By: DreamCatcher Interactive, Inc. / Wanadoo
Edition / 4x Studio
Preview
by: Frag-girlie
Date: September 9, 2002
Iron Storm is
set in an alternate 1964 Europe with World War I
still in full swing. You assume the role of
Lieutenant James Anderson, part of the Allied
forces from America and Western Europe, which are
at war with the Russian-Mongol Empire, led by
Baron Ungern Sternberg. Because it takes place in
an alternative 1964, Iron Storm uses wartime
elements from World War I (trenches, barbed wire
fences, mines, gas warfare, and snipers) and
combines them with elements
from World War II (automatic weapons, radar,
tanks, and flame throwers) as well as elements
from modern warfare (helicopters, lasers,
electronics and more).
Iron Storm is
powered by 4x Studio's Phoenix 3D engine and
accurately depicts the war-torn world featured in
the game while providing nice detail in the
characters and scenery. There is weather to
contend with and even the rockets leave a trail of
smoke as they head to their target. Step on a
landmine and you’ll see fragmented body parts and
blood flying about. Look at the sky and you’ll
see sun spots as your view is impaired by the
bright sunlight.
You're given the
option of playing in either a first- or
third-person view but will quickly realize you
will need to use both for successful play. The
default third-person is most effective when you
need to see the vast terrain and what you’re
headed into as you sneak from place to place, and
the first-person view is best when you’re engaged
in battle. One neat feature of the third-person
point of view is that you can see every weapon
you're carrying on your back in detail and
luckily, the switch between views is as easy as a
quick tap on the ‘ole ALT key.
The single
player campaign has six-missions, taking you from
the trenches of the front lines to the Reichstag
in Berlin. Associate Cécile Newcastel is there
giving you instructions and assistance in your
headset that help get you through the missions.
Iron Storm also has the multiplayer components
everyone has come to expect from a shooter,
featuring deathmatch, team deathmatch, and capture
the flag modes, and will support up to 16 players
either on a LAN or online. The machine specs
were not stated at the time of this preview, other
than to say you’ll need at least a Pentium 3
machine.
The team at 4x
Studio put a lot of thought into the enemy AI and
it really forces you to approach your battles
cautiously. The AI ducks behind walls, runs into
corridors, takes up better positions, runs to get
their friends, and uses grenades to get you out of
your hiding spot. The detail with the AI continues
as you can hear them running around looking for
you speaking German to each other during their
hunt.
The beta press
preview build we received ran well on our two test
systems. The first machine was an Athlon 1.2 GHz,
GeForce 4 MX 440, with 512 MB SDRAM and a
SoundBlaster Live! sound card. The second was a
P4 2.2 GHz machine, with a GeForce 3 TI, 512 MB
DDRRAM and a SoundBlaster Live! sound card. The
game ran very smooth on both test rigs, but the
Athlon machine did experience one sound problem
that caused the game to emit a very annoying, very
loud static noise. Other than that, you’d never
know it was just a beta build.
With just under a
month before the expected October release, Iron
Storm is well on its way to being another wartime
shooter hit. We’ve been limited to a two player
match as of yet, but the environments were way too
big for the fast and furious action we sought. We
are looking forward to playing online in a 16
player campaign and experiencing the mayhem this
game will ensue.
You can checkout
the official Iron Storm website
here.
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