Starcraft: Ghost is a tactical-action console game set in the Starcraft universe. Perspective is third-person and not first person. The game is expected to ship in Quarter 4, 2003 with an ESRB rating of Teen. Starcraft: Ghost will be available for all three next generation consoles, the Microsoft Xbox, Sony Playstation 2, and Nintendo GameCube. The game will come out first on the Xbox, but the PS2 and GC ports will not be far behind.

Nova

In Starcraft: Ghost, players take the role of Nova, a lethal Ghost operative skillfully trained in the arts of espionage and tactical combat. Twenty years of ruthless physical conditioning and techno-psychological instruction have made Nova a being of terrifying potential.

Why a Ghost?

While the Ghost unit is often given little attention in Starcraft and Brood War gameplay, it is actually one of the most interesting units to exist within the Starcraft storyline and universe. Kerrigan, who is arguably the most important character of Starcraft, was a Ghost prior to infestation. Ghosts are the mysterious agents that carry out covert missions for the corrupt Confederacy Government. They were the ones who were sent to assassinate Angus Mensk on Korhal, leaving his decapitated body along with those of his wife and daughter on the balcony of his own fortress. Not only are Ghosts stealthy, they are also psychic, able to cloak, lockdown mechanical units, and call down devastating nuclear strikes from the shadows. In other words, the Ghost is the perfect unit to base a Starcraft shooter around.

Cinematics

Starcraft: Ghost will feature only two fully-rendered cinematic cutscenes – one at the the beginning and one at the end. However, there will be numerous real-time cutscenes utilizing the in-game engine througout the game.

Locations

Starcraft: Ghost will have levels in Zerg, Terran, and Protoss settings. Nova will have missions in such settings as Terran installations, Zerg colonies, and Protoss Nexii. Familiar areas such as the Jacobs Installation and Mar Sara will be brought back to life in full 3D.

Nova surveys the battlefields of Mar Sara. Notice the Mineral Crystals in the background.

Units

Since Starcraft: Ghost is a pretty large and ambitious project, you can expect to see all of the units from Starcraft and Brood War, if not in a fighting situation, then as a cameo. All these characters will behave and act like we are used to from the strategy games in order to create a more “personal” feeling between the Starcraft universe and its fans. For example, Marines will often socialize in non-hostile environments, but will “start talking smack” as soon as they are being attacked. Blizzard games are not known only for their amazing gameplay, but for awesome sound and voice as well. SC:G’s units will sound exactly like how you expect them to. What Blizzard is trying to incorporate into the game are all of the unique and individual personalities of each unit/character found in Starcraft and Brood War. And one of the best reasons to buy Starcraft: Ghost will be to see our favorite creatures reincarnated in three dimensions.

The Seige Tank will be making its first official 3D debut in Ghost.

Teamwork

Unlike similar games in the third person shooter genre, the point of Starcraft: Ghost is not to leave you alone to bring down the entire opposing force on your own. Instead there will be several situations in which you are part of a team. For example, in one mission you are part of a group of Marines, gunning down ferocious Zerglings racing towards you in an Installation base.

Races

Blizzard has not revealed any information regarding a fourth Starcraft race at this time. “There’s so much already that exists within the StarCraft universe that fortunately at this point I don’t think we have to worry too much about coming up with a fourth race yet,” stated Blizzard VP Bill Roper, “but at the same time we are able to really expand what is there.” All three existing races [Terran, Zerg, and Protoss] will be featured in the game of course, but do not be surprised if the Xel’Naga make some sort of a cameo/easter egg appearance in Starcraft: Ghost.

Enemies

Each enemy in Starcraft: Ghost will have a different AI routine. You will be able to tell whether a Marine is in alert mode or not by whether the visor on his helmet is raised or lowered. Marines can also be killed much more efficiently with a head shot with a raised visor. Marines seem to have a lot of HP, some taking up to 20 seconds to eliminate. This adds another twist to the game: in some situations, if you don’t kill a group of Marines in a timely manner, an alarm will sound and additional enemy Marines will come in to help.

Nova will have to anticipate a battle with this Zealot on the mysterious energy bridge.

Multiplayer

Blizzard has not yet decided whether it will incorporate online multiplayer into Starcraft: Ghost, which will only be ported to console. However, the traditional 2-4 player multi will most likely be a big part of the Ghost experience, since Roper has stated that Blizzard has noticed Halo’s multiplayer popularity, and gave hints that SC:G will probably follow in a similar direction. Blizzard basically equals multiplayer so it would be very unexpected if SC:G ultimately ended up without a multiplayer mode.

Graphics

GameSpy, who were there to watch the Starcraft: Ghost trailer and demos at the Tokyo Game Show had this to say about its graphics: “The most shocking thing about this game was its graphics. For a game coming out in late 2003, Ghost looks outstanding. The character models already sport considerable detail and are animated nicely. The levels are chock full of sharp lighting and particle effects. The framerate is also quite steady, but keep in mind that none of the footage I saw contained more than a few moving characters. If the visuals progress as planned, this should be one gorgeous game on the Xbox and GameCube. Sony fans shouldn’t get too excited, as I sincerely doubt the level of detail and the frame rate will be as high in the PlayStation 2 version.”

Developers

Starcraft: Ghost will be a balanced collaboration between Blizzard Entertainment and Nihilistic Software Inc., the developers of Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption. Nihilistic will be “doing most of the coding and artwork” on the project, and Blizzard will most likely concentrate on the more abstract factors of development such as storyline, personality, and unit behavioral design. One of the members of the Nihilistic team, Rob Huebner, actually used to work for Blizzard on Starcraft, so in this respect SC:G should not be totally unfamiliar to Blizzard’s co-developer. The game will be co-published by Blizzard Entertainment and Capcom.

