Evolution Studios’ Paul Hollywood revels in the job title of Creative Lead. A shaven-headed extrovert, he could, frankly, talk for England, so it’s always a pleasure to interview him. We managed to grab him at the recent PlayStation Day, and here are the insights into the forthcoming MotorStorm: Pacific Rift that he delivered.


Q: What’s new in MotorStorm: Pacific Rift?

PH: Well, we’ve kept all the fun bits, and added to it. We didn’t want to break the core and, obviously, with MotorStorm, we were working for the PlayStation 3 launch, so there were going to be a few things we didn’t manage to get into the game. Like split-screen racing.

Q: Which I can see you have, with two players on the left and right of the screen?

PH: And we’ve got four-player split-screen, although we’re not showing it today. Split-screen racing is great, and I’ve got aspirations to make it a really good party mode.

Q: Another new feature which stood out was the influence of the vegetation and the environment. As you’ve made a virtual island, rather than recreated Monument Valley this time, did you find that liberating?

PH: It was a bit but, to be honest, we didn’t really create Monument Valley – it was still a MotorStorm track with a beautiful, iconic background. Pacific Rift is quintessentially Hawaii, but we’ve taken all the best bits and shoved away the things that we didn’t want like hula and Elvis. In any MotorStorm environment, we have a large amount of creative freedom to do what we want to do – to create the unique multi-route tracks that define the game.

Q: What’s the starting-point when you design a new track? Obviously, MotorStorm’s trademark is having tracks with very different characteristics.