Relic’s Jeff Brown talks WWII action-strategy for the Xbox 360.

Steming from a Sgt. Rock coming book comes The Outfit. An Xbox360 exclusive World War II action / strategy game which is also the first console game ever for game developer Relic (Homeworld). Recently, Gamecloud had the chance to chat with the game’s lead designer Jeff Brown, and was able to find out more about the upcoming game, The Outfit which is being published by THQ, due out next month.

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Steming from a Sgt. Rock coming book comes The Outfit. An Xbox360 exclusive World War II action / strategy game which is also the first console game ever for game developer Relic (Homeworld). Recently, Gamecloud had the chance to chat with the game’s lead designer Jeff Brown, and was able to find out more about the upcoming game, The Outfit which is being published by THQ, due out next month.

Gamecloud – First, how did the idea for The Outfit come about?

Jeff Brown – Like everything else in The Outfit, it was a real team idea. Ron Moravek, the head honcho here at Relic, came to me with the idea to make a strategy game on console. I wanted to accomplish that while still keeping the gameplay fresh, fast, and accessible. We sort of collectively set it in WW2, and the core team came up with the over the top action vibe that permeates the game. It makes it so easy when everyone is involved in the creative process and really buys into the game you’re trying to make.

GC – What can you tell us about the storyline for the game and how it compares to more serious WWII titles?

Jeff Brown – The story follows three heroic, over the top characters and their squads through northern France in the fall of 1944, a few months after D Day. That’s pretty much where history ends and The Outfit begins. Your job is to track down a Nazi general who is killing civilians on his way out of France. Along the way you find love, betrayal, death, and redemption. Its totally over the top and very tongue in cheek, not a stodgy, 50% gray history lesson.

GC – What are the playable characters in The Outfit like?

Jeff Brown – There are six playable characters in The Outfit, three Axis and three Allies. Each character has unique attributes – JD is fast, but doesn’t have a ton of health, Tommy is tough but slow, and Deuce can buy stuff cheaper than everyone else, for example. All six of these commanders also have different weapons, different grenades, and unique squad commands they can issue. All the characters are bigger than life action heroes, so even the weakest guy can take several rounds to the chest and keep on truckin.

GC – What will the single player missions in the game be like?

Jeff Brown – The single player missions in The Outfit are fast, furious, and intense. Even in the first mission of the game, you are driving tanks, calling in airstrikes, and killing hundreds of Nazis, not throwing potatoes into bathtubs… There are 12 single player missions that take the player from tight city streets to wide open farmland and everything in between. Some of the missions are fairly linear, but many feature wide open environments that allow the player to dictate the action.

GC – The Outfit mixes action with some strategy elements. How hard was it to mix these two types of gameplay?

Jeff Brown – The Outfit definitely has a tricky balance between the action and strategy. When we were making the game, we knew we wanted to focus on the action aspect of the game first, to provide a really exciting, action packed experience from moment to moment. This carries through to the strategy elements of the game as well – they are all fast, readily accessible, and easy to use and understand.

GC – What can you tell us about the variety of units in the game?

Jeff Brown – There are a ton of different units in The Outfit. There are more than 20 drivable vehicles in the game, including trains, armored cars, tanks, and even a wheelbarrow! With six commanders to choose from in multiplayer, there is something for everyone as far as your playable character goes. There are also six different types of enemy foot soldiers, not to mention more than a dozen unique emplacement types. I think players are going to be really pleased by the amount of flexibility and variety The Outfit gives them.

GC – Much has been made of The Outfit’s destructible environments and physics engine. How do these elements affect gameplay?

Just today in a multiplayer game, one of the guys on my team used his tank cannon to blow an enemy player into the air and I sniped him in mid flight. While an extreme example (man, it felt great J , it’s the kind of emergent gameplay you get from having great physics systems. Destruction plays a major role in the game, as you can open up new paths by knocking down walls and buildings, blow up pieces of cover the enemy is hiding behind, and generally blow the hell out of everything in the game.

GC – What can you tell us about the Nazis and their enemy units in the game?

Jeff Brown – There are three Nazi commanders in The Outfit and three different types of foot soldiers as well. They each have different weapon loadouts, different abilities, and the Axis vehicles are, of course, all different from their Allied counterparts. In single player, enemies primarily consist of Wermacht, or regular German army, and SS, the elite German forces. Each of these units can have a variety of different weapons to keep you on your toes, and there are also super tough Officers, tanks, armored cars, emplacements, artillery, airstrikes… suffice it to say that the Nazi units kick some serious butt.

GC – How will the game use the Xbox Live elements for multiplayer?

Jeff Brown – We have tons of Xbox Live support.You can play up to eight players over Live in ranked games, custom games, quick matches, player matches, etc. You can also play through the entire single player story with a friend in a Co-op game over Live. We also support system link and 2 player split screen modes.

GC – What other unique gameplay elements will The Outfit have?

Jeff Brown – The number one feature in The Outfit is something we call Destruction on Demand. This refers to the ability to call in anything you want, any time you want. Need a tank? Pop open your DoD menu and bring one in by spending FU’s (field units, the currency of The Outfit). Earn more FU’s by killing, capturing, and causing as much mayhem as you possibly can.

GC – What can you tell us about the game’s graphics and how they take advantage of the Xbox 360 hardware?

Jeff Brown – Our artists did a terrific job of using all the shaders and polygon pushing power of the 360. From normal maps to high dynamic range to a bunch of other stuff I don’t really understand, the game looks terrific and is a big step from previous consoles. The power of the system also means we can have more than 100 high rez units running around at the same time.

GC – Are there any plans for downloadable content for the game after its release and also a playable demo for download via Xbox Live?

Jeff Brown – There is a multiplayer demo that will be available on Marketplace March 3rd. It includes one full multiplayer We have downloadable multiplayer levels already in the works, and plans for a lot more.

GC – What is the current status of the game’s progress and when will it be released?

Jeff Brown – The Outfit is currently in certification testing at Microsoft, so its pretty much 100% done. Our street date is March 13th, 2006.

GC – Finally is there anything else you wish to say about The Outfit?

Jeff Brown – We’re really proud of The Outfit, and I think when players buy it and start playing, they are going to have a really great time, both in single and multiplayer. See you online!