Universal Interactive to produce Battlestar Galactica game

Universal Interactive has announced plans to produce a game based on the classic science-fiction television series Battlestar Galactica. The game is part of a general campaign to bring the show back, along with planned DVD releases of old episodes and an all-new TV miniseries.

The game is being developed by UK-based Warthog Games, and it will be a mission-oriented space combat simulation. Players will be given attack, escort, and defensive missions, which will ask players to defend the Galactica itself from cylons. The game will have large capital ships, and various portions of these ships--turrets, cannons, engines, and the like--can be destroyed separately. Players will pilot a variety of craft throughout the game, ranging from the viper to large bombers. Each will come with a variety of weapons, and players will also be able to tune their own weapons in four different categories, making for a total of 36 different weapon types. As players progress through the story, they'll earn wingmen. These wingmen will be persistent from mission to mission, and they will gain experience and skill as players move through the game. Not much story information has been revealed at this time, but the game is said to take place 40 years prior to the events of the TV show.

Battlestar Galactica is scheduled to land on store shelves on September 23 for both the PS2 and the Xbox.