CT Special Forces: Fire for Effect Impressions

Earlier today, during a visit to Hip Games' stand at the EGN trade show in London, we got our first look at the previously unannounced CT Special Forces: Fire for Effect. Only an early PlayStation 2 version of the game was present at the show, but the game is also in development for the PC and Xbox.

CT Special Forces: Fire for Effect will feature two playable characters, a gung-ho Rambo-type named Raptor and the more stealth-based character that was featured in our demonstration. The game's storyline will see you switching between the two of them rather than choosing which to play as. So, for example, when one character gets captured by the enemy, you'll have to send the other on a rescue mission.

The single-player, third-person action game will feature two distinct level types, which were referred to as "ground mode" and "free-fall mode" during our demonstration. The first level we saw was very much on the ground and started out on a quite impressive-looking beach with an enemy helicopter flying overhead. Once the chopper had been brought down, we were taken up the beach, where, in addition to a vacant off-road vehicle, there were a number of enemies waiting. Both of our character's weapons could be fired as he was driving the vehicle (exactly how remains a mystery), and the firefight also afforded us a good opportunity to check out some of the stealth moves in the game, such as shooting out lights and lurking in the shadows, hiding behind objects, and leaning around corners to shoot.

However, you won't always need to lean out from behind corners to take shots at enemies because the game will feature an experimental "angle gun" that can fire around corners. We didn't get to see that particular weapon in action, but we did get to see the equally bizarre electromagnetic grenades doing their thing--that being attracting or repulsing all metallic objects within quite a large area. Even the vehicles parked nearby would shift as a result of the grenades, which, we're told, will be best used to disarm groups of enemies.

Still more bizarre, believe it or not, will be the game's free-fall mode--at least if it survives in its current form. In this reasonably impressive-looking mode, you'll plummet endlessly downward while shooting at enemy freefallers. Not bizarre enough for you? How about free-falling escort VIP and bomb disarm missions? Out of some morbid curiosity we asked to take a look at one of the bomb disarm missions and were confronted by the spectacle of our character falling alongside a large bomb, which could apparently be disarmed only by...shooting at three or four specific parts of it. Our demonstration came to an end and, feeling a little bemused, we moved on.

CT Special Forces: Fire for Effect is currently scheduled for release in March 2005. We'll bring you more information on the game as soon as it becomes available.