GGMania got a chance to chat with GRIN's producer Martin Waern to find out more about BANDITS, soon to be released vehicle combat game set in a post apocalyptic world. He said that BANDITS is completely finished now and they are currently waiting for different distributors in the US to check out the game and hopefully will pick it up really soon so that the release date in the US will be the same as in Europe.


GGMania: Could you introduce yourself to our readers and tell them a little bit about what you do on BANDITS?

Martin Waern: Hi, my name is Martin Waern and I am the producer at GRIN. I have done the level scripting for BANDITS as well as some 3D graphics.


GGMania: Can you give us a little background on the development team working on BANDITS. Is the same team who worked on Ballistic?

Martin Waern: It is pretty much the same team working on BANDITS as on Ballistics and it really shows of in the graphics. The team consist of ten hard working souls who have really been giving their best to deliver a really great and new kind of action game to the gamers.




GGMania: What can you tell us about the storyline for the game? Will the story be the driving force behind the game?

Martin Waern: Yes, in single player the story will of course make up a big part of the driving force. But also our two somewhat different main characters Fennec and Rewdalf will give the gamers something to enjoy, their gabbing is worth listening to. Fennec is the hard neck driver and thinker in the team and Rewdalf is the gunner. Rewdalf character is best described as a trigger happy Scottish midget with a foul mouth.

The story starts out with our two main characters, Fennec and Rewdalf, sneaking in to enemy territory to steal a distiller, which make cactus brew, from their sworn enemies the Flaming Pumpkins and then return back with it to their notorious gang, the Wolfpack.

Later on the as our two bandits do what they do best, raiding convoys, blasting cars and stealing things, they stumbles over a cargo load containing something that to them seems rather useless but other gangs in the wasteland seems very eager to get their hands on. And so the story unfolds, taking our "heroes" through the world of Bandits making new enemies as well as allies, and there will be some interesting twist.


GGMania: Seems that GRIN's designers took same inspiration from Mad Max movies, what sort of environments and setting will the game take place in?

Martin Waern: BANDITS is set in a post apocalyptic world. You will see old buildings and deteriorate constructions through out the game. The landscape varies from the well known post apocalyptic desert to cold harsh winter and green hills.<


GGMania: What sort of missions will be a part of the single player game? Can you give us an example?

Martin Waern: The missions in BANDITS vary from raiding convoys and protecting valuable cargo to pure annihilation of enemy activity in an area. Some missions the player can drive right in to and just shot at everything whereas some mission will require that the player plans the attack, equipping the vehicle with the right type of weapons and "tip on his/hers toes"


GGMania: What weapons, types of enemies and characters will be seen in BANDITS? How many different types of vehicles are in the game?

Martin Waern: There are 13 weapons in BANDITS not counting some special surprises that the player will come across in the single player game. There are machineguns, shotguns, a whole bunch of different rocket launchers, grenade launchers and mine droppers, and also a sniper rifle for the nice long distance surprise attacks.

Every gang in Bandits have their own set of cars, the cars are very different when in comes to size, mass, driving features and guns. Some cars are small and fast with just a machinegun to shot with whereas other are big, slow and heavily equipped with lot of guns as miniguns and rocket- and grenade launchers. As the mass varies from car to car driving a big car the player can easily tip a smaller car over, making it an easier target. There are about 20 different types of vehicles in BANDITS.

The characters in BANDITS, that is Fennec and Rewdalf, often meet the leaders of the different gangs in the area. As for instance we have the leader of the Flaming Pumpkin, a big stupid guy named Daud. One other character is general FC Carter, he is the leader of the Crusaders, a military driven gang.


GGMania: What other gameplay elements in BANDITS do you consider to be important and/or unique? Will there be anything new that we've never seen before in any game?

Martin Waern: The physics in Bandits is really nice to look at. As for instance the suspension on the cars reacts to every bump in the landscape thus creating a really realistic feel the car.

One really cool thing is that the landscape is deformed in realtime, when a rocket or grenade, for instance, hits the ground it will leave a crater. This gives interesting strategic possibilities since the player can lure the enemies into these holes making them sitting ducks.


GGMania: What multiplayer options will be a part of BANDITS? Will Gamespy support be implemented? Martin Waern: BANDITS support LAN up to 20 players, though we recommend up to 8 players. Internet play is also supported in BANDITS via IP and, yes, through Gamespy Arcade.

As for now we have implemented deathmatch and team deathmatch. This so that clans can be created.


GGMania: Which engine is used in BANDITS? How will the game utilize the latest GeForce 4 Ti 4400/4600 cards? What about new cards such as Matrox Parhelia and ATI Radeon 9000/9700?

Martin Waern: We started out using the GRIN 3D engine from Ballistics and added a lot of things to it. We included a special effect engine which allows us to throw debris all around when an explosion occur, creating a really realistic feel.

We utilize the T&L cards to their max.

As for Matrox Parhelia card BANDITS is supporting the surround gaming system. This gives the player the ability to run BANDITS on three screens at the same time. Which I must say is a really cool experience.


GGMania: What the current system requirements are for BANDITS?

Martin Waern: The minimum specs vary depending on your graphic card.

If you have a T&L supported card such as any Geforce or Radeon then we recommend a minimum spec at PII 500 and 128MB of RAM.

If you have an older car such as a TNT2, G400 or KYRO based cars then we recommend that you run Bandits on a CPU of PIII 900 or better, 120MB of RAM. The need of CPU increases as the CPU will handle most of the 3D operations that the graphic card otherwise would have handled.


GGMania: Currently what is the status of the current progress of the game? I have read that the game will be published in Europe by PAN Vision in October 2002, are there specific plans to release the game in the US?

Martin Waern: BANDITS is completely finished now, and we had a couple of extra weeks to go over it a couple of times to make it really shine.

We are currently waiting for different distributors in the US to check out the game and hopefully will pick it up really soon so that the release date in the US will be the same as in Europe.


GGMania: Do you plan to release a playable demo?

Martin Waern: There will be both a single player demo as well as a multiplayer demo out around the time of the release of Bandits.


GGMania: Thank you very much for taking the time to answer these questions. Is there anything else you wish to say about BANDITS?

Martin Waern: Yes, I would like to say that BANDITS turned out great and that the gamers will surely find it new and interesting. Don't forget to check out the web site, www.bandits-game.com, for more information on BANDITS and the latest news.