Say what you will about Red Faction, whether you enjoyed the open world nature of Guerrilla or the first person shooter-centered initial games, no one can deny that it had a certain appeal even with the disappointing Armageddon’s release. Though the franchise was auctioned off following THQ’s bankruptcy, Volition Inc senior producer Jim Boone stated that if it ever was revived, he’d want developer DICE to handle it.
Speaking to OXM, Boone stated that, “The fact that they have had experience, and understand what it means to perform destruction, and what kind of compromises you actually have to make – maximising the opportunities that it presents from a design standpoint. I think you almost by definition have to be someone who has some experience in destruction so yeah, I’d totally be giving it up to DICE, if I could choose anyone.”
Given DICE’s experience with destruction in its video games, especially the upcoming Battlefield 4 which implements real-time reshaping of its levels for tactical supremacy, it seems like a good choice. Boone also remared about the “smarter” destruction of Frostbite compared to Volition’s GeoMod. “In Red Faction, I could destroy every single bit of wall I wanted to. In Bad Company, I could destroy one part of wall, but the outer edges would stay. And the gamer didn’t care.
“They just thought ‘I shot that wall and it blew up and that’s amazing.’ Not ‘I shot the wall right there and there’s a hole right there.’ Because DICE made that one compromise, everything else looked amazing. And I think that was a smart call, frankly.”
Battlefield 4 will be releasing on October 29th in North America for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, with next generation versions due in November for PS4 and Xbox One.