"Shadow Ops: Red Mercury" from Atari
Written by Micah Ian Wright and Jay Lender

When diplomacy is not an option, YOU are the only solution.

Set in the near future, Shadow Ops: Red Mercury thrusts players into the battle-scarred combat boots of an elite Delta Force operative. When a female Russian double-agent discovers information on Red Mercury -- a secret substance that can be used as a nuclear accelerant -- the player is hand-picked by the National Security Agency (NSA) to pursue the Red Mercury before it is used to build backpack nuclear devices and sold to terrorist organizations.

Players will face various single player gameplay challenges, such as hostage rescue, demolition and body guard as they fight alongside (and sometimes against) international special forces from the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France and Germany. More than 20 authentic general military and special forces weapons will be available to choose from, each with a unique strategic strength against various targets of opportunity. From the hostile streets of the middle-east, where danger can come from any direction, to the landmarks of a major European city. Your duty is to hunt down a terrorist overlord carrying a nuclear device before untold disaster is unleashed. Race against time and terrorism in this all-out first person shooter.

Game Features:
The most realistic, immersive, shell-shocked battlefield experience ever!
Full multiplayer experience with split-screen and Xbox Live support (modes include: plant the bomb, VIP escort, capture the flag and more)
Take a seat in military vehicles to speed your way to victory (also available in multiplayer mode)
Mix all-out assault with stealth infiltration in your mission to prevent disaster
Incredible plot that sees YOU on the trail of lethal terrorists
Join forces with other elite fighting units from the USA and Europe
Makes use of enhanced Unreal® engine technology for unparalleled graphical realism
Places and sounds modeled on real-world locations for total immersion
Use the Xbox Live headset to communicate with teammates and taunt the enemy
Hollywood production values – music, sound and scanning technology as used by the biggest blockbusters
Motion capture moves provided by ex-Special Forces operatives

Platform
Xbox™ video game system
PC

Players
1 player (mission mode)
2-4 players multiplayer, split screen
Xbox Live! Online play

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PREVIEW
We got a close-up look at the just-announced Shadow Ops: Red Mercury at Atari's suites just off the E3 show floor. The game's developer, Seattle-based Zombie Studios, says that Shadow Ops will actually replicate the nonstop pace of an action movie, with next to no downtime between levels. The game is based on the latest version of the Unreal engine, and its cinematics will string the player from one dramatic sequence to the next.

Shadow Ops puts you in the shoes of a Delta operative on a mission to find and secure a stolen Soviet nuclear weapon called Red Mercury. We got to watch the first 10 minutes of the game, and this first level opens explosively in the streets of a Syrian city. You're a part of a significant force deployed to flush out the terrorists, and the environment is filled with hostiles. Rushing through the streets, you'll have to pick off enemies firing from second-story windows and from behind hard cover. The firestorm hardly abates as you move from the streets into interior corridors. The advantage is yours as you turn on night vision to get the drop on enemies hidden in shadow, and the sheer speed of the battle will take you from dark to stunning daylight and back a number of times on your pursuit.

Then things go from bad to worse. No matter how fast you manage things, you can't quite reach Red Mercury before the terrorists take off in a helicopter. But the helicopter is damaged and decisively heads toward the aircraft carrier that's lying off the coast to give support to the mission. A cinematic will soon make it clear why. In a suicide move, Red Mercury is detonated right before F/A-18s can down the chopper. The blast clears the carrier's flight deck and seems to capsize the ship, while back on land Black Hawks are blown from the air as your character runs for cover.

But with that, the game shifts. Without missing a beat, the next mission jumps back 48 hours in the past. Now it's your chance to prevent that catastrophic series of events, and Zombie promises a couple of major plot twists along the way. The storyline itself was honed by a Hollywood writing team. The game's 20 levels will have you jump into a range of action-packed situations, from parachuting out of a B2 bomber to close-quarters combat.

At its core, Shadow Ops is a first-person action game, and you'll have plenty of weapons at your disposal. You can have a total of four weapons at a given time, and choosing the right weapon for a situation plays a part in being successful. The first demo level provided the character with an M4 rifle with an M203 grenade launcher, a sniper rifle, a pistol, and some frag grenades. With this serious arsenal, it wasn't hard to take down the opposition all alone, but the final game will make teammates play a bigger role. The E3 demo has a number of friendly troops scattered around the level fighting the opposition, but they don't follow your actions. However, Halo-like squad dynamics are planned for the final game, where AI teammates not only move with you and figure out how to be of some help, but also give you updates on how things are going.

Shadow Ops is a little more than a year away, and it's being developed simultaneously for the Xbox and PC. The visuals we saw in the Xbox version were full of realistic details, like authentic uniforms for enemies and effects like RPG rounds with dramatic smoke trails that whiz right by. There are currently 10 multiplayer maps in the works, and the game will have a full range of multiplayer options, including Xbox Live and split-screen support on the Xbox. Shadow Ops is scheduled for a summer 2004 release.
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Yahoo Review

Gritty Military First Person Shooter Brings Hollywood Quality Production Value to Xbox, PC

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 14, 2003--Atari is locked and loaded to introduce Shadow Ops: Red Mercury, a gritty, military first-person shooter (FPS) for the Xbox(TM) video game system from Microsoft and personal computer (PC), in Summer 2004. Developed by Zombie Studios, the game will embody the production values of a blockbuster Hollywood film with an ultra-realistic game world spanning Middle Eastern cities to secret military bases in the frozen backcountry of Russia to other global hotspots in the Philippines, Bosnia and Western Europe.

