Iron Storm First Play
Iron Storm is an upcoming first/third person action game from DreamCatcher and developer 4X Studio. What sets the game apart from most other shooters is its setting and storyline, which is pretty safe to classify as unique. The game is set in 1964, but in a world quite different from the 1964 ours remembers. In the world of Iron Storm, there was no World War II ... because World War I never ended. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia was crushed, leaving a power vacuum that was filled by an aggressive dictator with visions of a greater Russian Empire that would spread across Europe and Asia. As he moved the Russian armies west, America and the Western European powers moved east to meet them, with Germany ceasing to exist in the crush between the forces.
Now in its fiftieth year, the war has bogged down into a stalemate along extensive trench lines in the middle of what used to be Germany. While many of the familiar elements of World War I such as trenches, poison gas, and entrenched machine gun nests are all present, fifty years of progress have also introduced more modern weapons and technology such as helicopters, tanks, flamethrowers, and bazookas. The resultant mix consists of elements of World War I, World War II, and Viet Nam era warfare.
You play the role of Lieutenant James Anderson, a special operative sent on a bold mission deep behind enemy lines. Your mission will require stealth and planning, as well as good combat skills, in a bold move that could finally bring the conflict to an end.
We
were recently sent a preview copy of Iron Storm, and were able to get a look at
its unique world firsthand. The game opens as you receive your mission
orders and a special radio transmitter. The radio transmitter keeps you in
contact with your mission commander, who will provide you with guidance and
mission updates while you are in the field. As you leave HQ and head
through the trench networks, you are given a feeling of what such a network
would be like after so many years of conflict. The game does a good job of
providing atmosphere and details to make its world more immersive and lifelike.
For example, as you make your way through the trenches, you'll pass kitchens,
barracks, armories, kennels; everything that you'd expect would be needed to
maintain a war effort from the trenches. As you get closer to the front,
you'll start to encounter your frontline troops and hear the thump of artillery
exploding in the distance. You'll finally reach No Man's Land, and will
need to make a dangerous trip across it to the enemy lines.
No Man's Land is a wasteland of destroyed buildings and gnarled trees sitting under a bleak sky. While fighting your way through the enemy troops, you'll find yourself under a sporadic rain of dirt and the occasional body part as the relentless artillery pounds at the frontlines. Once you make it to the enemy lines, you'll need to make your way through their trenches, cross a deserted shell of a German city, infiltrate an enemy science complex, and finally make your way to Berlin, home of the enemy's forward headquarters.
You can play Iron Storm in either a first person or third person perspective, and switch between the two at any time. This works well as some times, such as when manning a machine gun post, the first person view is critical. At other times, such as when navigating your way through across the broken floorboards of the attic of a bombed-out home, it is easier to play from the third person view. One nice touch with the third person view is that you can instantly see which weapons you are carrying as your current inventory will show up on your back, belt, and wherever else you can cram a weapon.
Speaking of weapons, the game will give you quite a variety of arms. In
addition to the ubiquitous knife, submachine gun, shotgun, and pistol, there are
a few other interesting weapons that you'll have a chance to wield in the game,
including three different types of grenades. One is your standard grenade,
another is a cluster grenade which releases three additional grenades that
explode shortly after the first, and the last spreads that World War I classic,
poison gas. The flamethrower comes with a secondary fire capability that
sprays fuel over an area first that you can then ignite with the primary fire.
If the demo is an accurate indicator of the final game, then Iron Storm will be two things: bloody and difficult. When enemies are hit, blood covers the floor or splatters onto walls. Drop a grenade around a corner and you might see a leg or an arm come flying past you. As for difficulty, even on the easy setting the game is no walk in the park. Enemies are pretty mobile but deadly accurate with their fire; a few well-placed hits can quickly bring you down.
The game will include a multiplayer component. The game servers aren't running yet, so we couldn't try out this aspect of the game. Look for support for Death Match, Team Death Match, and Capture the Flag games when Iron Strom ships.
The preview copy of Iron Storm demonstrates that it will not be just another
shooter. Its unusual and immersive atmosphere will make it a game to watch
for when it is released in October 2002.
