Dan Dimetrescu is with PCGaming.ro

"Hidden & Dangerous" is one of the most interesting tactical games / realistic 3D shooters yet to be released this year. Set during World War 2, the game puts the player in control of up to 4 British soldiers, carrying out dangerous missions (inspired from actual WW2 missions) in occupied Europe.

The game puts great emphasis on real tactics more than action, and unlike Rainbow Six you can define plans in mid mission.

Illusion Softworks, the developers, are a Czech based games company, but they have already proven their potential and they certainly don't play with "me too" products. All their projects in development go beyond the current standards and "H&D" is no exception.

From the megalomaniac Czech company I give you Petr Vochozka, the producer of "Hidden & Dangerous."

Q: How is "Hidden & Dangerous" going ? I know it should be in full beta soon, but when can we expect the game to be in the shops ?

A: The full Beta is just finished, now the game is in the hands of the Take 2 testing departament and we repair last errors and polish the playability. The game will be in shops by the end of May.

Q: What are the aims of this project ?

A: To be better than the competing projects. Our aim is to create the game the players will love and will say wow to playability and graphics.

Let's speak about the graphics engine used in the game ... How would you rate it compared to other games ? The screenshots look really spectacular but can you tell us what hardware will we need to run the game ? Is it optimized for the AMD 3DNow! and Intel SIMD instruction sets ?

The engine was developed here at Illusion Softworks and runs under Direct3D. Comparing it to other engines is very difficult, because each has its own pros and cons. Ours was mainly designed to screen outdoor sceneries, which are the biggest ever seen in any computer game. HW needed to run Hidden and Dangerous on begins somewhere at P200MMX, but for the best performance you need a PII and a very good 3D card, of course.

Q: What size are the maps in the game, and how long should a mission last from start to finish ? Can you describe a typical H&D mission ?

A: The size varies mission from mission, but the average we will say is a few square miles. This allows us to take care of each detail - the graphics is not set up from squares or predefined parts as in some other games, each level is unique and made from the blank screen.

How long it lasts? There is NO save within the game (only between missions), so when you don't cover well, you replay one mission a few times. The first mission lasts for an average player about 10-15 minutes, the last missions I would guess a few hours. And the typical mission - the missions are really very various, the mission objectives are various - so this question is again very hard to answer.

Q: Let me get this clear : One mission can last a few hours ?! Is this in one go or have you included multiple restarts by the player (due to being killed and failing the mission) ?

A: You have to restart each mission if you do not succeed or are not satisfied with the result. For example, three good men were shot down, anyway with the last one you finish the mission, now it depends on you whether you continue (and thus lose lot of power) or restart.

Q: I know the missions are varied and different, but can you describe one that will show how your game works ? Just tell us the steps the player needs to make from start to finish to complete the mission.

A: I can describe the first mission, the easiest one. Italy, the Bridge. Your four man squad start at one bank of the river and their mission is just to cross the bridge and get to a car on the other side. Now it really depends on you, what tactics you will choose. It is storm and the visibility is very bad. The easiest, for me, is to choose a man with the sniper gun, then shoot the guard on the bridge.

Now from the building run out two soldiers. I can hide behind the big stone and throw grenade to them. Both are dead. Now on the bridge there are some 5-6 other guards, so the best way is to crawl very slowly and use your sniper gun to kill them. Do not forget that when you miss, it is sure they will start firing at you and you are a dead man.

On the other bank there are two other soldiers behind the building, you can snipe them, or the funny way - steal the dead Germans some hand-grenades and throw at them. This is how I finished the mission. Sounds easy but I always lose a man or two.

Brave people will just take a machine gun and try to kill what moves, they can use the path under the bridge (for pedestrians) and try to kill the guards from below. Really tens of possible actions, like in a real war. This was just a very easy first mission. In the second mission, refinery, we ourselves find each time we play it new ways how to succeed.

Q: Can you compare the character control interface to other 3D shooters ... How much freedom of movement and action will the player have ?

A: Hidden and Dangerous is not a shooter. When you stay face to face to an enemy, your chances to stay alive are 50 to 50. In fact, there is a possibility to switch over to 1st person, controls are like in other games - mouse turning around and aiming, ctrl firing, side arrows strafes. Of course set up control options are included.

Q: Can you elaborate more on "your chances to stay alive are 50 to 50?"

A: Each enemy has its own abilities, like you have. Some good snipers shoot you down in one shot. Some worse soldiers shoot worse, depends on how our designers set them up. I wanted to say when you don't take cover and just shoot at the enemy, if you do not kill him for the first shot, he will start firing at you without any delays.

Now it depends who is sharper at the moment. You can help yourself when you do not stay like in a shop window, but lay down. It also depends where you/enemy are hit - if in head, you are killed, if in some limbs, they can shoot more times at you until you die.

