Final Exam Coming to PS3 on November 5th

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Final Exam Coming to PS3 on November 5th

Hey, I’m Francois. I run Mighty Rocket Studio, and I’m pleased to talk about Final Exam with you. There are nine people in the studio, and this is our first game. We created the studio for this game. So we hope that you’ll love it!

Final Exam is a beat’em up in which your goal is simple: survive. You were going to a class reunion. It should have been a fantastic party… and you suddenly realize that there are monsters everywhere… and they’re after you.

You can choose from 4 characters that are all classic, teen archetypes. Brutal Joe is the quarterback of the group. He likes hitting and everything related to raw power. Cassy is a street dancer (I’m sure she was a cheerleader in school), and her special attacks are dance moves. Nathan is a geek. He loves technological stuff (and he’s my favorite). The last one, Sean, is the handsome guy… but the bad boy. He likes playing with firearms.

Final Exam on PS3Final Exam on PS3

Each character has unique, powerful attacks based on their skills. Each skill has 4 power levels, up to the ultimate attack that blasts everything on the screen.

Final Exam on PS3

At the beginning of each mission, you can make your favorite character evolve by enhancing his or her physical characteristics, adding new combat moves, or choosing unique powers. All of which are important for scoring, but let’s talk about that a bit later.

There are 8 missions (30 to 45 minutes each) in Final Exam that take place in three huge environments, so you won’t get stuck in one long, boring corridor. To reach your objective, you can follow any path you want. It’s especially important in multiplayer games where you can decide how your team progresses: choose the safer route that takes longer, or split up to finish the mission faster, which means more points — and more danger.

You can play Final Exam solo, in co-op mode with two players locally (It’s more fun to be on the same couch to yell at your mate because he just broke your S combo!), and also in multiplayer mode with up to four players online.

Final Exam is fun in solo play, but it’s even more fun in multiplayer mode. We still have fun with it, here at Mighty Rocket Studio, when we play with 4 players. It’s good to hear people laugh when playing a game they know by heart, after more than a year of development, because it means that it’s genuine fun. We also have items that were designed especially for the multiplayer mode. For example, there’s a parade float that transforms into an armored that you’ll use to cross a particularly dangerous area.

Final Exam on PS3

Scoring is important in Final Exam. Of course, at the beginning, you’ll have fun as soon as you play. But you’ll soon realize that a good player that pays attention to his or her combos can get scores at least ten times higher than other players. To design our combo system, we took inspiration from skateboard games in which the more you vary your tricks, the more your score grows. We do the same in Final Exam. That’s why it’s really important to get new combat moves to vary your attacks. The mini-leaderboards that are always displayed in the main screen will remind you that you still have friends to beat.

Here are some tricks to achieve high scores: play in hard difficulty modes, try out multiplayer, and don’t forget to turn on the manual combo validation in the options menu.

So go ahead, use your unique attacks, the flamethrower, the chainsaw, the mighty rocket launcher with its homing missiles… and blast monsters. They deserved it. And above all, have fun!

Final Exam will be released on November 5th for PS3, will debut at $9.99. If you want to know more about the game, have a look at the overview trailer above, and be sure to visit the Final Exam website. You can also learn more about what’s going on behind the scenes on our devblog. You’ll even find a paper craft pattern to have your own Brutal Joe with you on your desk all day long!

We also like to hear from people who play our games, so please, tell us what you think.

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18 Comments

21 Author Replies

  • Finally

  • What a horrible title for a game. Made me freak out for a second thinking about actual finals.

    • Francois Potentier

      Why this title? Well, the 4 characters are former students: Joe is the quarterback, Cassy is the cheerleader, Nathan is the geek of the band (my favorite), and Sean is the handsome bad guy. At the beginning of the game, they go to an alumni party… but unfortunately they have an accident. They then realize that they are surrended by monsters. It is their final exam…

  • This game looks awesome and the co-op aspect is the biggest selling point for me. I also like the RPG aspect. Can you clarify a couple co-op things?

    When playing 2 player couch co-op, can you also play online with others at the same time?

    When playing 4 player online multiplayer, are you still working co-operatively or is it competitive (i.e. deathmatch)?

    • Francois Potentier

      When playing in an online game, you play in a co-op way. though, everyone has got his own score at the end of the game, so there are some competitive aspects within the co-op game. When playing offline on the same screen, you play together, with no one else online.

  • Looks awesome, I’m a huge beat ’em up aficionado and I’m actually really pleased with the way it looks. A lot of modern bet ’em ups totally miss the point and do outlandish things or make the game stupid easy (Castle Crashers, I’m looking at you), but this looks really engaging in all the right ways. Definitely picking this up.

