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24/08/99 - An Early Release Date at the Expense of Gameplay?
Written by Michael Lam
Grand Prix 3. The expectation is huge. The pressure on Geoff Crammond's
shoulder's for another, magnificent grand prix simulation is immense after
the brilliance of Grand Prix 2. No one is expecting Grand Prix 3 to be a bad
game. And let me tell you this: The more pressure we put on Geoff for a
quick release date and not to delay the game will not be to our benefit. We
are going to suffer if we want an early release date. Ok, so we want to play
the game as soon as possible. But at the expense of gameplay? Indeed, Grand
Prix 2 is a magnificent game, one that is still played by thousands - the
amount of Grand Prix 2 content on the internet is huge - just take a look at
it yourself. But the truth of the matter is that Grand Prix 2 would have
been a much better game had Geoff had not been pressurised into not delaying
the game any longer. Many of the features that Geoff wanted to put into
Grand Prix 3 are not there - the manual talks about wet weather driving,
different compound tyres, different flags, such as red, red-yellow striped,
etc. If you take a look at the sound section of GP2edit? by Steve Young,
from sound wav's 34 onwards, you can see that there are many pit calls and
radio messages, all in different languages. Messages such as "pit, pit,
pit!","debris on circuit","10 second penalty" were all omitted. These were
omitted from the game due to the huge pressure on Geoff. Geoff would have
been able to improve the physics engine, bugs that are frequently exposed,
for example; sometimes on the replay the car does not do the same as what
actually happened. These annoying glitches in the game are the result of
Geoff being pressurised into being out the game on time.
These were Geoff's words: "The deadline pressures with GP2 were
excruciating. My determination not to compromise the product served to
double that pressure. But to give in would simply have been unacceptable
after three years painstaking dedication to the project."
From Geoff's words we can see that he had considered giving up on Grand Prix
2 because of the pressure! Do we want this to happen with Grand Prix 3? The
answer is definitely not. We don't want to play a half-finished game. We
want the whole thing. It is important Hasbro, Microprose and Geoff knows
this. We want internet multiplayer. We want a safety car. We want the most
realistic gameplay and graphics ever to be seen. Or would you like to
forfeit all these things for a quick release date and play a slightly
advanced Grand Prix 2 with 3D - card capabilities? The answer is no. I'm
asking you now not to pressurise Geoff Crammond any more, and accept the
fact the game may be released later than expected.
Michael Lam
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