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While the Xbox and GameCube race to meet their launch deadlines, PS2 is beating them to the punch with kick-ass content. It took two years and 60 animators to perfect the graphics in Batman: Vengeance, a new PS2 release from UbiSoft (www.ubisoft.com). The developers shied away from motion capture and handcrafted more than 500 3-D animated moves to maintain exacting control. Their labor of love: the superhero's cape. "The cape functions as a character attached to Batman's back," says producer Reid Schneider. The garment has its own AI, allowing it to move independently, and its own life meter, which depletes as the dark knight takes on damage. Staged entirely at night, the game is more of a playable movie than a classic third-person action-adventure. The plot unfolds with more than 30 minutes of live-action shorts (which pop up in response to various moves) and 10 minutes of prerendered cinematics. "It was very important for us to have a really great story line so that it wasn't just a run-of-the-mill script," says Schneider.
ELECTRIC WORD
Timescrapers
High-Performance Design
Solar Powerhouse
Peripheral Vision
Cape Crusaders
Skeleton Key
