Fatal Inertia EX out this month

msmalls74 · 11 May 2008 at 14:01

After not coming out with its 360 counterpart, Fatal inertia comes out on the PSN only this month. No price as yet but im guessing about £20, the US price is supposed to be $30 but i thik it will be nearer $40. Anyway some info from the Eurogamer interview,

Eurogamer: In terms of changes, what sort of things have you focused on? Track design? Physics? Gameplay style? Or a mixture?

Mike Bond: For FI EX, we've focused on making the game much faster, slicker, and more accessible for the player. We've made major changes to the flight model to allow for way more speed, a lot less crashes, and much more fun in general. When the player first loads the game, however, the most obvious improvement will be the new interface and menu environment. Added to this, we've designed a whole new natural world to race in (including eight new courses). FI EX's visuals have been given a substantial improvement as well, from general polish and better lighting to new water and weather effects. To make the game easier to get into, we've also overhauled the early part of Career Mode to give players a smoother introduction to the mechanics of FI.

We've also added a ton of other stuff including co-operative split-screen Career Mode, online leaderboards for best times, Sixaxis and DualShock3 support and even a new difficulty level to give elite players an added challenge!

Eurogamer: What lessons did you take from the Xbox 360 version?

Mike Bond: I think the biggest lesson we took away from the Xbox 360 version was related to game balance. After developing and playing Fatal Inertia for so long, it became very easy to underestimate the difficulty for a beginning player. Our goal was to make FI challenging, but many players found the level of difficulty to be much higher than anticipated. With Fatal Inertia EX, we were given the opportunity to spend more time testing with inexperienced players. As a result, we've added a new venue, the Fatal Inertia Proving Grounds Facility. Not only does this include extensive new training elements, but the Proving Grounds are home to eight new racetracks as well.

Eurogamer: Apart, obviously, from distributing it via the PlayStation 3 Store, what kind of use will you make of PlayStation Network?

Mike Bond: We've implemented online play for up to eight players (even in the demo!) with voice chat and a skill ranking leaderboard. In FI EX, players can do single races or series races (like a mini tournament) where the original only had single races. In addition, if a player is connected to PSN while playing any mode in the game, their lap times will be uploaded to a global leaderboard. Of course, we've made sure to separate Time Trial records from other game modes to make sure that players can display their unassisted times as well.

Eurogamer: There were concerns with the 360 version about frame-rate, particularly in the demo version. How does the game perform on PS3?

Mike Bond: Yeah, the 360 demo didn't run well and we really regret releasing it when we did. The final game performed substantially better but still often dropped frames. In FI EX, we've dramatically improved the frame-rate again and I think players will be pleasantly surprised. This combined with a significantly higher game speed makes for a much, much nicer experience.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=134783

Few other things from the interview is that it will feature 59 tracks, improved weapons and a Demo sometime soon, but there are no plans for DLC at present.

Sounds quite good but i think ill wait for a demo to see if its a purchase, and i also going to see how long between this and Wipeout HDs release.

Metalface Mark · 11 May 2008 at 14:38

I see this is also available for the 360 this week for £4.99 for the full game.

msmalls74 · 11 May 2008 at 14:42

Metalface Mark said:
I see this is also available for the 360 this week for £4.99 for the full game.

FI came out last year on 360 but had many problems as mentioned in the EG interview. This is an "improved" version of that game that is PSN only which sounds like has solved many of the issues that spoiled the 360 version.

Metalface Mark · 11 May 2008 at 15:17

msmalls74 said:
FI came out last year on 360 but had many problems as mentioned in the EG interview. This is an "improved" version of that game that is PSN only which sounds like has solved many of the issues that spoiled the 360 version.

We here that quite often, the old phrase "you cant polish a turd" comes to mind.

Ill be amazed if its anything other than average.

JaFFa · 11 May 2008 at 17:07

Metalface Mark said:
We here that quite often, the old phrase "you cant polish a turd" comes to mind.

Ill be amazed if its anything other than average.

for sure, the game was pap.

McManicMan · 12 May 2008 at 05:21

it sure isn't no Wipeout Hd thats for sure,lol, so why bother.....360 version was total cack, cannot see this tarted up version being any better when Wipeout HD does everything this is trying to do but miles ahead in looks and playablity and due out soon also.