The Wargamer

Introduction

A couple years back, the development team behind Panzer Elite, Wings Simulation, made the intriguing decision to leave their successful, Award for Excellence-winning strategy game in favor of creating a first-person shooter to fill the demand in that growing genre.  The result is the upcoming Söldner: Secret Wars, a mercenary-for-hire tactical first-person shooter.  Set in the present to near future, the game is quite a lot like other FPS games - players employ a virtual arsenal in the name of either saving the world from terrorism (the single player game) or killing their online opponents (the multiplayer game).  But the ambitious game goes far beyond its basic FPS mold to include a completely open game worlds, drivable vehicles, and a complete physics engine that even models the destruction of terrains and buildings.  The result is a game which bears striking resemblance to Operation Flashpoint and Battlefield 1942, albeit with better-looking graphics and an even deeper selection of characters, weapons, and vehicles.  Even better, Wings Simulation promises not to skimp on the game's single player campaign mode or the its multiplayer elements, where up to a staggering 128 players will be supported in a single (specialized) game server.  As a final touch, the game's vehicles and characters will be customizable in the game's multiplayer mode.  In part because it lacks the mega-corporate backing that so many other FPS games seem to garner these days, Söldner's wild card is its impressive underground fanbase which may be able to propel the game to popularity simply by word-of-mouth advertising.

For more on Söldner: Secret Wars, browse through our collection of developer diaries: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.  The game should be released to North American store shelves in early 2004 by publisher Encore.  European dates should be similar, but the publisher and exact date may vary by country.

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