STACK #189 Jul 2020

FEATURE GAMING

Did You Know? The name Sucker Punch was chosen because it tickled the founders that they wouldn’t have gotten away with such a project name at Microsoft – and because founder Chris Zimmerman’s wife hated it! This wasn’t dangling a carrot for divorce, rather it was felt that if she didn’t like it then it was sure to resonate with 14-year-old boys.

WISE UP! One of Sony’s most reliable game studios, Sucker Punch Productions wouldn’t be with us if not for Microsoft. Words Amy Flower

I t was at the massive Washington-based company that the six founders of Sucker Punch first met, working together variously on different projects. With disenchantment creeping in, Chris Zimmerman spit-balled the idea of forming a games development company with co-worker Brian Fleming. The move was on, and another former Microsoft guy in Bruce Oberg joined in. It was Oberg’s love of the Nintendo 64 console that initially gave Sucker Punch a direction, with Super Mario 64 providing some inspiration towards their debut title, Rocket: Robot on Rails . It was published by Ubisoft – they’d decided early on that they would play to their strengths by concentrating on writing games rather than publishing them, working on one game on one system at a time. Like its inspiration, Rocket was a 3D platformer, which utilised a ground-breaking (for the time) physics engine. It served as good practice for what would come next. In 2002, it was a raccoon named Sly that kickstarted what would be Sucker Punch’s love affair with PlayStation. Using their proprietary game engine SPACKLE (Sucker Punch Animation and Character Kinematics Life Engine), the PS2 platformer that we knew as Sly Raccoon (it was known as Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus in most overseas markets) made an instant good impression on gamers with its tale of the titular native American mammal thief and his turtle and hippo accomplices. When a game spawns three sequels then it’s fair to say that it was a success. While trading on Sly’s adventures for several years, another game was in development. It would hit the PlayStation 3 in 2009, and while still a 3D action-adventure, it upped the ante for visuals and gameplay. It was Infamous , the tale of bike messenger

• Ghost of Tsushima is out Jul 17

“Suddenly you knew who the heroes were, who the villains were, what the stakes were for the world, and you had a video game.” Recreating the unfettered beauty of the Japanese countryside would be just one challenge that they’d face. “From tall grass blowing in the wind to the call of a far off crane, we wanted to make it feel real,” enthuses Fox. “All the locations are in-engine, they’re in the world. That’s the place that you’re going to defend, a huge island with a lot of different places, towns, people. There’s so much to learn, there’s so much to see.” While there’s a wealth of exploration in order to make headway in-game, to tick off side quests and to discover a wealth of collectibles, it’s the fighting that will have many signing on. “If you’ve ever seen a samurai movie, you know what to expect – two warriors sizing each other up, waiting for the other to make the first move. Mongols are everywhere. For Jin to succeed, he has to use skilful precision in fighting them. No wasted energy, every strike must count.” Over time, Jin evolves into a ghostly form. This offers up further strategic options. “As the ghost, he’ll use every dirty trick he can think up to even the odds, even using fear as a weapon," warns Fox. No matter what form you play in, a samurai has to look the part. Ghost of Tsushima combines aesthetics with gameplay benefits. “The armour in this game actually gives you different mechanical advantages. It’s not just the way it looks, it helps accent your chosen play style,” explains Fox. “As you explore the world, you’ll discover omamori charms. They’ll give you an edge in battle but, more importantly, as your legend grows, you’ll develop all-new techniques which transform Jin from a samurai into the ghost. The thing is, you get to decide how those techniques evolve and grow over time.” Beyond the core pillars of exploration and fighting, Sucker Punch has gone all out on the presentation side of things with Ghost of Tsushima . This includes a Japanese voice track option (with English subtitles), a photo mode and a very special, very cool-sounding cinematic setting. “Here at Sucker Punch we’re huge fans of samurai cinema and we wanted to create a way for you to feel like you’re playing your favourite samurai movie. So we created a windy, black and white, film grained-out mode that you can turn on from the very beginning of the game.”

turned superhero Cole MacGrath. Once again Sucker Punch had a hit on their hands, with critics and players praising the game’s inventive system of powers and open level structure. Plus, it was just super-fun to play! Infamous 2 followed in 2011, a couple of months before Sucker Punch was bought by Sony Interactive Entertainment, ensuring that the company would remain

faithful to the PlayStation family. Unlike what often happens with such

Selected release history 1999 Rocket: Robot on Wheels Nintendo 64 2002 Sly Raccoon/Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus PS2 2009 Infamous PS3 2014 Infamous: Second Son PS4 2020 Ghost of Tsushima PS4

buyouts, the original trio of Zimmerman, Fleming and Oberg remained at the company – and do to this day. As such, they saw the transition of Infamous to the PlayStation 4 in 2014, with Infamous: Second Son proving successful as an early release for the console. It boasted a new protagonist and was set in Seattle, and also spawned a sequel that messed with the minds of the more numerically obsessed, Infamous: First Light . Now, six years later, Sucker Punch are unleashing a new IP on the PlayStation public this month in Ghost of Tsushima . Hopefully we don’t have to wait six years for whatever’s next…

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