L.A. Rush [PS2]

Yahoo! Video Games: Tell us about your development objectives for LA Rush. How long have you been working on the game?

Tony Parkes: The technology that we built for LA Rush was created over 15 months, although we have been working on the entire game for 2 years. A lot of the initial time was spent researching L.A.

YVG: LA Rush has a... let's say... relaxed attitude to authority. Did this cause problems when approaching car manufacturers for licenses? Do you think manufacturers have loosened up over the way their products are represented in games?

TP: "Relaxed attitude to authority?" Hmmm, we allow the player to race in the way they want to. If the player decides to speed or break the law by crashing into other vehicles, then the cops are always on hand to deal with him. We worked closely with all the manufacturers and most were very supportive. As to the few that had concerns, when they realized it is an arcade game and the car is always reset into pristine condition, they came around.

YVG: How close is the game's map to the real LA?

TP: Most of the city's locations are true to life: Hollywood, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Mulholland, and South Central, and we spent months researching and taking reference from around Los Angeles. We have taken some creative freedom where it made sense, allowing the player to get around the map quickly but I think anyone familiar with Los Angeles will recognize the map and landmarks.

YVG: Which areas of LA presented the greatest challenges to your artists?

TP: Most of the inner city areas were a challenge. There is a lot of detail in those areas and it took a lot of reference and modeling (and remodeling) to get it right. The sheer volume of the entire world was the greatest challenge. We feature 350sq miles of drive able city, this is difficult to recreate in any type of game.

YVG: Tell us about the voice cast. Were they fun to work with?

TP: They were a lot of fun. We had Orlando Jones, Bill Bellamy, Twista, Trikz and the West Coast Customs guys all voice the game.

YVG: What about the music? Can you give us some examples of the tracks you've licensed?

TP: We wanted to go with some exciting Hip Hop music as it was a good fit for the game. We licensed never before released music tracks from Twista as well as lil' Kim's 'The Jump Off' and other songs from Hip Hops finest artists.

YVG: Why did you pick the Nissan 240SX as the starting car? What more exotic vehicles await players? Is there a car you wanted to include, but couldn't?

TP: The 240SX seemed like a good fit and is a nice car to start with. Once we identified the cars that we wanted to feature in the game, our licensing department worked with the manufacturers on securing the rights to use the cars in the game. We got all the cars we wanted to feature, although the list was a little bigger and we were ultimately limited by the amount of cars we could model in the time we had.

The game has over 30 licensed cars. It also has 20 additional concept cars designed by WCC and RIDES magazine most of which can be unlocked by exploring the world and performing insane stunts.

YVG: Can you give us an overview of the different types of mission?

TP: The heart of the game is single-player story mode, which places you in the role of a young wealthy street racer who has had his warehouse of over 30 cars stolen by a rival prior to a series of big money races. Steal back your cars, pimp them out and ultimately win the series of races to reclaim your throne. Within this story mode you unlock multiplayer tracks, and in classic Midway fashion you find tons of hidden pickups like additional cars, money, races,

In single player, we take full advantage of the city by placing street races all over the 5 distinct city locations. Some of these races are 2 lap runs or fast paced point A to point B races. We also offer retribution missions, stunt missions, cruise modes, low rider modes... a solid lineup of races and events that the player can unlock and acquire.

YVG: What's left to do, if anything? How's it shaping up?

TP: There is nothing left to do. We have submitted the final version to Sony and Microsoft and are waiting for approval. I personally am very happy with the end result. I think LA Rush captures the spirit and feeling of the classic Rush games. We have the cool shortcuts and the huge jumps, the over the top cars, the forgiving physics, and the race course exploration that made the Rush games so popular in the arcades and on previous consoles. The sensation of speed in Rush is greater than you find in any open city racing game that I've seen to date. These things combined with the open city and the new "rush moments" that happen during races are going to separate Rush from the competition.