Maelstrom info, screen storm

Codemasters' RTS title Maelstrom has been delayed from late 2006 to February 2007. According to the publisher, the game has been afforded further development time in order "to realize the game's ambitious design".

Sad news, perhaps, for any generals eager to wage blazing war across a future Earth struck by ecological meltdown, but a metaphorical hanky has been offered to wipe away any tears in the shape of new screenshots and campaign details. Actually, looking at the new screenshots, we begin to understand why the extra development time is required...

Just in case you were unaware, Maelstrom features three major factions turning Earth's surface to a battle-scarred mess - the Remnants (guerrilla freedom-fighters), the Ascension (technologically advanced chaps) and the Hai-Genti (an aquatic alien race). Each faction boasts its own campaign and a fourth and final campaign will provide the climatic ending to the showdown. Anyway, here's more direct from the horse's mouth...

THE REMNANT CAMPAIGN
In the first campaign players command the Remnants, a faction of hardened ex-military personnel and scattered survivors that have banded together to oppose the Ascension and battle for the freedom of the planet. A resourceful faction, they are able to quickly recruit troops, modify old U.S. military vehicles and capture technologies from the Ascension, such as terraforming. The campaign is a continual battle for survival against the Ascension forces, as their struggle continues a new threat emerges that threatens the very survival of all mankind.

THE ASCENSION CAMPAIGN
Players will switch to take charge of the technology-rich Ascension forces in the second campaign and, while battling the Remnants, quickly learn of the threat from the Hai-Genti alien race. Now a battle on two fronts, the Ascension utilize devastating technology, including the powerful mechamorph technology that enables buildings and vehicles to transform for different functions; such as attack buggies that morph into fixed emplacement guns or tanks that convert into bomber planes.

Other technologies at their disposal include terraforming, high-powered lasers and cryogen (freeze) guns. As the campaign progresses, Arlan Khan, the Ascension leader, becomes continually obsessed with studying the alien creatures, which leads to drastic consequences.

THE HAI-GENTI CAMPAIGN
In the third campaign players take the reigns of the alien Hai-Genti race. To them the Earth is a resourceful planet that has been virtually destroyed by the human animals, thus they are determined to exterminate all human life and transform the planet into an aquatic paradise. Their main goal is to flood environments and pump the water full of mutagen; a nutrient rich substance to the Hai-Genti, but a deadly poison to humans.

The Hai-Genti do not have typical weapons but use genetic engineering to create formidable creatures capable of tearing through the human forces. Their command over the elements also enables them to summon tornados, call down meteor attacks from space or flood to engulf their enemies. However, as the Hai-Genti begin their colonization of the planet, the intelligence and cunning of its human inhabitants should not be under estimated.

Screens Here