    Any chance of a Vita version in the future? I feel like beat ’em ups make a whole lot of sense for handheld platforms.

    • Francois Potentier

      The score is important in the game. You can have a huge difference between a player only playing to follow the story and reach the end of the game and a player who pays attention to his score. The first will have fun instantly because the game is really easy to take in hand. The second will also have fun because there are many ways to increase your score. We introduced for example an option to switch the combo validation from automatic to manual: the more you kill monsters without being touched, the more you score! If you manage to vary your attacks a lot, then your score will also be better. And if you like to play in difficult modes, then you will be able to reach the top of the leaderboards!

      I agree it would make sense for the PS Vita, but unfortunately, no version is planned right now for this console.

  • Can’t say I’d play it on PS3, I’m more or less done with PSN games for PS3 unless I really really want them.

    Any change it’ll pop up on PS Vita or PS4?

    • Francois Potentier

      The game is not planned right now neither for the PS Vita nor for the PS4. I would advise you to have a look at the overview trailer and to give it a chance. It is a good game, I love it :) Try the demo!

  • Francois Potentier

    The game is not planned right now neither for the PS Vita nor for the PS4. I would advise you to have a look at the overview trailer and to give it a chance. It is a good game, I love it :) Try the demo!

  • Looks great! Will there be a demo for it?

    • Francois Potentier

      Yes there will be a demo. You will be able to make up your mind with it. The game is really fun in solo mode, and is even more fun in multiplayer!

  • looks great!!

    • Francois Potentier

      Thank you. It is nice for a game developer to read that after having worked on it for almost 2 years. And you know what? We still have fun when we test the game here at Mighty Rocket Studio. So I’m sure you will love it!

  • All platformers should be developed for Vita.

    • Francois Potentier

      The PS Vita is definitively a great console. Maybe a version later, but nothing’s planned right now.

  • Francois Potentier

    The PS Vita is definitively a great console. Maybe a version later, but nothing’s planned right now.

  • Francois Potentier

    Yes Francois, you’re right. Is this some kind of schizophrenia that I have?

  • I know where I’m spending my money from the spend $50 and get $10 back promotion on. :)

  • Thanks for the answer! Another question: Does it have a platinum?

  • I have to echo the sentiments about a Vita version. All platformers should be available for my beautiful OLED screen console. Game looks interesting…

    • Francois Potentier

      A lot of people is asking for a PS Vita version. You’ve been heard. I’m affraid though that If there is one, it will not be available berfore some months. I agree that the console is definitely great.

  • Gotta say when I read the description I wasn’t all that interested, but the animation in that trailer was really good and the gameplay looks serviceable as well.
    Any chance the pre-order for this can go up on the 29th? Either way looking forward to it.

    • Francois Potentier

      It’s difficult indeed to describe a game. The best way to make up your mind will be to give it a try and test the demo. Both the game and the demo will be released on the 5th of November, in 1.5 weeks.

  • Oh and I forgot to ask: Are there any unlockable wrestling moves or grabs like piledrivers, etc.?

    • Francois Potentier

      Yes, your character will evolve from mission to mission. You have 2 kinds of points: physical points for health, strength… and skil points to unlock new attacks. Each character has got 4 unique special attacks linked to his personality. For example, for Brutal Joe, it is all about raw power. So his 4 unique attacks are based on that. The 4th one for each character is a fury that destroy all the monsters on the screen. To use them, you have to fill in a gauge. New attacks are important to vary the way you fight and score higher combos.

  • I’d be interested in this on Vita. Unfortunately I will be all about my PS4 in Nov

    • Francois Potentier

      You can play to the demo and decide if the game is worth buying it on the PS3. There is nothing planned on PS Vita right now for Fina Exam.

  • I may have to check this out at some point looks very fun. PS4 day 1 shipping I’m out

    • Francois Potentier

      It will be available on PS3. Not on PS4. Give a try to the demo and decide by yourself if it is worth the money.

  • I’m really liking how snappy and precise the animation/action looks.

  • Never heard of this game until this blog was posted. It sounds a lot of fun and really like the idea of it. Will give the demo a play but I’m sure I will end up purchasing it. Thank you for the post!

    • Francois Potentier

      That is good news. It is so enjoyable as a game developer to read this kind of comments :) If you like the demo and go ahead for the full game, make sure to play to it in multiplayer and above all in local coop with a friend on the same couch. It is even more funny this way.

  • As much as I’d like this on PS4/Vita, I’m gonna get this to support you guys and hopefully enough sales helps it get ported to the other two consoles.

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