When I heard about CiRCLE Studio's Without Warning (PS2, Xbox) early this year, I was intruiged. CiRCLE was founded by two members of Core Design, the studio most famous for its creation of Tomb Raider. This new studio's first effort, inspired by the television show 24, is a modern-day shooter that takes place at a chemical plant during a terrorist attack. So far, that sounds pretty standard. However, over the course of the game, the player is put into the shoes of six different characters--and one of them will never even fire a weapon. Without Warning has a strong emphasis on storytelling, presenting these various perspectives of an event that happens essentially in real time. With the game hitting stores now, I got the chance to ask some questions of Lead Designer Oli Clarke-Smith and PR & Marketing Manager Susie Hamilton.

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 character’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 team’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 doesn’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 Ben’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 aren’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 isn’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 terrorist’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.