E3 2002: Stealth Combat preshow report

DreamCatcher will be showing off Stealth Combat, its tactical mech action game, at this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, California. The game is currently being developed at German studio Triggerlab. Stealth Combat will be a 3D action game that makes use of Triggerlab's proprietary JARED engine, which can push a million polygons simultaneously.

Stealth Combat will be a squad-based action game that takes place in a futuristic world in which two powerful factions, each of which has its own mechs, are at war with each other. The Economic and Military Alliance and the Great Empire both possess heavily armed and armored tanks, helicopters, jeeps, amphibious vehicles, and mechs, and players will choose to side with one of the warring factions and eventually do battle with the other.

Stealth Combat will feature 24 different vehicles in all, each of which will handle realistically, and each vehicle can be piloted from an external perspective or a first-person cockpit view. The game will have two different single-player campaigns, one for the EMA side and one for the Great Empire. Between its two campaigns, Stealth Combat will feature a total of 25 different missions in all. The mission objectives will be varied; you'll be called upon to seek and destroy enemy encampments, scout out enemy territory, and even engage in covert night operations to gain ground against the enemy. Though the game will be squad-based, players will be able to take direct control of any of the vehicles in their squad and lead them into battle at any time--the other units in the squad will be controlled by the computer, though players can issue orders to their squadmates.

Stealth Combat is scheduled for release this fall.