/ Previews / Adventure / Outcast / Page 2
	Insert humorous, informative header here. D'oh! I was supposed to edit that.

Gameplay and Sound
Now that you've heard the lowdown on artificial intelligence, I'll talk some more about the game itself. As I've said, there are many ways to complete certain areas. Areas will be altered by your actions at specific spots in the game, so wisdom is a valuable tool. I saw wisdom on an infomercial for sale the other day, and they only wanted $29.99. I didn't think it was so bad at first, but then I realized that was the monthly price, and you had to continue paying for eternity. If you couldn't keep payments up for that long you were required to sell your soul, so I think when I get to try Outcast I'll have to go without any wisdom on my side. Teenagers aren't allowed to have wisdom it seems, perhaps I can enlist the aid of an adult?

Although wisdom and thinking are needed in Outcast, sometimes nothing outperforms a trusty blaster at your side. Slade will get a hold of a flame thrower and also a very powerful "boomer gun". If Appeal meant that with sarcasm the gun might look really cool but shoot out a small white flag that says, "Boom" in a vain attempt to scare away the enemy. Hey, at least you might get a laugh or two out of Bob and George, right? Actually I'm looking forward to testing out the weapons in Outcast, but I wonder how hard it will be to find ammo. The Talans use weapons of a technology you do not understand, and they do not have ammo. According to Appeal developer Olivier Masclef, "…in Outcast your enemies do not have ammo. They do use their essence to canalize through their body to make a lethal attack on you. Just like electric eels…" As a human you do not have that ability.

Well, when ammo runs out and despair ensues, you have few options. Hand to hand combat is basic, but fighting Talans that tower over you with your fists isn't the most wise of moves. There will be a funny little creature called a Twon-Ha. I'm not sure how much "horse-power" the thing has, but something tells me it probably wouldn't beat an Indy car in a race, but it might put up a fair fight against a pinto. However, you can always turn to conversation in hopes of talking your way out of trouble. When chatting with an Adelphan inhabitant, "The interface suggests a range of topics that you can talk / ask questions about. There is of course a dynamic enrichment depending on what you've done, what you know, what the other guy knows, etc…" I think this will make conversation interesting, and gaining knowledge in the game may prove useful for persuading people later on. If you fully understand a Talan's point of view on a subject it might be possible to use that to your advantage when talking to him. If not, you can always run away and shoot him from a distance.

The sound in the game should be pretty spiffy sounding as well. Both A3D and EAX will be supported , meaning sound will play a big role to those who have sound cards with either A3D or EAX support. The soundtrack will feature 60 minutes of original music by the Moscow Symphony Orchestra, with 24 singers in the chorus. I personally enjoy symphony music, and it always provides great background music during movies or games. 60 minutes of music is quite a bit and should decrease repetitiveness in the games musical score. Often music is thrown into games as an after thought, so it's always good to see companies hire professionals to get the job done and fit music to the game.