by Randy Sluganski

Our
thanks to everyone at LucasArts for taking valuable time from their busy
schedules to respond to our inane questions.

RTX RED ROCK:

RTX
Red Rock is a third-person action-adventure that promises to be epic
in scope.  Developed by Hal Barwood – respected in the adventure
community for his classic Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis – RTX
Red Rock is a character driven game set on the planet Mars and scheduled
for release in the spring of 2003.

RTX
Red Rock is currently scheduled for a console-only (PS2, GameCube)
release. Are there any plans for an eventual pc conversion?

[Reeve Thompson]  Currently we’re focusing 100% of
our efforts on finishing the PS2 version and have no plans for a PC version,
but that could always change.  Often game companies will wait
and see if a game does well before moving it onto different platforms.  Even
though we have a development version of the game running on the PC, a full
retail PC version of RTX Red Rock would take some significant effort.  This
is a game with a design specifically tailored to a console environment
with a console controller.  To make a high quality PC version
we would need to rethink our entire interface and control scheme so that
it would work with a keyboard and mouse.  Believe it or not,
this is no small effort but it’s one we’d need to do to create a game of
the quality we’d want on the PC.

Can
you tell us little about the adventure elements of RTX Red Rock?  Is
the game heavier on action or is it evenly balanced?

[Reeve Thompson]  I think there’s lots of adventure
elements for adventure fans and lots of action for action fans.  For
instance we have quite a few puzzles that require finding items and using
them correctly, but we also have four bosses in the game which is really
more of an action game thing.  We set out to create a game
with a good balance of these elements.  We’ve created some
amazing environments in the game, so there’s lots to explore and find,
but we’ve also filled this environment with enemies, and therefore combat.  When
Hal first conceived of the game, he wanted to create an action/combat heavy
adventure game and I think he achieved this.

RTX
Red Rock is LucasArts first original game series
since 1998.  Are there currently plans for future installments
in the series?

[Reeve Thompson]  Absolutely.  Wheeler
is a Radical Tactics Expert for the military, and therefore would be sent
on lots of missions, not just this one.  In fact we’re working
on a special comic book that tells the story of the mission when Wheeler
lost his arm and eye, and thus gets his synthetic replacements.  But
this is only the beginning, we see Wheeler as a franchise character and
would love to explore what happens to Wheeler after he saves the Red Rock
colony.  We’re already batting around some ideas for RTX2,
but we need to finish this game before we can really dive into that effort.

You
can read more about RTX Red Rock and enjoy trailers and game demos
at the official RTX Red Rock site (http://www.lucasarts.com/products/rtx/)

INDIANA JONES AND THE EMPEROR’S TOMB:

The
newest Indiana Jones game predates the popular films.  This action-adventure
has the world’s most famous whip-snapper teamed up the beautiful Mei
Ying as they seek the three pieces of the Heart of the Dragon, a powerful
artifact that gives its possessor the ability to shape the minds and
wills of others.  We’ll all be able to join Indy in his
newest adventure in the spring of 2003.

LucasArts
has gone to great extremes to capture the likeness of Harrison Ford
in this newest
Indy adventure.  Do you believe that players can relate
better to a character that is instantly recognizable?

[Jim Tso] Yes, I think players like to step into the shoes of their
favorite characters and become the character. I think that’s what working
with an established character brings to a game: players already have a
context for the character and therefore you can focus more of your time
on gameplay and action as opposed to setup.

Indy’s
well-known for using his wits as well as his fists to solve a problem.  Will
the player be able to make that choice in The Emperor’s Tomb or does
every puzzle only have one solution?

[Jim Tso] We actually don’t have that many puzzles in the traditional
adventure sense but there are definitely many obstacles that Indy has to
overcome.

Is there any possibility
that the newest Indy game could serve as an inspiration for a new Indiana
Jones movie?

[Jim Tso] You never know 🙂

The Xbox version
of Emperor’s Tomb has just been released to rave reviews.  Read
our review tomorrow, but in the meantime visit the official site (http://www.lucasarts.com/products/indiana/)

for additional
information.

FULL THROTTLE 2:

Little is currently known about this much-anticipated sequel.  It
has been almost eight years since we first rode alongside outlaw biker Ben,
leader of the Polecats, a renegade motorcycle gang.  Whatever
road this new installment takes, I’m sure we’ll all be glad to be along for
the ride.  Scheduled for a release date of winter, 2003.

Roy Conrad, the voice of Ben in the original Full Throttle,
passed away last year.  Who is the new voice of Ben and
are there any plans to include an in-game tribute to the original Ben?

[Sean Clark]  We are in
the process of casting a new Ben, and hope to find someone who can bring
what Roy did to the character.  It’s a tall order, but we’re
hopeful.

Are we going to see a kinder, more peace-loving version of
Ben or will he still be cracking jokes and skulls?

[Sean Clark]  Ben is still
Ben.  Sure, he’s a few years older, but he hasn’t changed
much.  He still likes to talk with his fists, thunder down
open roads, and crack wise; irony hasn’t left him behind.  The
writing and design team spent a lot of time with the original game, both
when it was in production and as a refresher more recently, so I think
there’s a sense of authenticity in what we’ve created.

Do you think that the continued popularity of a series like Full
Throttle will depend upon its ability to capture the imagination
of the console crowd?

[Sean Clark]  I think Full
Throttle would remain popular without a sequel.  The original
was a great story surrounding one of the most memorable characters ever
seen in a game.  Ben deserves a bigger audience, though —
there are a lot more people playing games now than there were eight years
ago, and most of them are playing on consoles.  So, we’re
telling a new story with the same character, telling it with lots of gameplay
and new activities, and making it available on consoles as well as PC.

SAM AND MAX 2:

Even less is known about this recently announced sequel to
the now-classic Sam and Max.  But we still managed to dig
deep for a few investigative questions.  The current release
date is sometime in 2004..

Rumors are afoot concerning arcades sequences in Sam and Max
2 – is there any basis to these rumors?

[Michael Stemmle]  Allow me
to answer that in an annoyingly cryptic fashion: We’re taking everything
that people seemed to love about the first Sam and Max game, multiplying
it by five, and getting rid of all the boring junk.

Can we expect the same off-the-wall humor and crazy puzzles
that made the original so popular?

[Michael Stemmle]  We certainly
hope so.  Otherwise, what would be the point, y’know?

Why Sam and Max? 

[Michael Stemmle]  It was either
them or Loom 2: Electric Boogaloo, and, frankly, that Bobbin Threadbare
kid scares the bejeebers out of me.

Its been almost ten years since we last saw these characters,
what prompted LucasArts to bring them back after such a lengthy absence?

[Michael Stemmle]  An amusing
if unlikely alignment of coincidence, desperation, and managerial wisdom.  It’ll
all be in the Director’s Cut DVD.

And
finally, we asked about the rumors concerning the impending announcement
of a new Monkey Island game.  LucasArts
answer – no response.