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Publisher: MicroProse Developer: MicroProse Release: Mid 1999 MicroProse is currently developing the next chapter in the X-COM universe. But those of you looking forward to returning to the turn-based squad-level combat of yore shouldn't hold your breath. MicroProse is taking the franchise into a new direction. X-COM Alliance is using Epic's Unreal engine (the first-person action engine of choice at this year's E3). The game takes place shortly after X-COM Terror from the Deep and just before X-COM Interceptor (and, by extension, many years before Apocalypse). You play a soldier leading a salvage squad to Cydonia to recover supplies from the conclusive battle of the first X-COM. Along the way, your ship is sucked into a wormhole and into the middle of a battle between two alien species. As one of only a handful of soldiers aboard, you must investigate the alien vessels, recover and research artifacts, and lead small groups of soldiers into the alien structures as you search for a means of returning home. The ability to command other soldiers in Alliance gives it a slight strategic edge over your typical run-and-gun shooters. Whether this new direction for the series will be accepted by X-COM fans, however, will remain to be seen. X-COM Alliance is currently scheduled to ship in the first half of 1999.
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