So, what if the Nazi regime won the war? What if we had stayed out of it all together, remaining an isolationist country? Would Hitler have turned his evil gaze on the United States after he had laid waste to Europe? In Codemasters' Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, the answer is a resounding yes. In this alternate reality shooter, Churchill died in 1931, England surrendered in 1950, and Hitler is alive and well as the supreme ruler of the region. And now he wants America as his final conquest on the road to world domination. You play an everyday fella named Dan Carson, a lifelong New Yorker who works on high rises. Rambo he is not. This is the basic idea behind the game -- can you survive the massive attack put forth by the Nazis?
We recently caught up with Producer Dean Martinetti of developer Spark Unlimited to get some more information on this intriguing game. Martinetti pulls no punches-- he knows what he likes and what he doesn't, and we found his candor very refreshing.
For those unfamiliar with the game, what is Turning Point: Fall of Liberty all about?
About 18 months of my life! Just kidding, Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is about freedom, it’s about liberty and it’s about one man's journey as he becomes a reluctant hero for America.
How important was it from a story and design perspective to make the main hero, Dan Carson, an everyman figure rather than a trained military expert?
Ah…an excellent question. It was really important to have the main character in Turning Point: Fall of Liberty be an ‘everyman’. Being a regular guy is someone/something I can relate to. Someone that has interests and a job like my dad did back in the 50’s. I want to relate, and we don’t get that enough in games. My feelings at the beginning were this guy needs to be the blue collar guy that was the backbone of this country. And he is…and that makes me really happy. Personally I’m sick and tired of seeing the jacked up, muscle headed space marines have all the fun, and if I see another ex-Navy seal gone regular guy storyline…I think I am going to puke. I’m also tired of the big breasted, small waisted heroines for that matter too. If I want large breasts I’ll go play Leisure Suit Larry or hit up Spearmint Rhino. (the "gentleman's club" -- ed) The everyman figure plays to Turning Point: Fall of Liberty’s storyline, where it’s not about being part of the overwhelming invasion force. You’re not a trained combatant, you don’t have unlimited weapons, ammo and health packs. In that sense you’re basically screwed from the beginning, I mean, you’re country is being invaded and you're on top of a skyscraper when it all hits the fan. The point is, you need to survive, and rely on your wit and brawn, as well as the various weapons you find along the way.
What impact has the new timeline done to New York circa 1953? At E3, it looked a bit more drab that the usual 50s scene. Also, will you travel outside of New York as the game progresses?
Well, if you mean the game was muted in color, dark and dreary, then you’d be right. Turning Point: Fall of Liberty isn’t set in the 1950’s of Back to the Future or Happy Days. This is an American culture that didn’t have its big boom because there was no war for us. Someone at E3 even asked me why there was no U.S. military build up, as there would be if we were attacked. However, there wouldn’t be. Teterboro Airport (just 15 miles outside of Manhattan) wouldn’t have jets or any military planes there as they did in the real 50’s because in Turning Point: Fall of Liberty’s alternate history we were not at war. Therefore, we had no reason in our fictional universe to build up our military because we perceived we were at no risk. In saying that, we never had that explosion like we did in the real 50’s, technology and building techniques were not advanced. So what you see is the contrast…the America as it was in the 40’s look and feel. And yes, you do travel to Washington D.C. and more.
How much fun did you guys have in creating some of the new German toys? I know a lot of the tech in the game was based on actual design documents, correct?
Yep, for creating Turning Point: Fall of Liberty’s advanced German weapons we read a lot of unclassified docs seized by American Soldiers during the war. We also checked out this really cool book called “My Tank is Fight” (the writer really needs to start cutting us checks for all the plugs we’ve given him) which shows more unclassified German weapons. Lastly we took a few creative liberties, adding some different variances to certain weapons and vehicles and exaggerating the ability and/or size of some just for the game. Although they did have the Super Tank – that was very real…which is terrifying.
How much focus has been placed on enemy AI? Are the invading Nazis mindless killing machines or will they try and stay alive like a real soldier?
The AI in Turning Point: Fall of Liberty uses Kinogens Kinapse and the AI supplied by Epic's Unreal 3 Engine. So you can get from that how it will behave. They know the layout of the land. They know when you are a threat and when you are not a threat, they know if you’ve been naughty or if you’ve been nice, they take action necessary to prolong their life. So in short…yeah, I think you’ll see AI behavior that will please gamers and provide for a fun gaming experience.
The game uses both 1st and 3rd person perspectives. When and why does the game shift to the 3rd person view?
Well, after a bunch of play testing we decided to pull the camera out to a 3rd person perspective when mantling, grappling, climbing and jumping. We did this because we feel it makes it easier to control the character in our game world. A lot of Turning Point: Fall of Liberty is about feeling overwhelmed, and a good part of that feeling is drawn out of gamers from the game’s visuals, so pulling the camera away from time to time is a great way to gain that affect. So for instance, the camera jumps to 3rd person when you do any of the hand-to-hand melee attacks. This makes it a lot easier for players to actually see what is going on, especially when you take a German soldier hostage and use him as a human shield. It also comes in handy for showcasing some of the environmental kills as well, like when you sneak up behind a paratrooper, club him over the head and then throw his ass off a building. I’ve said this ever since we started doing interviews – there are two things we always wanted with Turning Point: Fall of Liberty: 1) Ease of use – so everyone can play and enjoy it. 2) Fun – so it has to be a lot of fun for everyone to play.
