A sultry wizardress … a soaring gunslinger … a powerful swordsman … a dark huntress. These four heroes are about to be hurtled over the edge into a flight filled with darkness. Sudeki will push the limits of what you think an RPG can be, with bigger worlds, more powerful heroes, and sexier heroines—all wrapped up in Hong Kong-style cinematic combat. And, all of this is only possible on Xbox.

Set in a world ripped apart by deceit, the heroes of Sudeki journey down a twisting path of betrayal, gravity-defying combat, and unbelievable magic. All they can rely on is themselves. No one is to be trusted. No one is to be spared.

Key Features:

• Cinematic-style, real-time combat: Enjoy dozens of moves, slow-motion bullet time, earth-shattering spells, and hundreds of destructive melee and ranged weapons.
• Massive cooperative super strikes: Characters combine forces to devastate legions of foes.
• A horde of more than 100 enemies: Encounter everything from deadly dread spiders to massive battle fortresses.
• Battle as a team of four fierce heroes: Your team includes a beautiful and deadly sorceress, a steam-punk gunslinger, a powerful man-at-arms, and a shape-shifting huntress.
• Forge your heroes into legends: Build their skills, spell arsenal, weapons cache, and powers.
• Immense worlds to explore and tame: Environments are filled with hundreds of NPCs, cunning enemies, and twists and turns fraught with danger.
• Custom next-generation graphics engine: Built from the ground up for Xbox, this graphics engine features detailed facial animation, bump-mapping, complex lighting, and awesome scale.

Game Chronicles goes inside this exciting new game with an exclusive interview by John Carswell.

GCM:	Thank you for your time. Please start by introducing yourself and telling us a bit about the team behind Sudeki.
Jason Avent:	My name is Jason Avent, I am the Game Director. Sudeki is a seventy strong team with a great interest in games.

GCM:	As best you can without giving too much away, would you please tell us a bit about Sudeki’s plot and its main characters?
Jason Avent:	There are four main characters in Sudeki, each have unique special abilities in combat and for solving puzzles. The story twists and turns but essentially it’s about good and evil. As always though good and evil are subjective. Are you on the right side?

GCM:	Ignoring for a moment its breathtaking graphics, please tell us about the world in which Sudeki is set and the environments that the player will be exploring.
Jason Avent:	The environments in Sudeki are varied, each with individual style and set of enemies and NPC’s. They are very interactive and players can move freely within them and in between them.

GCM:	Please tell us about Sudeki’s combat engine in terms of targeting, attacks, and switching between various weapons and spells.
Jason Avent:	We have a system called “OneTime” that allows us to slow down the whole game. This creates an environment where we can blend arcade combat with the tactical depth that you’d expect from a turn-based traditional RPG. You can freely switch between characters in your party at any time to make use of their unique abilities and combat styles.

GCM:	Somewhat on the same topic: would you kindly give us a brief rundown of the weapons, armor, and spells that Sudeki offers?
Jason Avent:	Each character has an armory of ten weapons that can be upgraded and customized using runes. Armor can also be blessed with different abilities in the same way. There are two types of special attacks or spells – skill attacks and spirit strikes. Spirit strikes summon gods to devastate your enemies. Skill attacks are more subtle and varied in their powers.

GCM:	Please tell us about the party system in Sudeki. How much control will the player have over his or her teammates?
Jason Avent:	Complete control. You can switch between characters at any time and control them directly or use a series of preset AI behaviors so they can support you while you fight.

GCM:	In terms of NPC interaction, character advancement, and storytelling; how deep are Sudeki’s RPG elements?
Jason Avent:	Deep enough to provide a wide array of strategies and development options but not so deep as to be the main focus of attention. The story telling is through game engine movies and interactions with NPCs which ALL have their own voice recorded speech.

GCM:	Above all else, what features in Sudeki are you most proud of and may help to evolve console RPG’s?
Jason Avent:	The combat system blends arcade style twitch play with spells and summons. It’s the first game to blend the immediacy of real-time combat with the depth of plot and character development of a traditional RPG. It feels like Devil May Cry with a compelling reason to play through and develop your characters in a traditional way.

GCM:	On the subject of presentation, would you please tell us a bit about the engine driving Sudeki’s visuals, the art style you’ve been aiming for, and Sudeki’ s musical score?
Jason Avent:	Sudeki’s art style is unique, colorful and surreal. We’ve adopted a style that allows a wide variety of environment types to fit together believably in the same world. Dark and foreboding environments blend together with the whimsical and pretty. The game engine is fast and powerful. This game would not be possible on any other console.

GCM:	Thank you again for your time. Please close this Q&A with any last impressions that you’d leave our readers with.
Jason Avent:	Sudeki is the first RPG to do justice to the Xbox.

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