Q&A: 3D Realms' George Broussard
George Broussard, president of 3D Realms, is a mainstay of the gaming industry.

GAMECENTER: Does the lead character in Shadow Warrior have a name?

George Broussard: Not yet, but he will have. It is very likely that the character will have speech, but we want to do something a little different than Duke, and we are playing with a few interesting ideas now.

GAMECENTER: We've heard he's biomedically enhanced. Does this mean the character will have an advantage without his weapons? Will sharpened senses be translated into the gameplay?

G. B.: All of these "story" items are up in the air. As it stands now, the character is Japanese and that's about as detailed as it gets for now. He can do things like climb ladders and ride vehicles. All the bio stuff was just for story's sake and never really got off the ground.

GAMECENTER: What other enemies are in the game? We've seen screen shots with reptile-like creatures...what else? And who or what is a Coolie?

G. B.: The enemies in the game result from being genetically engineered by the main bad guy. That's as deep as the story gets for now. More refinement will be added toward the end. Coolies are characters who walk around carrying boxes of TNT. Their whole mission in life is to see you and make a screaming, yelling, kamikaze run toward you, detonating their TNT when near. Once killed, their ghosts will rise from their spilled guts and will also attack you.

GAMECENTER: So as of now, there are no monsters other than the Coolies?

G. B.: We've been working on some others...An evil ninja will be able to do anything the player can do. In fact, in Net play, we hope to allow players to choose to be a good or evil ninja. The character can walk, duck, crawl, jump, swim, climb ladders, duck behind walls to avoid shots, drive vehicles, shoot, and whatever else we can think of. The evil ninja will also commit suicide (by sticking an Uzi into his mouth) if you get him too low on health. And a baboon-like Ripper creature is also in the works. They scramble around very fast, jump real high, and will even cling to walls, waiting to pounce on the player. When you're close enough, they will hack and slash the player to death, and if you get weak enough, they will rip out your heart. Expect 10 to 12 adversaries in the final game.

GAMECENTER: Is Kirin the final adversary in the game? He's supernatural, but does he also have magical powers? If so, what kind? What kind of fight can we look forward to in the final battles?

G. B.: Again, all the story elements are being worked on now. The main bad guy as it stands is not really supernatural. He's more of an evil scientist who can genetically alter things to do his bidding.

G. B. on da weapons

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