Shack: One of the big hooks of Without Warning is that the player controls six different characters over the course of the game. Could you elaborate a bit on the mechanics of this?

Oli Clarke-Smith: In most action games, all of the actions the player will ask a character to do are all lumped on one character and this can have positive and negative effects on the characterization and gameplay. In Without Warning, each individual character has less moves than a normal action hero but instead the extensive list of character abilities are spread across six different characters making the play experience with each of these characters unique and far simpler and concise than other third person games. The player has to remember fewer moves for each character and the levels can really exploit each characterÂ’s strengths for a better play experience.

The player will control three army guys and three civilians; each with their own unique attributes and abilities.

Kyle Rivers is the special ops team leader, a hardened veteran who has seen action across the globe in a variety of conflicts. He specializes in marksmanship and carries a modified M16 variant that uses semi automatic burst fire and also allows him to use a powerful sniper scope to hit enemies from afar.

Ed Reagan has served with Kyle for several years and is the teamÂ’s bomb expert. Reagan can use his experience to defuse the bombs planted round the plant and most of his missions involve him defusing bombs and fighting off waves of enemies. He packs a pump action shotgun with a grenade launcher attachment (the other two soldiers both throw their grenades) meaning he has to deal with the enemies on a much closer basis.

Jack Hooper recently joined the team after advancing from the US infantry. This is his first mission under Rivers lead but is treated no less equally. Hooper brings a standard M4 carbine to the fight, giving him the versatility of a fully automatic weapon that can also be fired in short bursts. Hooper is also tasked with opening up areas of the plant that have been shut off by the terrorists tampering with the power system.

Dave Wilson is ex SWAT and has settled into an easy life as a security guard at the plant. That doesnÂ’t last and he is soon plunged into the midst of a terrorist attack and must fight for his life and for the life of his colleagues. Dave has his trusty pistol to get him out of trouble.

Tanya Shaw is an office worker at the plant and witnesses the terrorists ransacking her office and shooting her coworkers. She hides as they attack and makes a break for freedom when she sees an opportunity. The terrorists are systematically torching areas of the plant to block the soldiers incursions and Tanya must use what she can to get past these hazards.

Finally, Ben Harrison is a camera man sent to cover the incident. When his chopper is shot down he decides to stay in the plant and get the footage he believes will guarantee him a Pulitzer. The player will have to use the camera Ben carries to capture the footage of the terrorists and resort to using BenÂ’s own personal pistol when they get into trouble.

Shack: So not all of those playable characters are actually equipped for combat. How does this play out in gameplay terms?

Oli Clarke-Smith: There are two characters that arenÂ’t suited to combat; Tanya and Ben.

Tanya has no combat skills what so ever, she is just a secretary caught up in the terrorist attack and as such she needs to avoid the terrorists at all costs. In her levels she must sneak past the terrorists to get out alive. She must also use any fire extinguishers she comes across to put out the fires the terrorists have started systematically making around the plant. She can use the extinguishers to temporarily blind enemies if she is discovered and needs to make a quick get away.

Ben isnÂ’t suited to getting embroiled in the thick of the combat but does carry his personal pistol with him. His main tasks are to film the terroristÂ’s actions but during the course of gathering his footage he may find he needs to fall back on his pistol.

Turn the page for more details on Without Warning.

Shack: The game takes place over a 12-hour period. Does this correspond roughly with the number of hours of gameplay?

Oli Clarke-Smith: Roughly, yes. It is impossible to make a game like this play over a set number of hours due to the inherent allowance you have to make for player skill and ability. If played normally the game should be around the 10 or 12 hour mark.

Shack: Now that the game is just about ready to ship, looking back on development, how closely does the finished game adhere to its planned design?

Oli Clarke-Smith: The finished game is pretty similar to what was originally planned; multiple characters in a chemical plant being attacked by terrorists. We actually had to cut the game down. After looking at the original plan after we started getting gameplay in the levels we realised the proposed number of levels was far too big so we trimmed some out, cutting out the travelling levels so that the player just gets to play levels with real objectives in.

We also added extra content, redesigned mini games, new enemy characters and more gameplay features.

Shack: With the game's rather unique concept, were there any design elements that proved exceptionally difficult to implement or balance?

Oli Clarke-Smith: There was nothing exceptionally difficult to balance in the game. We spent a lot of time tweaking the mini games, working on the best way to implement cover, which character has which weapon and so forth but nothing that really busted our brains. We were lucky in that respect, it also helped that everyone here has an opinion and is quite happy to let you have it.

Shack: Does the game have any multiplayer or additional single-player features beyond the main storyline?

Oli Clarke-Smith: We decided fairly early on that the game wouldnÂ’t feature any multiplayer. Without Warning would fit perfectly into being a multiplayer game but itÂ’s not as simple as just introducing multiplayer to the game. Loads of people do co-op multiplayer or deathmatches but the problem we faced would be how we tie the story to a co-op experience. It is certainly possible but when it was talked about we decided that what we wanted to do with the multiplayer is far too big for a for a new studio and the current online console market. When you think about what the multiplayer aspect of the game could be you realize just how many cool things can be done with it and it would be a shame not to do them justice due to time constraints with creating a single player game as well. Doing it purely as a multiplayer game was never considered as the market for a purely multiplayer console game doesnÂ’t exist yet.

There were plans for bonus content that was unlocked after beating the game but it didnÂ’t make the cut. We were up against it schedule wise and we decided that weÂ’d need to put our full resources into getting the main game finished in time.

Shack: Are there any other features that might not be well-known about the game that you'd like to share with our readers?

Oli Clarke-Smith: TanyaÂ’s levels havenÂ’t really been given much coverage in reviews and I quite enjoy them. They are a nice break from the mowing down of terrorists and provide a nice diversion. Its interesting to see the story from her point of view. IÂ’m also a big fan of BenÂ’s camera.

Shack: Without Warning is CiRCLE Studio's first game. How did CiRCLE come to be?

Susie Hamilton: CiRCLE was founded a couple of years ago by brothers Jeremy Heath-Smith and Adrian Smith, after their split from Eidos/Core Design. Jeremy and Adrian brought over 30 members of Core Design with them to found CiRCLE and the company currently employs around 50 people.

Shack: Besides your interactive DVD products, do you have any other video game projects in production or in planning?

Susie Hamilton: Yes we do, but not quite ready to make any announcement yetÂ…

Shack: When can we expect to see Without Warning in stores?

Susie Hamilton: It was released Oct 28th in Europe and will hit the shelves today in the US.

Shack: Thank you for your time.

CiRCLE Studio's Without Warning is being published by Capcom for PS2 and Xbox. For more screenshots, check out the game's gallery.