Introduction

Late last year FiringSquad got a chance to play a quick two level press demo of Infernal, a third person action game from developer Metropolis Software that used the AGEIA PhysX physics engine to great effect as well as some impressive visuals. FiringSquad got a chance to ask Metropolis Software some questions about the game and received answers from the company's PR rep Pawel Miechowski and the game's lead artist Przemyslaw Marszal.

FiringSquad: First, how did the idea for Infernal come about?

Pawel Miechowski: You know how these things happen - the devil came to us one day and told us to create a game for him, otherwise we would all be damned forever ;)

Seriously – the whole concept grew up upon an idea of creating an unusual hero. Unusual because of his character, style, look - and because of his infernal abilities, on which the gameplay is founded. From the first scratch we knew exactly what features we wanted this hero to have and how he would use them in the game. We based the whole game around this character concept.

FiringSquad: What can you tell us about the fictional back story for the game?

Pawel Miechowski: It's about the eternal conflict between good and evil, while the player soon finds out that the two sides are not as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ as one would assume. In INFERNAL, good and evil are represented by special intelligence agencies. They have been fighting each other since the dawn of time, for human souls, but the methods have since become more... mhm... modern. The main character is Ryan Lennox. He used to be the best agent for heaven’s agency – EtherLight - but was fired because of his rather violent nature: he just loves battles and shootouts. His methods didn't fit well with EtherLight, and worse: his bosses felt Ryan might be dangerous, because he knew too much and they had some new plans regarding their enemies, the agency in service of Hell called Abyss. Now, Etherlight’s first action was to eliminate all of Abyss’ agents. The second step is supposed to be an ambush set to kill Ryan. Abyss’ president – Mr. Black – tries to contact Ryan to convince him to work for the Abyss, because all his agents have been eliminated by EtherLight and he needs Lennox as a kind of freelance agent. On the other hand Lennox needs Abyss because he lost all his special powers after being fired from EtherLight, and he knows sooner or later EtherLight will hunt him down, so Mr. Black and Lennox have to cooperate to survive.

FiringSquad: What will the single player missions and environments be like?

Pawel Miechowski: The adventure takes player in a series of different missions, in a variety of surroundings. The first mission leads Ryan into an old medieval monastery, somewhere in the Alps. Then the story continues at a refinery with widespread industrial environments. The missions vary between open areas and interiors.

FiringSquad: What sort of weapons will the player have access to in Infernal?

Pawel Miechowski: The basic weapons are shurikens and a pistol, followed by machine guns. Later, Ryan will also be able to use more complicated guns such as a flamethrower or a bazooka. That’s not all, but some weapons better be a surprise for players. But the most important thing is that every weapon can be used in two ways: a regular way, and a devilish one. To use a gun in a devilish way, Ryan needs to collect mana, which makes the gun far more powerful. Weapons used in the devilish way give the player different possibilities then the regular weapons.