Combat Mission headed for the future

Online PC military strategy game publisher Battlefront.com announced two new installments in its Combat Mission series on its message board over the weekend. Combat Mission: Shock Force will not only introduce the series to an entirely new game engine, but also to an entirely new era. Unlike the previous World War II-bound games in the series, Shock Force will be a modern military strategy game. However, the as-yet-untitled follow-up will be set in Western Europe during the closing years of World War II.

In an administrator posting on the Battlefront.com forums, the company spilled the beans on its next project. Citing burnout on the World War II era and the need to make a complex game engine that takes into account modern military technology, the developer will use Combat Mission: Strike Force to bring the series into the modern day (or near future, to be precise). In 2007, Syria's government is overthrown, and players must lead an American task force, as part of a multinational effort to restore order to the country. Mission objectives will encompass conventional battles and small-scale operations, with terrain ranging from open desert to urban warfare.

Details on the World War II game were scarce, as the posting said the team wouldn't talk about it until after Strike Force was finished and released. However, it did confirm that the game would once again be based around the efforts of a US task force.