Q: Will the player be able to climb walls or trees, crawl, swim through water ? Is it possible to hide the corpses of killed sentinels (like in Commandos), and if yes, will the enemy react to the sentinels absence ?

A: You can climb ladders, crawl, swimming is not included. You can't hide the corpses, but you can take all the weapons they have.

Q: Also, how does the tactical interface of the game work ? What actions can be programmed into the members of the team ?

A: When you start the game, you recognize very soon that running and shooting will keep you alive for only seconds. You have to cover well, think tactically and use all your men to complete the mission objectives. All you can do by yourself you can order in a tactical map (the game stops when you are in map mode), walking, firing, using objects, opening doors etc. The best thing on it is that you can synchronize your actions and get in a room full of enemies from let's say 3 sides at once.

We all at Illusion when playing the Beta of Hidden and Dangerous find usually lots of other ways to complete the mission, sometimes the AI programmer is surprised how clever the enemies are - they can climb the ladder when you lay on the roof and are trying to snipe out other enemies, they pull our their pistol when controlling the machine gun and you run out of their range... their behaviour is really unpredictable.

Q: Are the player's soldiers totally dependent on his actions, or can they manage themselves while he's tied up with other jobs (maybe defending himself in 1st person perspective)? Will they defend themselves intelligently if they come under unexpected attack ?

A: Yes, your buddies are very intelligent. If someone starts firing at them or they see some enemy (and have orders to kill, not to hide) they start firing. Of course, they are worse than when you control manually someone.

Q: How will the player control the vehicles in the game ?

A: Easy. Just come at the car door, press the USE button and your soldier sits in the car. Depends on what door you stay when using it and the car, all your men can sit within one car, some can use built in machine gun etc. Driver controls the car, so you can easily run out when the Germans chase you, or shorten distance between two places.

Q: Is this possible in multiplayer too ? Can one player be the driver, another one the gunner, etc ?

A: Of course and this is the best example of multiplayer! One drives the car and another one, sitting in the body of the car, can shoot at enemies. How funny :)

Q: How realistic would you say "H&D" is ? Weapons ballistics ? What weapons will there be modelled in the game ?

A: In the game you will find all main weapons used within WWII, accurate look, proportions, number of bullets etc. It depends what player uses the weapons, because each of your soldier has his own abilities. When someones firing abilities are 60%, it's not very good to make him a sniper :))

Q: What other abilites (like the 60% percent here) will the characters have, besides shooting ?

A: Shooting, reaction, stealth, strength, endurance.

Q: Is accuracy only a matter of weapon type and shooting ability of the character? How is the aiming achieved in 3rd person perspective? Something automatic like in Spec Ops ?

A: Yes, you guessed right. But more tough. In Spec Ops you just pushed the fire and then you shoot automatically at the target, in Hidden you have to aim close to the target, then the program will help you.

Q: Can the weapons fire through wooden walls/doors?

A: No. But they can shoot through holes on the fence, if you shoot at the pit (Alpha texture), it will go through, if not, the bullet will stop.

A: What objects (besides weapons) will the player use ? Binoculars, wire cutters, mine detectors? Are there any silenced weapons, or maybe knives ?

A: You have lots of objects at your disposal. Binoculars, mines, flare guns, grenades, hand grenades, lots of guns, bazooka, panzer faust, knife (silent weapon) and some objects you find on your missions. But do not expect some healing potions or flying weapons like in Spec Ops or Quake games, only what you can find in real life.

Q: There's very little information available on the AI of the enemy soldiers ... Can you share some info ?

A: The AI is the best ever seen in any computer game. It's advantage is that the enemies not only see you, but also hear!! Described a little bit in one above answer. There is a funny example - you can use a camera to make snapshots (in the game directory they appear as real bitmaps and you can easily use them) - we tried to make a snapshot of 2 guardians (from the back), but they heard the camera trigger and turned. This was the last shot the poor soldier did :))

Q: How do the enemies react when the player has been spotted ? Will they send patrols after him, and do they share information between teams ?

A: Again, depends on the abilities each character has. Sometimes they cooperate, sometimes not. Sometimes it is random.

Q: Do they have any morale issues, like being afraid to fight if outnumbered and therefore surrendering ?

A: No, they all are very brave :)

Q: Tell us about the multiplayer options in the game. What modes of play will be included ? Cooperative/Team vs Team maybe ?

A: Two modes - cooperative - each man (up to four) controls one soldier and cooperativelly you try to complete missions objectives, the other one is just for fun - multiplayer (deathmatch). The game is not a shooter, but why not to sit in a tank and roll over your best friend firing at you from a weak machine gun :)

A: Thanks Petr!