Blue Vault
Elixir's third title - all the info!
This really did come as a shock - no-one ever expected Elixir to let details of their third game out to the public, but obviously the lure of PC Zone's reporters got the better of them... and details, whilst sparse, make very interesting reading. Now, to see any screenshots and to read properly about the game, get your bums down to your local newsagent and grab a copy of the mag, 'cos this isn't a definitive preview. But for you poor guys State-side, here's a little sneak peak, courtesy of your friends here at Evil Planet...
Blue Vault (working title only) can be simply described as "X-COM meets Men in Black". It's an idea which has caught the imagination of some, and put others off straight away... but keep reading. This futuristic sci-fi strategy game is no Republic sequel, despite what the magazines say.
This "strategy epic" puts you in charge of the mysterious Blue Vault organisation, a group of people put together to keep the public at large blissfully unaware of alien threats (yup... it really does sound like Men in Black, huh?). Countering the alian threat and preventing the public at large from discovering the conspiracy are the main aims, and getting both right is vital - there is no point in kicking some alian butt, and scaring the hell out of the human population at the same time. If too many people find out what's going on (called "culture shock" by Elixir), the mission may be up.
Research, resource-gathering, unit recruitment, skill advancement - this game will have the whole lot, but with a very RPG feel to it. 30+ missions are planned. Differnet types of units are being designed, from lowly infantry to conspirators, for that crucial crowd-control... some drastic actions may be neccesary if someone has culture shock and goes a little crazy from it.... There are also six alien races with 15 different model types.
Missions will be varied. Some may be rescuing and sending home a crashed alien... some may be dealing with a huge enslaught of evil bastards which appear at the worst possible time. Tactical thinking will be needed with many - even down to the placement of troops.
The game has a "pristine" futuristic image, moving away from the standard grimy dark settings of many futuristic games, designed with Elixir's flagship Totality engine, and damn nice it looks too. The camera is fixed at a fairly low level, leading to a "fog of war" effect, which sounds pretty interesting - having your information sources may be very important in the later levels.
I don't want to say any more, otherwise I'll be treading on PC Zone's feet here. In many ways, I hope this mini-preview will make you even more eager to hear about the game and go down and buy the mag ;)
More details will appear here whenever they appear online, and I'll do my best to get some screenshots from Elixir if they are willing to release them. For now, check out these screenshots, which are are the FIRST on the web:
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