DREAMCATCHER GAMES ANNOUNCES UNIVERSAL COMBAT FOR PC

DreamCatcher Games today announced the first details of the renamed Universal Combat for PC, due to be distributed by Mindscape in the UK in November 2003. A playable demo is expected in the first week of October.

Universal Combat brings the greatest components of war together in a single game. Conceived in late 2001 as Battlecruiser Generations, the fifth in the Battlecruiser series, the game has grown into much more than a massive space simulation.

Uinversal Combat is a game of incomprehensible scale that allows gamers to choose any aspect of combat they wish. Choices of combat styles and gameplay include:

• Compelling multi-player games against up to 63 other gamers.
• Carefully designed campaigns and instant action scenarios.
• More than 54 different air and spacecraft, from basic multi-role combat fighters and low altitude multi-role gunships to massive carriers, cruisers and transporters.
• 22 land vehicles and 10 naval vessels including jeeps, tanks, SAMs, carriers, LCACs and even nuclear submarines.
• 20 first-person weapons and 28 characters with over 1500 animations.
• 250 planets with enormous planetary detail, spanning more than 21,000 planet side mission zones containing various bases.
• Nine career modes including heroic pilots, ship's captain and lethal reconnaissance marine.

'Universal Combat has evolved from a classic and in the midst of developing the initial BCG game, we realized that we were onto something much bigger, that a larger gaming audience would thrive upon,' commented Richard Wah Kan, President and CEO, Dreamcatcher Games.

'As a producer, you're always delighted when your games reach a wider audience, and in Universal Combat, I'm sure we'll do just that,' commented Derek Smart, Lead Developer and Executive Producer. 'There are elements that existing fans will love, but tons of new stuff that everyone can get their teeth into, spawning what I hope will be a new long-running franchise which caters to action and die hard Battlecruiser fans alike. The game has been a tremendous and risky undertaking, to say the least.'

As with all Derek Smart games, details are important. Several new design elements will add to the experience:

• New action-based focus, complete with a new interface and heavily revised control scheme for ease of use, regardless of craft or vehicle.
• New shader-based graphics and animation engine, complete with the third generation of the industry's most advanced and seamlessly integrated planetary terrain engine ever developed for a game. The new terrain engine is capable of handling regions the size of real world planets instead of boxed in regions in zoned areas as in other games. This allows massive planet side combat engagements which can span small concentrated areas, large continents or even entire worlds alike.
• All components of SINGE (a proprietary Seamlessly Integrated Game Environment) have been further advanced to expand and streamline massive game worlds. This allows gamers to play in space or on planets (including land and now underwater environments) and be able to move seamlessly from one to the other. With the inclusion of naval assets control, new advanced dynamics and AI kernels, the integrated battlefield is not just relegated to driving around in vehicles or low altitude crafts – in a box. This new incarnation of SINGE blends space flight, planetary flight, vehicular dynamics, naval asset dynamics and first person action to provide adrenaline-pumping land, sea, air and space engagements.
• New 3D object database with over 500 unique high detail 3D models and assets.

Universal Combat will be published for PC by Dreamcatcher Games and distributed by Mindscape in November 2003, price £29.99.