(continued from previous page) ...your squad? And without specific commands how well do your teammates last on the battlefield by themselves?

Steifelmaier: We allow for some great interactions between the player and their squad. As the game progresses players really begin to bond with these characters. The one-button squad command system removes any tediousness that you sometimes find in other squad based games. You can order your team to move by hitting the button while aiming to specific position.
You can focus fire on enemies by hitting the button while pointing at an enemy. You can also order squad mates to utilize mounted gun positions, plant C4 charges, kick down doors, interact with computer terminals, and more.

In combat your squad will operate at about 50% combat efficiency on their own without squad commands. Depending on how skillfully you employ the squad command system, you can significantly change their effectiveness. Use them intelligently and you can bring their effectiveness and morale up to 100% Their behavior will change...they will throw more grenades, charge forward and melee enemies, and fire more accurately. Misuse them and both their morale and combat effectiveness can drop below 50%. They will take more cover, shoot less, and use inaccurate blind fire.

PSU: How many players will Blacksite Area 51 support online?

Steifelmaier: We have 10 player MP, as we wanted the best possible MP experience and while Unreal supports more players per session, we found in our focus testing the best experience was 8 players. As to what MP consists of, we feature four game types: Death Match, Team Death Match, Capture the Flag and Abduction. The first three will be instantly understood by anyone
who has played competitive shooters in the past. In DM, you kill anyone who is not you; in TDM, you kill anyone on the other team; in CTF you attempt to bring both flags to your base. Abduction is our unique game type and the one that most closely draws from the fiction of the Campaign. Each cycle begins with a single player being randomly Abducted... He's one of the Reborn.

He has a few seconds' head start and begins equipped with a potent weapon to balance the challenge of being alone against everyone. Each time a Reborn soldier kills a Human opponent, that victim is Abducted and re-spawns on the Reborn team. Points are assigned for getting kills, but you also receive survival bonuses for not dying. The cycle ends when every player has been abducted or time runs out. It's really the scoring system that sets Abduction apart from the other game types because it forces you to make some subtle choices in the midst of heated combat. Players find themselves in the strange circumstance of having to work together just enough to gain the benefits of teamwork while doing whatever it takes to outlive everyone else. It's a lot of fun!

As with gameplay, we have attempted to bring the environments of the Campaign to life for the multiplayer game. Players will be able to fight in familiar areas that have been reworked to provide exciting multiplayer flow. Players can play Death Match, Team Death Match, and
Abduction on all eight maps, and can play capture the flag on the two largest maps.


PSU: Will there be Clan support for online? How will it be set up?
Steifelmaier: We don't support Clans, but you can search for and play with your friends.

PSU: Is there SIXAXIS support and if so how is it being implemented?
Steifelmaier: We wanted Blacksite to be identical across all three platforms, thus the motion control functionality on the SIXAXIS is not supported.

PSU: When is the Blacksite Area 51 demo hitting the PlayStation Network?

Steifelmaier: The demo for BlackSite: Area 51 is scheduled to hit the PlayStation Network on Dec. 20.


PSU would like to thank Steifelmaier for taking the time to answer our questions for this interview. Stay tuned for our review on Blacksite: Area 51 in the coming weeks.