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Mutant Chronicles: Warzone Online
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Developer
Paradox Entertainment
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Publisher
TBA
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Genre
RTS
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Release
Fall/Winter 2001
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Anticipation
High
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The under represented RTS genre is getting a boost in the form of Mutant Chronicles: Warzone Online. Check out our complete preview.
The RTS genre has been slowly evolving since the development of Blizzard's Warcraft several years ago. The biggest evolutionary step forward could come in the form of Mutant Chronicles: Warzone Online.
Originally developed in 1995, Mutant Chronicles has a well-established fan base as a miniatures game. It was available in nine languages and sold over 2 million copies.
Paradox Entertainment is creating an entirely new engine for use in MC:WZO, and with the superiority of Xbox's processing, the game will truly represent 3D warfare. This means that the environments will also be represented in 3D, not the traditional "2.5D" of most RTS games.
The game is set approximately 1500 years in the future, with mega-corporations battling it out for the few remaining resources left on Earth after most of the human race fled in search of more hospitable planets within the solar system. There will be six different playable corporate armies with hundreds of units each.
The units themselves will be highly customizable, allowing the player to alter squad construction and choose which units are sent on which missions. Terrain will also greatly affect the effectiveness of each unit. For example, a sniper unit will have trouble in an open field type situation, while ground troops will be effectively cut off in a canyon.
Paradox CEO Nils Gulliksson says, "Combining the latest in 3D, real-time strategy with leading online technology it is an exciting project that really is only the beginning of something truly great."
Paradox Entertainment, a Swedish developer whose main focus is online games, now holds the intellectual copyright to the entire Mutant Chronicles franchise. The company plans to re-launch Mutant Chronicles on a global scale, and an on-line RTS may be the way to do it.
The recent announcement of New Millennium Entertainment's broadband global gaming network, coupled with the fact that Warzone Online is being developed simultaneously for both PC and Xbox, could make this the cross platform online game people have been waiting for.
Daniel "monk" Pelfrey
Thinks mutants taste just like chicken.
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