Heroes over Europe is een soort flightsim dat zich afspeelt tijdens de tweede wereldoorlog. De game wordt ontwikkeld door Ubisoft enTransmission games welke op PS3 én Xbox 360 zal verschijnen tijdens de maand september. Er is onlangs een nieuwe trailer van de game verschenen die best wel indrukwekkend is. Zo zien we dat de omgevingen er authentiek uitzien, en dat ook de vliegers zelfs zeer realistisch ogen. Potentie genoeg dus, en daarom hebben we dan ook even een korte Q & A met de developer(Andy Symons) voor je klaar.
The trailer shows 3 heroes from 3 different countries (US, UK and Australia)… Are these heroes inspired by real World War Two pilots?
Andy: We were inspired by the real life stories of fighter pilots that we thought were fascinating but were not really common knowledge. Things like the fact that there were Americans who fought in the Battle of Britain before the US had entered the war and that the RAF broke down class barriers with a pre-war training program that included a lot of working-class men. The truth is a far cry from RAF pilots being portrayed as upper-class types – and that was our inspiration for American Tom Forester and the Liverpool dock worker Danny Miller.
It appears to be a fun and accessible game, Heroes Over Europe lets the player revive true historical events… Which importance did you give to this historical atmosphere? Were you able to consult archives and visit specific cities to create a credible World War Two environment?
Andy:Historical accuracy was an incredibly important starting point for Heroes. We wanted the player to feel like they were experiencing what the pilots went through – and those experiences were so incredible, why make stuff up? We did a huge amount of research reading the Home Office daily reports of the Battle of Britain; we got on our hands on old newsreels and sourced actually gun camera footage. In the studio we have a block mounted 1m x 3m aerial photograph of London from the period that was an inspiration to the world artists on the project.
At the end of the day though we wanted to make the game absolutely kick ass fun so events were tweaked to ensure the missions had the drama and tension and action in spades but always with that historically authentic core.We have had people visit London to take reference photos of the landmarks there. But generally, these areas are quite well documented so we’ve been able to use archival photos and footage to recreate the environments in the game.
Which famous battles will the player go through in Heroes Over Europe? How did you choose them among all the battles that marked the entire war?
We wanted hit all the major air engagements over Europe, so the Battle of Britain was a no-brainer. It was also the first Allied victory at a time when it looked like the Germans were going steamroll everyone. We were also keen to ensure that Heroes had real spectacular ‘wow” moments and nothing says that like escorting a wing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers over Europe. Eye of the Storm is based on the notorious ‘Black Thursday’ where the weather and a Luftwaffe redeployment conspired to hit the bombers with all the force of a heavyweight boxer. We re-created missions that showed off the audacity of the Allies - a surgically bombing strike on a prison to allow French Resistance fighters to escape. Frankly you can’t make this stuff up.
The trailer ends with the air raid over London and the bombing of the city, an impressive moment of World War Two… Can you tease us on other spectacular moments the player will be able to see?
Hunting German battleships in the English Channel, flying a lone Mosquito into the heart of Berlin (just because the head of the Luftwaffe boasted it couldn’t be done!) and stopping the German tank advance in the snow-covered Ardenne Forest. Snow levels, fire levels Heroes Over Europe has it all!
