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Good news for those of you looking forward to upcoming Bond game Quantum of Solace – developer Treyarch drafted in the services of the God of War combat designer to make sure the QTE melee combat was up to scratch.
The man in question is Derek Daniels, who was added to the Quantum of Solace team to ensure the quick time event-based melee combat was enjoyable, responsive and very straightforward. The PlayStation exclusive God of War series, as we all know, is one of the best action titles of the last generation, with QTE combat to die for.
Speaking on what the developer learnt from the QTE melee combat in High Moon Studios’ Bourne Conspiracy, Treyarch’s Adam Gascoine, the co-design director on Quantum of Solace, told VideoGamer.com: “We simplified it. We remembered that we’re a game, right, so what we want to make sure is that it’s fun to do. And also if it’s something that you’re going to repeat hundreds of times probably throughout the game it needs to be something that’s enjoyable hundreds of times. It’s not going to be the greatest thing you’ve ever done by the hundredth time but as long as it’s not frustrating and it’s enjoyable to get through that works for us.
“So what we did was we got the God of War combat designer to come over, his name’s Derek Daniels, he’s a great guy, really good designer, and we said look, what is enjoyable, feels responsive, feels like you’re involved but you don’t have to sit there and press every single button? So we came up with a melee system that’s very straightforward and you don’t have to do it either. That’s the other thing. One of the things in the Bourne game is you’re forced into it. We elected not to do that. You can choose whether to do it or not. You can just keep using your gun all the way through but if you want to get into melee combat that is available to you. And when you do it’s very straightforward, it’s fairly simple button presses with consequences obviously if you fail but not drastic, it’s fairly casual. We want to keep it fairly simple.”
Wondering how Quantum of Solace is shaping up? Find out over at our hot off the press hands-on preview. You can expect the interview with Treyarch’s Adam Gascoine in full later this week.
