Breed Preview

Broadening the depth of gameplay with various features and using the capable Mercury graphics engine, the new team-based shooter from Brat Designs has a good chance of setting a strong mark in the gaming industry. Breed is expected to arrive on both PC and Xbox platforms and it is going to offer players 25 missions and about 30 hours of constant action, supplemented with an intriguing plot. In terms of gameplay, although the game is usually compared to Halo, recently its designers have called it a mix of Quake and Delta Force. The creators of the game have still one year of intense developing ahead of them. However, after many announcements and media releases, we can safely say they're doing a good job so far.

We have no time for holiday snaps Sarge, keep movin'!

If I only had a dish of that size.

The compelling storyline will be more than enough to hook players to their Xbox controllers. It all starts in the year 2600, when mankind mastered the skills of space travel and managed to expand across the universe, setting up colonies on distant planets. Unfortunately, some of these colonies were unexpectedly attacked by a fierce biomechanical race and since humans were supplied with rudimentary weapon systems they couldn't set up much of a resistance. Many settlements in space were now caught in a war, which raged for a long time. Two years later several human stations were attacked and there was no other choice but to send in major reinforcements from Earth. At first, this new species didn't appear quite intelligent, but seemed to rely more on its vast numbers and great physical strength. Easily lured by this new race (which later acquired the epithet "Breed") humans launched a counter attack in order to regain possession of several outer colonies. To cut a long story short, humans were caught by surprise and have left their home planet totally defenseless against another oncoming force of The Breed. Now it's time to head back and rightfully reclaim Earth. But, you're gonna have to be careful, because Earth is now occupied by an entirely new type of "Breed," which are more agile and far more intelligent than those who were fighting in outer colonies.

Once immersed in the gripping story, players will get to test various features that the developers have incorporated into Breed, ranging from excellent visual effects (powered by the Mercury engine) to the huge number of vehicles and weapons players will be able to access. The game gives you the possibility of traveling between the human mother ship, known as Darwin, and Earth. So, this means players will be able to engage in skirmishes that take place in space as well. However, in most of the missions you'll be able to take control of flying-units, enter the Earth's atmosphere, and invade the Breed forces on land (using many different types of ships - Fighters, APCs, and Dropships). Depending on the weight and cargo, controlling the vessels will be set according to the laws of physics; therefore, if you're flying a Dropship that's loaded with troops it's natural to expect the ship's controls to respond slower. Similarly, there's the risk of the ship receiving damage and as a result the player will have difficulty in maneuvering the ship, or he'll simply have to make an emergency landing. Some ground vehicles are also included and have the capacity to carry multiple troops and ammo cargo (ground vessels are usually Jeeps and Tanks). But that's not all. Breed vehicles can also be operated and they all have a unique set of characteristics - speed, weaponry, and so on.

Next to the land and air vessels, there's a whole bunch of weapons to use (both human and alien). Weapons range from assorted on-foot and off-foot armaments. One of the most interesting ideas comes with the utilization of energy weapons that drain power from the player's suit (like plasma guns and similar stuff). Without having to bother with the collecting ammo packs, the player can rely on rational use of energy from his suit. Pretty nifty idea.

To deal with such a multitude of game elements (vehicle control system, various characters using various weapons, etc.), the developers have included a convenient interface, so as not to burden the players with complicated menus and cursors. As an alternative solution, gamers will have a few simple icons that are going to make unit and character manipulation easy, and it will allow them to concentrate on the game itself without exhausting them with intricate control methods.

Ah, a perfect spot for a picnic. Bring out the grub.

Stay away and let me enjoy the view in peace!

Just so you do not assume the game will be a mere shoot-out festival, the developers have thrown in an assortment of reconnaissance missions, assault missions, and a number of rescue missions, in which stealth will be the key to accomplishing your task. To boot, you'll be treated to numerous escort assignments, where your main job is to provide backup fire to evacuation transports. Anyhoo, as you can see Brat's team of developers have put in a descant range of tasks to perform. The interesting thing is that besides diverse terrain assignments, many missions will be carried out in the Earth's orbit (this is another feature powered by the Mercury engine).

The Mercury engine, specifically designed for Breed, allows various effects like multi-texturing, soft shadowing, specular highlights, reflection mapping, real-time cinematics, and other additional features. Thanks to this engine, which was specified explicitly for next-generation hardware, you can look forward to some spicy and highly detailed environments. Moreover, you'll be happy to know that Breed let's you take control of the camera and change the viewpoints from first person to third person. This of course helps a lot when you're driving and it gives you a clearer view of the area when you're on foot.

Breed also has a custom designed 3D sound engine, thanks to which you'll be able to hear multifaceted sound effects. These are going to boost the game's realism and will make the whole experience more enjoyable to gamers.

Fans of multiplayer coop modes can rejoice, because Breed has loads of cool features in that particular department. For example, in coop one player can enjoy flying the Dropship while one player operates the turret, firing at the unfortunate enemies on the ground and providing cover for friendly land units. At the same time, other standard modes will be added, such as classic Deathmatches, Capture The Flag, and Opposing Team Mission (in which one team plays as The Breed).

Breed is being created for quite some time now and after the E3 and ECTS impressive presentations it's a little more than half way through its development. Our latest information coming from the game's publisher CDV, verifies that the game is slated to hit retailers worldwide during Q4 of 2002 - sadly, no exact date was confirmed just yet, but we'll keep you posted on that.