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Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is being showcased this week at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, May 14-16, in Petree Hall, room 4003.

"Shadow Ops: Red Mercury will grab gamers by their boot straps and toss them into a hyper-intense world of heroic combat, stealth infiltration and Special Forces intrigue in a battle to save the world from nuclear holocaust," said Jean-Philippe Agati, senior vice president and general manager of Atari's Los Angeles studio. "Zombie Studios is using only the highest quality elements to create real world political hotspots, character animations and the white-knuckled tension of combat. Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is destined to become the definitive action-oriented military shooter for Xbox and PC."

Set in the near future, Shadow Ops: Red Mercury thrusts players into the battle-scarred combat boots of an elite Delta Force operative. When a female Russian double-agent discovers information on Red Mercury -- a secret substance that can be used as a nuclear accelerant -- the player is hand-picked by the National Security Agency (NSA) to pursue the Red Mercury before it is used to build backpack nuclear devices and sold to terrorist organizations.

Using the latest Unreal® Technology from Epic Games, developer Zombie Games is creating approximately 20 single-player levels that span the globe with detailed indoor and vast outdoor terrain. Real world locations have been scouted and photographed by the development team to create highly detailed reproductions of existing textures to mimic the exact look and feel of each battleground. Unreal Technology is being pushed to its limits to produce the most intense and detailed graphics on any system as well as unparalleled multiplayer gaming.

Players will face various single player gameplay challenges, such as hostage rescue, demolition and body guard as they fight alongside (and sometimes against) international special forces from the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France and Germany. More than 20 authentic general military and special forces weapons will be available to choose from, each with a unique strategic strength against various targets of opportunity.

Shadow Ops: Red Mercury will feature complete multiplayer support on both PC and Xbox. Xbox multiplayer will be playable in two-to-four player split screen mode or against up to 16 other players on Xbox Live!(TM), with support for Xbox voice communicator. Several different game modes will be included at launch, including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Plant the Bomb, Capture the Flag and Escort.

Shadow Ops: Red Mercury ups the ante on video game production values with photorealistic characters featuring facial animation and motion captured body animations performed by real members of elite special forces teams. Pounding battlefield sound effects will be transmitted in immersive Dolby 5.1 surround sound. The sound is being created by Soundelux, the state-of-the art Hollywood sound effects studio that worked on films including "Black Hawk Down," "Charlie's Angels 2" and "Kill Bill."

Shadow Ops: Red Mercury is expected to ship in Summer 2004.

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There have been games made into movies, and of course many movies made into games, and going either way is generally a risky proposition. Few games have managed to represent a big-time Hollywood license and still stand as an entertaining game, and even fewer have managed to present the gamer with the same cinematic feel you get in a movie theater. But what's all this got to do with Shadow Ops, a game that's not based on a movie? Everything, since Shadow Ops is shaping up to be a playable game with a strikingly cinematic look and feel, all without that costly big-ticket Hollywood license.

Shadow Ops: Red Mercury takes place in the very near future. A new nuclear accelerant, Red Mercury, has been discovered, and is soon to go on to the black market, then from there into the wrong hands. Playing the role of a member of Delta Force, America's elite anti-terrorism unit, you are tasked to track the movement of the Red Mercury substance, and prevent its use to detonate a nuclear device.

The game begins with an aerial insertion into a hostile city, in a scene very reminiscent of those seen in Ridley Scott's Black Hawk Down. All the game's cinemas are done in real-time (the current generation Unreal engine is running under the hood here), and so there are seamless transitions between impressive fully scripted events and actual gameplay, which is the first thing here that lends to that cinematic feel. Another is the fast-paced gameplay, which has levels filled with enemies everywhere and numerous teammates doing their best to stay alive.

Then, there's the game's audio which, in the bit of game seen thus far, sounds amazing. Effects were done by Soundelux, the same studio that filled the audio tracks for Black Hawk Down, as well as Gladiator. The game will support Dolby 5.1 surround, which adds a great deal to the immersion factor. Finally, there's the title's storyline, most of which we know little about at this point, but if the events in the first section of the game are any indication, it should be quite involving, and will move the player through 20 levels.

The playable level in Shadow Ops seems to have a very linear path through, with a number of scripted events triggered at certain points. This could make for an involving and dramatic campaign if done right, or could turn the game into a sort of pre-defined shooting gallery, with you dragged along for the ride. But, with nearly a year of development left, it's obviously too early to tell.

Both PC and Xbox versions will have numerous multiplayer options. Xbox will support up to four players offline, as well as Xbox Live online play for up to 16 players. The two platforms will all provide basic deathmatches, both normal and team, along with more strategic gameplay modes, like CTF, escort and plant the bomb.

Graphically, things are looking great. The UT engine is one of the best in the business, providing highly detailed environments and effects, along with other niceties like rag-doll physics. Character animations could use a bit of work, but that's about the only comment we can make on anything slightly lacking in the visuals department. Even with the incredible showings at E3 of some not-so-distant next-generation game engines, it's still hard to conceive that this quality of graphics could possibly be called primitive in a year's time.

Shadow Ops: Red Mercury, the cinematic game wholly unrelated to any movie, is coming to Xbox or PC near you next summer.