Loose Cannon Preview

Loose Cannon is a mission-based game but it won't be linear... far from it. There will be a main background linear plot that will run through all twenty or something missions, but no events will be fixed. For instance, if you're driving and you see a bank being robbed, it will be up to you to decide if you want to stop the thieves and earn a few bucks or just continue your way (again, Privateer déjà vu - Ed). The missions will mostly belong to one of these categories: car chases, hostage rescues, escorting convoys, attacking enemy bases. The great thing about all this is that you are able to stop the car at any moment and step out.... And not only will you be able to do it - many missions will require you to do so. The developers think that proper balance between the two modes of play should make playability and dynamics far better. Of course, when you're out of your car you have to be extremely careful, especially if you're out of town. The only thing that will not be possible in this little game will be to enter buildings or talk to NPCs. If the game had these features it would simply be too good to be true, but the programmers decided to disregard these aspect from the start and concentrate on doing the rest of the job the best possible way...

The game will probably feature 15 vehicles altogether. I say probably because the authors did not intend to feature motorcycles initially, but that might change as they now have a lot of time at disposal. If they don't change anything, you can expect to have a good ride in sports cars, corvettes, trucks, armored cars, hummers, SUVs and police vehicles... It is up to you to acquire them (by thieving or purchase) and other equipment (tire repair kits, land mines, spikes).

As for the weapons, you'll have some twenty gadgets at your disposal: 10mm Mini Gun, X-Ray Laser, Grenade Launcher, Ruby Ked Laser, Sniper Rifle, 0.45, flame thrower, Uzi, Micro Missile Launcher, Heavy Cannon, Assault Rifle...

The single-player mode will be the most important aspect of the game and the developers claim they've created an exceptionally intelligent AI. AI opponents will become aware of both your and their strong or weak points, and they will try to use that against you. They will be equally inconvenient weather waiting in ambush or hunting you down. Their behavior in combat has been given full attention. First, not all encounters have to end in mortal combat. They will know when it is time to call for help or run away. You will frequently have to leave your car in order to run after them. Their vision will be realistic. They will only see what's in front of them, and have a shorter range of vision at night. They will only hear sounds that are louder than ambience noise. This should open many new tactical possibilities. For instance, if you want to pass your enemies at night, you better turn your headlights off... They will also rationally decide when it is time to go on-foot, or drive a vehicle, or which vehicle to drive depending on the task they have to perform.

You will also have to be a bit smarter, as you won't be able to control just any situation. In some missions you'll have to cooperate with the cops or other bounty hunters. Oh, Ashe will have a partner, Jackson who will keep helping him throughout the game.

Loose Cannon has been focused on providing the best possible single-player experience, but you can hardly have a good game without a multiplayer mode nowadays, can you? The game will support up to eight players over Internet/LAN connection as they fight in Death Match, CTF and Capture-and-Hold AKA King of the Hill mods (no cooperative mods unfortunately). As the single player maps are too big for this number of players the game will have at least five special multiplayer maps. These maps won't be as realistic as the single player maps as they will be designed to have extremely high fun-factor. You can expect desert maps with big ramps, forest maps with bunkers and so on. The CTF mod promises a lot of fun and possible tactics.

One more thing about the multiplayer mode... thanks to the stat-loving coders, you'll have precise info on the number of frags, number of crashed vehicles, number of kills with a certain weapon, etc... all this with a complex scoring system, which will grant you bonuses for stunts. The players will have a lot to compete about...

There. I have nothing more to add, except that I can hardly wait for this one, as it does sound extremely promising...