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Platform: Playstation 2 Genre: Extreme Sports Publisher: TBA Developer: Bungarra ETA: Q1 2003
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Codename Smokin' Barrels
When I first head the title, Codename Smokin’ Barrels (CSB), the image that was conjured up was of a budget first-person shooter then some kind of horrible Donkey Kong clone. As you can tell by the screenshots, it’s neither.
CSB seems to be an amalgam of ideas and concepts from SSX, Transworld Surf, and Tony Hawk Pro Skater. I know what you’re thinking, (because I thought the same thing) another “me too” game. Bungarra Software, the Australian development house behind the project, was formed on the basis of creating a full 3D “Surfing Game” back in 1996. It wasn’t until mid-1999 that the team had some kind of gameplay demo and a workable engine. It was enough to attract a publisher in 2000 and some much needed funds. And it’s starting to take form with some really nifty looking wave action and insane tricks. |
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A
brief description of the basic gameplay: “Ride
for your life past swinging axes, through flaming fires of death,
burning shots of steam, ride through collapsing buildings,
and wild whirlpools, spiral down rapids, over giant waterfalls through
the grandest of canyons, dodging huge boulders, flying
objects, cars, planes and trains…”
And judging by the screenshots and in-game movies, the
description is accurate. Obviously,
this is not your average surfing game and has as much in common with
real surfing as SSX has with real snowboarding.
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Specific information is short at the moment, but here’s what is known. There are “seven mind-blowing levels from around the globe” but of course none of them could exist in real life. There’s an emphasis on performing tricks, with relative points awarded to each one successfully completed. (Currently the number of different tricks is about 40, probably with some specific to a character.) Timing seems to be a big part of things since your on-screen avatar is always moving forward on a wave (at least in the available demo videos), but it remains to be seen if CSB takes its cues from SSX or Tony Hawk – either a continuous track from start to finish or more free-form levels like Tony Hawk, but with waves being necessary setting CSB up like a Tony Hawk level would require some real creativity. There will be a variety of modes available including Mutliplayer, Party, Trick, Swindle (?), and Free session, besides the obvious competition and single event modes.
One of the hallmarks of all the aforementioned games are the characters. I’ve only seen three characters for CSB: a bikini clad bombshell, a big hulking Samoan type, and a backwoods hick. Bungarra should be careful to include a healthy variety of different surfers with unique attributes and special moves. And knowing Australians, this should be a given. (Remember they gave the world Tank Girl, Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Mad Max, Crocodile Dundee, and Yahoo Serious.) Bungarra expects to have seven characters (with a couple of hidden ones).
One last thing, if Bungarra hopes to appeal to the same extreme sports audience, they'd better be sure the control is accessible. (There's reason to doubt that it isn't but I haven't any hands-on play.)
Codename Smokin' Barrels is still a ways off yet with, an expected release of Q1 2003. We'll let you know how it turns out.
- Omni (May 29, 2002) |
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