Hi there,

A friend of mine is making a...noir-fi racing game that he says is a "racing game version of Dragon Age : Origins." He has asked me to work on the mechanics of the game.

With that said, he has said there will be "companions" in this game that have cybernetic abilities that damage rival racers, police etc e.g. one of these characters has implants that increase her reaction times during races focused on tight corners. One of her abilities allows her to slow the reaction times of other racers, causing their cars to understeer, decelerate etc. They also serve the function of companions in most Bioware games, having character arcs, their own mission/quest lines, romance arcs etc.

Has this ever been done in a racing game before? If not, how would the idea of having companions work in an arcade game, do you feel?