First Look: Messiah

GameSpot recently had the chance to sit down with Interplay and Shiny and play a few of Messiah's completed levels. At this point, almost all the game's levels, enemies, story and artificial intelligence are complete. The Shiny team is busily tying up all Messiah's loose ends and hunting down the last of the bugs in its engine to meet the September/October shipping deadline.

For those who haven't been following the immense amount of hype being generated by Messiah, what follows is a brief synopsis. The game's main character is a cherub, complete with diapers, called Bob. Bob's been sent down from the big guy Himself in order to clean up a world that has plunged into chaos and disarray. Stripped from all his heavenly powers, Bob's only weapon is his ability to possess other humans. So, in a sense, players will end up playing in the shoes of a wide variety of characters in the game, from futuristic prostitutes to cops bristling with guns, rocket launchers, and the like.

Messiah's engine - lovingly called the SaxEngine, after its lead programmer - boasts several technical advancements. One of which, tessellation and deformation, would have been a technological first had the game been released last year. Basically, this feature reduces and increases the number of polygons to keep the game's frame rate constant, regardless of the number of objects on the screen.

We'll have a full-fledged preview of Messiah next week. But to whet your appetite, here's a handful of screenshots taken from the game's Warehouse, Alley and Club levels. Enjoy.