game production wound up porting an action game to the PC?The Bitmap Brothers team has acquired lot of experience and respect in the industry through the creation of original games. Even if they continue the creation of original videogames, they also have some great programming talent that allows them to make PC conversions from consoles. Their extensive knowledge of the PC environment also guarantees a real adaptation and not a mere port. They are of course very excited by the fact of working on kill.switch which is already a major hit on consoles in the US!Would someone who already played kill.switch on the Xbox have any reason to play your version for the PC?Yes of course. First of all, on PC, you can adjust the resolution and play until 1600×1200 (and even more depending on your videocard and screen), which offers a very good accuracy and better graphics. Then it cannot be compared anymore to a game seen on a TV, for sure ! Now on PC, the game supports Dolby Digital to offer a crazy sound !!! Try kill.switch with 5 speakers and be immerged into the world of intense combats ! Of course, gameplay and commands have been optimised to keyboard and mouse. And it is a complete really new approach when playing Kill.Switch on PC.Will you be adding elements from other genres or just expanding on the gameplay that exists?Kill.switch is a conversion from console. It means that we will have the same new features, the same number of levels and environment than on consolesCan you please include Speedball or Xenon 2 or Gods as Easter eggs in kill.switch?What a great idea ! But do not forget this is a Namco license so we cannot add games from Bitmap Brothers inside !!! But what do you think of Pac-Man ? ;)Much has been said of the “offensive cover” gameplay in kill.switch; do you see any room for improvement in the gameplay?Here is a short sum-up of new offensive cover system included :In a firefight, staying alive should be of utmost importance. kill.switch focuses on using cover. To that end, the environments in kill.switch were built around the concept utilizing the environment to your advantage. In kill.switch, you don’t hide behind cover; you use it offensively. Hence, the “Offensive Cover System”. Popping out from cover and exposing yourself to fire might work in other games, but that wasn’t the type of action that we wanted to duplicate or represent. In our case, it just wasn’t realistic. In real life, you’re more likely to fire from behind cover with little to no exposure of yourself at all.Would you say kill.switch is more violent or less violent than other games in the genre?Kill.Switch is as violent as other kind of games in relation with counter-terrorism and military forces, as you use military weapons and as the universe is real !Namco’s Chris Esaki said in a recent interview that they thought kill.switch would make a compelling co-op multiplayer game. Is this something you’ve been asked to add?Well that is a very good idea as multiplayer game reinforce gameplay and lifespan. But in fact none had been included as kill.switch was initially designed as an immersive single-player experience. But who knows for the futureWill enemy AI reap any benefits from PCs’ generally superior processing power? Are there any other new-to-the-PC features you want to mentionThe A.I. in kill.switch is very intense. The enemy will come at you aggressively, yet intelligently, using the same methods, tactics, and weapons you might use yourself. Anything you can do with the Offensive Cover System and Blindfire can be performed by the enemy as well. However, it should be said that the enemy do have access to some things you do not: for example, greater numbers and air support (which is dependent on the mission).On PC, there are also many different, dynamic choices the enemy AI might make depending on the situation it finds itself in. Combine that with the player’s style of playing, and you’ll find that going through the same level in kill.switch will prove to be a different experience for everybody.