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Shadow Ops: Red Mercury - First Look Preview
Derek dela Fuente
17/10/2003
From the development team that brought us Rainbow Six, Delta Force and Spec Ops...
As the end of 2003 draws near and the focus for publishers go towards their Xmas titles, looking to see what 2004 will offer, in terms of releases is surprisingly sparse. With software publishers placing more resources on titles the knock on effect has been fewer releases with more weight, time and effort on individual titles. Normally you would be spoilt for choice when leafing though the big publishers future schedules but sadly those days are long gone. Atari, one of the 'big boysâ, has already briefly showcased Shadow Ops: Red Mercury for their line up for 2004, mid summer, which has already been critically acclaimed. Those who have been fortunate enough to see it have come away impressed but surprisingly the game has had few mentions of late. TVG will highlight a number of potential 'big' titles for 2004 starting with this.
Zombie Studios, the developer, has worked for many of the leading publisher, and will be utilising Epicâs Unreal technology in what is an ultra realistic, authentic world styled military first person shooter with high production values, along with uncompromising fast action.
Set in the near future, Shadow Ops: Red Mercury places the player in the boots of an elite Delta Force operative which will see him move from the Middle East to take in locations such as Bosnia, parts of Europe, plus other interesting and challenging places. From secret military bases in the frozen backcountry of Russia to many of the world's hot spots, various single player gameplay challenges, such as hostage rescue, demolition, infiltrate, confronting guerrilla terrorists, to find weapons of mass destruction, even parachuting into a defined location, along with action as a bodyguard. As well as fighting alongside (and sometimes against) international Special Forces from the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France and Germany in the 20 plus single-player levels includes both indoor and outdoor action.
To ensure a certain degree of realism, as well as clever implementation, which will see the enemy speaking in their native language, the detailed real world locations have been scouted and photographed by the development team to create meticulous reproductions of existing textures to mimic the exact look and feel of each battleground. The Unreal technology will be pushed to its limits to produce the most intense and detailed graphics on any system as well as unparalleled multiplayer gaming. We are informed the amount of research and detail presented, in some cases, will be unsurpassed, which will be apparent when viewing the photo realistic characters with facial animation and motion captured body animations performed by real members of elite special forces teams - which amounts, in their words, to possibly the definitive game of its type on the Xbox/PC!
The set up story to the game is when a female Russian double-agent discovers information on Red Mercury - a secret substance that can be used as a nuclear accelerant. The player is hand-picked by the National Security Agency (NSA) to pursue the Red Mercury before it is used to build backpack nuclear devices and sold to terrorist organizations.
The adrenaline rush is constant from the moment the game opens and although the action is frantic in many instances the player needs plenty of guile. Merging indoor and out door action allows for the full gambit of events and taking out a number of protagonists, as a sniper perched and hidden behind a window, in a building, can quickly move seamlessly into the alleyways or the streets where the events continue unabated.
An impressive list of well over 20 authentic general military and special forces weapons will be available to choose from. You will only be able to carry 4 items, each with a unique strategic strength against various targets of opportunity, which include the usual arsenal of well used and trusted military rifles, grenade launchers and some frag grenades, plus more special weapons will be on offer - M249, P5SD, SPAS 12, etc. As yet the final list has to be decided but already seen in the first demo was the use of night vision equipment, essential when you are sneaking around enemy bases. Choosing the right weapons for the appropriate event/incident is also a prerequisite that must be taken into consideration!
Total immersion, the definitive experience, was the well versed ideology from the team and to ensure this one pivotal area of focus, most significantly, will be placed on the âin gameâ Artificial Intelligence. It is only of late that in a number of tactical action games the developers have started to speak in great length about their focus on embryonic ways groups of soldiers react to each other and the differing way, both physically and emotionally, they will help, support and even in some cases, not help, each other if it is to the detriment to their own safety. Have you ever seen a game where you have seen surprise and even fright on the faces of soldiers or where you may see them become more aggressive if events become dire! Although Zombie Studio was not this specific they believe they will further push the envelope within this area and seeing a number of dev teams have already achieved, with limited success, variable actions and reactions, we can expect some interesting additions to this list from Zombie!
In game cinematics will move the game along whilst also setting up ensuing events. A couple of early trailers for the game are available on the net, which will give a fuller insight into the quality and depth of action and carnage that Shadow Ops: Red Mercury presents.
Although Shadow Ops: Red Mercury has been put under wraps to the press over the last few months we are informed that a number elements of the game are looking spectacular. Outside expertise has been brought in to bolster the already impressive in house capability and even the lesser elements will not be overlooked. Soundelux, the state-of-the art Hollywood sound effects studio, which has previously worked on films including Black Hawk Down, Charlieâs Angels 2 and Kill Bill, will provide the sound effects.
A number of exciting and different game modes, including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Plant the Bomb, Capture the Flag and Escort, will be included.
Being on dual format there will be Xbox support for up to 16 players on Xbox Live! and the Xbox voice communicator, as well as two-to-four player split screen multiplayer action.
The PC version will also support many machine specific requirements!
One other point to mention is for the player to expect the unexpected for as we all know planned events never run their true course for terrorists actions can never truly be calculated.
