From Backbone

"Stepping into the Backbone building makes me feel a bit like Brad Pitt in Cool World. I mean, Holli Would isn’t doing cocktail service in a negligee, but the desk dominating the immaculate reception area is epic enough for the Iliad. Impressively enough, it’s an exact replica of Death’s workspace in the Death Jr. comic series.



There's even an hourglass poised expertly above one of the desk's carved wings -- a real-life homage to the blood, sweat, and beers that went into the making of Death Jr. 2: Root of Evil.

Once I wind my way through the foyer and into the hive of cubicles, the place starts to feel less like an AniCon booth and more like a gaming studio. The profusion of toys, posters, and empty soda cans are a far cry from the manicured front office, but I feel a hell of a lot more at home amidst the buzzing terminals.

The Death Jr. 2 crew is a friendly trio from three distinct divisions of the game's development. David Aldridge is the PvP-loving Lead Engineer, Norman Badillo is a passionate Lead Artist, and Joe Morrissey is there standing in for Micah Russo, the Creative Director. And once we get settled, I finally get a chance to dig up some info on the newest addition to the Death Jr. enterprise -- Root of Evil.




But why a sequel?

"When we did Death Jr., the PSP was new and there was no development kit for it," says Badillo, "There were a lot of limits on the art. We had to spend a huge amount of time trying to figure out what the hardware limits were. How many polygons we could have."
Even the control schematics hadn't been set in stone then -- at one point the original Death Jr. team were developing for a PSP with two analog sticks. "With the second game things were much more fixed and easy to work with."

But development isn't the only thing that changed with Death Jr. 2. Unlike the original game, which was a strictly single-player affair, Root of Evil is built for both single player and cooperative play, offering a choice between DJ and Pandora, a whip-wielding gothic Lolita. With two PSPs, you can hook up to a friend and rip through Styx faster than Asheron's ferry.

Aldridge's only regret is the lack of a ruthless PvP kill mode. "We had to leave the Death Match option out of the final game," he laments, "Because we didn't have time to work out all the bugs. But you can still find... creative ways to kill your partner -- by using the environment, explosives -- there are lots of ways to do it." I have no doubt that Aldridge has Root of Evil's PK potential mapped to a C4-strapped T. It's no surprise that he's listed "the killing" as his favorite aspect of the game. Even though the game has been pumped full of extra-delicious plot -- totaling 13 gorgeous cinematics -- the glue that holds the gears tight is still "the killing."

And really, the killing system seems fairly versatile. DJ keeps with his traditional scythe and Pandora gets trussed-up with a wicked bone whip, but the real carnage schmorgasboard presents itself in the gleaming array of long-range artillery -- namely, fancy fucking guns. Even once you get past the glee of gunning down everything in your path, you get to delight in DJ's C4 hamsters (carried over from the original Death Jr.) and Pandora's "shiny sparklies," which are thrown to distract enemies.



Of course, one of my favorite combat details was the "skate-punk vibe" that carried through DJ and Pandora's moves. Or rather -- the one's that didn't make the cut. "Touched by an Uncle," for example, was considered a little too risqué to tack on to one of DJ's mega combo moves, even though "Incontinent Grandma" and "Monkey Bone" were okay-ed. "It was related to the first game, in a way," Aldridge laughs, "I mean, DJ fights his Uncle, right? But... yeah. We didn't get the pass on that."

What did make it in were 18 levels of "new hotness" (gotta love the language that gets thrown around the studio), and a hell of a lot of original music. And while there are some hidden Easter Eggs (especially in the Mall levels), I wasn't able to wheedle any details out of the guys. Next time I'll have to bring candy.

But what was the biggest challenge for the Backbone team? "Ugh... E3."

"We needed a polished, playable level with co-op for E3, but all we had were a bunch of half-finished levels," says Morrissey. But with cooperative play unfinished and E3 looming like the Reaper in a plague wake, it took hours upon hours of grinding work to get things done in time. "We finished at 5:30AM on the first day of E3, and some of the guys who had been working on it drove it up just in time for the opening." When Aldridge was asked if he'd gone along to deposit the sample game, he scoffed. "I'm not crazy. I slept."

But with E3 conquered and Death Jr. 2: Root of Evil slated for an October release, everything is neat and sweet. My only disappointment? The fact that nobody on the development team had a Pandora tattoo.

I guess we'll leave that one to the fans."

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