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Overstrike: Insomniac's multi-platform future

Has the Resistance developer left PS3 exclusivity behind?

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Image credit: Eurogamer
Wesley Yin-Poole avatar
Interview by Wesley Yin-Poole Former Editor-in-Chief
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After 15 years of PlayStation exclusivity, Resistance and Ratchet developer Insomniac is spreading its wings and having a crack at multi-platform development. The eventual result, announced during EA's E3 2011 press conference with a CGI trailer, is four-player co-op action game Overstrike.

All the trailer did was raise questions. What is Overstrike? When will it launch? Where did the idea come from? And what does Xbox 360 development mean for Insomniac's loyal army of PS3 fans?

With our ears bursting from the noise echoing round EA's gargantuan booth, Eurogamer quizzed Insomniac boss Ted Price to get some answers.

Eurogamer Is Overstrike a first-person or third-person game?
Ted Price

It's a third-person action game.

Eurogamer Would you say it's a third-person shooter?
Ted Price

I would describe it as a four-player co-op game where you're playing as one of a selection of characters who you saw in the video, using these cool weapons and gadgets, some of which you got to see.

Eurogamer The trailer doesn't seem to take itself too seriously – there's some humour there. But there's violence, too. How would you describe the game's feel?
Ted Price

We at Insomniac have always loved injecting humour into our games. Resistance is not a humourous game at all. However, our other franchises have been enthused with humour.

This takes the humour in a more sophisticated direction. It's not in-your-face humour. It's a more subtle humour. Our intention is to reach out to an audience that's a little bit older than what some of our fans are used to.

Eurogamer With regard Ratchet, not Resistance.
Ted Price

Right. Resistance is clearly a very mature title. This one may have a very broad appeal in that it introduces heavy action components and some pretty hard-hitting weapons and gadgets. But at the same time it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Eurogamer Why is the game called Overstrike?
Ted Price

It's a triple entendre. The organisation responsible for these teams of agents is called Overstrike. The team itself is Overstrike 9. This is a team of misfits. They're definitely non-conformists. The challenge they have, and challenge the agency has, is they don't take the traditional approach to running missions. They leave a lot of collateral damage in their wake.

Thus, Overstrike 9 is only called in when there are no other choices. The Overstrike agency has to live with the consequences.

EA reckons Overstrike will top a 90 Metascore.
Eurogamer What's the big threat in the game?
Ted Price

We're not giving any specifics about that yet. But there's a big threat, of course.

Eurogamer Who are the characters?
Ted Price

We've got a reformed mercenary. We've got a thief, who is interested in causing havoc. We've got a young, brilliant scientist who has some issues of her own. And of course we've got an ex-detective. Dalton in the trailer says he's like a Buddhist monk, but the opposite is actually true. He's got a real temper issue.

Throughout the game, these personalities become bigger than life and they help create a more unique play experience for each of the people who pick up the controller and choose to play as one of those characters.

Eurogamer We saw a brief glimpse of some of the weapons and gadgets. Can you tell us about them?
Ted Price

I'm going to stay away from the specifics now. What we're focusing on is just announcing the franchise, talking about why we're going multi-platform, our relationship with EA, and leaving the trailer to tell the the story for now.