It has been four years since the Brood War Conflict ended within the ravaged Koprulu Sector. In that time, Sarah Kerrigan, the self-styled Queen of Blades, has become the undisputed ruler of the zerg Swarm - and the most powerful entity in the galaxy. Emperor Arcturus Mengsk, Kerrigan's sworn enemy, has rebuilt much of his Terran Dominion and consolidated a new military force despite the ever-present threat of the zerg.

We were fortunate enough to have a chance to play Starcraft Ghost at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo. This continues to work towards production (expected before end of year) for all three current generation console platforms. Engage the StarCraft universe face-to-face as a deadly Ghost operative in the service of the Dominion. With the help of determined allies, follow story-driven missions that take you from massive planetary battles through dangerous solo operations to an unexpected turn of events that leaves the fate of the universe in your hands.

As previously reported, this is a first person shooter along the lines of Splinter Cell. It is also known as a stealth fps. The primary mode of movement is in a stealth mode. Stealth is limited in two ways. 1) The amount of stealth is limited on a psychic point system. The psychic powers will slowly regenerate when not in use but can also be increased by an action which takes focus away from any other activity while charging. 2) The AI does include character types which have the ability and skill to disrupt a stealth field.

At this point, the game is still unfinished as there were slight bugs while in the game play demo. One ledge despite being 2 inches, was unclimable from our start point. The character set of the Starcraft "world" seems to be well handled and allows for some interesting weapon pickups and reaction/speech from AI. For example, expect to see the Vulcan craft in this game. It has been changed from the original to remove the "grenade" aspect of the weapon and changed it to a simple beam based weapon. What was glaringly missing from the demonstration was any Protoss characters and that is sad as this limits the game's additional replay factor.

The multiplayer aspect is what was added from last year. Currently all three console systems will be given multiplayer and with a four player maximum. Diversity from system to system has been excluded in order to "ensure that no player feels shorted." Multiplayer does include vehicles and could compete with Halo 1 and 2. Ghost will boast the usual collection of multiplayer modes, such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, and King of the Hill. However, even these game modes will have a unique twist to them, to make them fit the theme of StarCraft and to inspire more strategic play. In addition to traditional game types and StarCraft-flavored variants, the game will also introduce an entirely new game mode that fits perfectly in the setting - Capture the Base. The initial Capture the Base map for play at the Electronic Entertainment Expo features several of the StarCraft vehicles. There are two Grizzlies - one for each side - which can be used to fly into the floating base and utilized for air support as well. Also available for use on each side is a Siege Tank, Stinger two-person jeep, and Vulture. Using these vehicles, players can hunt down members of the other team and protect the base once it's captured. Let's look at that gem of a mode more closely.

In Capture the Base mode, two teams of players square off on opposite sides of a simple map. Floating in the middle of this map is an empty Terran factory. Terran buildings can be captured and taken in the StarCraft strategy game, and in Ghost, they make for a perfect competitive multiplayer environment. The goal of Capture the Base is to fly into the Terran factory and gain control of it in order to fly it back to your start point. The team that holds the base for a set amount of time wins the scenario. Of course, doing so is much easier said than done. First, you need to get into the floating factory, which you can only do by flying into it with a Grizzly fighter-bomber. Once inside, you'll need to locate the central control room and maneuver the base back to your side. But while you're doing this, the other team could be fighting a pitched battle within the factory trying to wrest control of it from you. And even if you should manage to bring it back to your base, the other team could always storm the factory and steal it back from you.

Victory won't automatically go to the team that first captures the base. Instead, one team must hold the base for a set number of minutes, which gives the other team a chance to take it back. However, the number of minutes you must hold the base need not be cumulative. That means teams can keep stealing it from each other in pitched battles that rage across the sky as the base is tugged back and forth between both sides of the map. Once a team accumulates the total necessary minutes - whether that's at one time or over several instances - that team is declared the winner, and another exciting game of Capture the Base can commence once again.

The game is still considered in internal beta only, and we are very much looking forward to the final product after our walk-thru of the game.

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Matthew"Nitemare409" Johnson - May 2005