It's almost Hammer & Sickle time

The Cold War is becoming a hot topic in games of late. Already, this year has seen the release of the multiplatform action adventure game Cold War and the PC real-time strategy Cold War Conflicts. Next week sees the release of the Cold-War-set tactical shooter Operation Flashpoint: Elite on the Xbox, and now CDV Software has announced that Hammer & Sickle, its new PC tactical role-playing game set in the Cold War era, has gone gold and will hit stores next month.

Set in the universe of the turn-based strategy game Silent Storm, Hammer & Sickle casts players as an undercover Soviet agent embroiled in growing international intrigue in occupied Germany of 1949. Thanks to an open mission structure with a variety of tactical solutions for each event and a nonlinear story, players' actions will lead the world to peace or to World War III. As an incognito agent, gamers will have to pay attention to the way they dress and talk, as well as to the amount of attention they draw to themselves. And if that doesn't float their boats, there's always 90 authentic WWII and postwar weapons to choose from.

Hammer & Sickle is rated T for Teen and will retail for $39.99.