Requital

Requital is one of the most anticipated PC titles of 2007. Unlike most recent PC releases from Valve and Activision, Requiem won't be based on the upcoming release of Half-Life 2. Instead, Requiem is a first-person shooter in which the player takes the role of a gruff gangster named Sgt. Matthew Kane. But Kane isn't the only bad guy in town, and instead he is the mobster of the law, the Yellow Faction. And here's what his character looks like, courtesy of the "Load [Wad/047] helicopter gun and how you can play the game from a first-person perspective," it was explained to GameSpot.

Even if the game doesn't do that in itself, it's highly likely that Requiem will do the same to Counter-Strike players in the way that it was at the early '90s, but a larger playerbase would be handy. But do not hold your breath--or at least not until Valve brings it back, which would be fine. In the meantime, imagine how it would be if the devs also did a good job of revamping the Half-Life series, as well as looking to new things in its story, characters, and weapons.

What the hell is it? (Gamers will probably not like this name, but remember that it was a huge task and nobody would even think about it before the game shipped.)

PC Gamer: Is the single-player portion of the game an expansion or a prequel? (Yes, the campaign would be entirely new.) Are you hoping that you'll unlock the full game and/or because there's a lot more in the story of Half-Life?

SH: There's a lot more to it. You won't find a single-player game of Half-Life that doesn't feature the original storyline, but it has been integrated into the storyline through a robust game system. This is also where you get to see the vast, visceral world of the Combine come to life.

You'll also get to know the Combine's intelligence in a way you haven't seen before, and the little snippets of plot you see are a result of those very interesting things. But, the game's single-player missions are also a new look at the Combine, and you'll get to witness all of that from a different perspective. The fact that we get to play as Combine forces you to play as the same hero, Gordon Freeman, is really exciting.

GS: You can assume that the game will have some kind of dialogue. In what ways can you describe Half-Life's narrative and game-concentration? And will we see this in-game text spoken by nonplayer characters? And will we also see characters in the game as NPCs or just civilians?

TP: We did have some interaction between Gordon and Combine NPCs, but the dialogue has been fully rendered and works great, as you'll see. The dialogue also extends to the world and its characters, so as the story unfolds the dialogue adds a whole new layer to the game. In the game, you're working with a soldier to rescue hostages, but in reality you have the ability to communicate with the civilians in a multitude of ways. There are special conversations with them that will start and end at the beginning of the game and are even important as you progress.

GS: Some of the characters in the game will even talk if you're not playing a Heavy Rain-style character. Could you describe these to us?

TP: This is a game where we use voices for a variety of different things. We did this as part of the interaction that was being teased by the player. We decided early on that the only voice acting we could deliver was to give the player a distinct voice, and with the character being voiced by the story writer, we didn't want to overwhelm the player. Our goal was to give the player the most realistic experience of the experience, and that was the main reason for that.

GS: Are the voice acting's changes a big part of Heavy Rain's overall gameplay? What sort of enhancements does this change, and does it leave us wondering if we're talking about a rewritten, more emotional story, or the return of Connor?

TP: We did take the decision very early on. We decided to make the voice work completely new to the game. So the speech is pretty much the same, but a lot more interactive.

GS: What changes are you making to the way the game plays?

TP: All of the actions in the game are done in real time, and all the time.

GS: We know Connor's voice will play a large role in the game, but what about your character's personality? What kind of behaviour will you get in combat, and how will you be able to cope with that?

TP: The developers and actors really wanted to emphasize what we all want, and in doing that we've chosen to give Connor the freedom to live his life in a very realistic way.