Maelstrom First Impressions - Alien Invasion, Ecological Devastation, and an Unconventional Graphics Engine

2004's Perimeter is a classic example of a game that garnered critical praise but fell flat on its face once it hit the marketplace. Of course, that was probably bound to happen, considering that the game felt very inspired by the classic Russian sci-fi movie Solaris--and if you saw the George Clooney remake, then you know this isn't the popular Star Wars style of science fiction we're talking about. Yet the game still featured some great ideas, as well as an unconventional graphics engine that was based on voxels (basically pixels) rather than polygons, which most games are built on. Well, now Codemasters and developer KDV Games have learned their lesson. They're taking the cool graphics engine and the interesting ideas and improving on them, as well as putting them in a new game that's being billed as a Hollywood-style story of economic devastation and alien invasion. This game is called Maelstrom.

We received our first briefing on Maelstrom recently, and while we didn't get to see the game in action, we did get a good idea of what's going to be in it. In a world where ecological devastation is brought on by a meteor storm known as the Maelstrom, the surviving factions of humanity battle it out for the dwindling resources of the planet. On one side is the remnant, urban guerillas lead by a former US general. On the other side, the ascension, a corporate, technologically advanced faction led by an aristocrat named Arlan Khan. And, just when things couldn't get any worse, an alien faction known as the Hai-Genti invade the planet, looking to seize it as its new home.

Being guerilla fighters, the remnant are experts at stealth and infiltration, and they're able to hack into ascension computer systems to hijack their mechomorphs, which are transforming robots. The ascension, on the other hand, are an advanced faction, and they get technology like shields, laser weapons, and transforming buildings. The Hai-Genti, on the other hand, have an appropriately alien style of play. They send down spores that infect the water, and they can send down raging floods to wipe the other factions from the map. However, one of the nice things about the game's voxel-based engine is that it features fully deformable terrain, which means that human players will be able to dig ditches and canals to funnel the waters away.

The game will have a Hollywood-style plot provided by screenwriter James Swallow, who has written for Star Trek: Voyager, so expect subject matter and a setting that will be a lot more familiar than the high sci-fi concepts of Perimeter. Once again, though, the game's incredible graphics engine will be at the heart of the experience. If you've seen a voxel-based game, then you know how different they can look. Instead of lots of hard edges and angles, they're almost organic by nature, and that means they can render lifelike landscapes. With that said, the Perimeter graphics engine has improved substantially in the past two years; now you'll be able to zoom down and see individual soldiers up close, and it looks incredible. (You'll also be able to take direct control of units, so you can shoot their guns yourself.)

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait a bit longer to see Maelstrom in motion, but if Perimeter is any indication, expect a real-time strategy game stuffed with interesting ideas and unique visuals. Maelstrom is currently scheduled to ship sometime this fall.