Inspiration

Blizzard has a screening room where they watch different films to derive inspiration for the game, including Aliens, Brazil, and of course Starship Troopers, from which Blizzard was heavily influenced for the original Starcraft.

Dangle Snipe

Nova’s signature move will be what is dubbed as the Dangle Snipe. When this move is activated, Nova will grab onto whatever she’s near – a wire, a pipe, or a platform – and dangle upside down. She will now take out her weapon in Sniper Mode, and silently take out her enemy from the shadows. The developers have crafted the game so that the objects Nova will be able to perform the Dangle Snipe on will be varied and limitless.

Nova Dangle Snipes from an overhead pipe.

Piloting Vehicles

Nova will come across several familiar Terran vehicles throughout the course of the game. This will include the Wraith as well as the Vulture hover-cycle. Players will be able to pilot “Siege Tanks, Goliaths, assuming control of turrets – just about anything they can see, they’ll be able to control.” Not only will these machines be used to drive around for fun, they will also have mission-specific purposes.

Nova encounters a gigantic Goliath. In Ghost, she will be able to pilot these machines.

Battle Strikes

Nova will have an entire Terran army to back her up in the midst of a heated battle. For example, if there are Dark Templar closeby, Nova will be able to call up a ComSat scan to reveal the cloaked enemies. In the midst of a battle, you can call in a Siege Tank strike on the ground or perhaps a Battle Cruiser Yamato strike from above. And last but not least, how can we forget that the Ghost is practically synonymous with the Nuclear Strike? When it is appropriate, Nova will laser target wherever she wants the Nuke to drop, and the familiar female voice will announce, “Nuclear Launch detected.” In Starcraft, many Ghosts were unfortunately lost in the aftermath of a successful Nuke launch. In Ghost, Nova must “run like hell” in order to escape the range of the impending Nuclear Strike. Soon, the entire scree will turn white and what comes after is the largest blast cloud you will ever seen in a video game.

Nova calls down a devastating Yamato Strike from the heavens.

Psionic Abilities

Cloak Even though other Terran units are capable of Cloak technology, the Ghost is famous for its Peronal Cloaking capabilities. The Starcraft manual says that personal Cloaking fields provide Ghost agents with “the ultimate in infiltration capabilities.” Thus, it isn’t surprising that Cloak will be the Ghost’s primary Psionic ability. When the Cloak option is selected from Nova’s Psionic abilities list, her body will become tranclucent and liquid-like. Like Starcraft, however, Cloaking does not guarantee total invisibility. Enemies will be able to see a blur if you insist on running around, and there will be also be detectors in the game. We expect that the Cloak ability will be disabled around enemy Missile Turrets, for instance. In some covert missions, there will be cameras placed throughout the enemy bases. A bright yellow streak will indicate where the camera’s current line of sight is, so all Nova has to do is avoid the streak to escape being spotted by the enemy.

Taking you a while to find Nova? That’s the point.

Psionic Sight Ghost Hostile Environment Suits are outfitted with special visor goggles which, combined with the Ghost’s own psionic abilities, allow them to see things through infrared energy. In other words, Nova is able to activate a “heat-sensing ocular function” that allows her to see units through walls or footprints that have recently been left on the floor. Nova will use this function in locating dangerous enemies without the worry of them seeing her at the same time. Using this ability, neon-outlines of the enemy will appear from behind the walls. Psionic Sight has a current range of around 15 meters, so even though you won’t be able to see everyone in the entire level, you will be able to come up with a lot more strategic options to off the next patrolling guard.

With Psionic Sight, Nova is able to see a guard patrolling around the corner. Also notice the glowing footprints he recently left on the ground.

Psionic Speed Ghosts are trained from their infancy to channel their psionic energies to augment their natural physical strength and endurance, and Nova is no exception. This training, along with special enhancements in her Hostile Environmental Suit, will let her move at seemingly supersonic speeds. The effect used for this “hypersonic speed” is the same slow motion bullet-time effect used in the Matrix, Max Payne, and Dead to Rights. What happens is that when Psionic Speed is activated, everything around Nova becomes slow motion as time itself slows down. All projectiles [including your own] and enemy movements will move at approximately 1/4 of their normal speeds. Nova’s own movement rate will remain constant, however. For example, if you are suddenly outnumbered by several guards, you can turn on Psionic Speed, run circles around your enemies and kill them off one by one.

Nova utilizes her Psionic Speed ability in this showdown with a guard. The shells coming out of her Assault Rifle descend from the air in slow motion.

Other Abilities

Nova will eventually carry around five Psionic abilities, including the three listed above. Chris Miller of Blizzard has stated that “We’re working on a few more, but we’re not releasing all of those details yet.”

Rifle

Conflicting sources name the 25mm C-10 Canister Rifle and the Gauss Rifle as her primary firearm. However, in Starcraft Ghosts were armed with the Canister Rifle instead of the Gauss Rifle usually armed by Marines. Whichever type the gun turns out to be, we know that it will be upgradeable as the game proceeds. The weapon will have three main functions: sniper mode, grenade launcher, and assault rifle. For each of these modes, there will be various types of ammo and powerups.

Sniper Mode In sniper mode, Nova will be able to zoom in on an enemy from far away. Her scope will reveal different information on the target: health info, range, etc. It will also tell you whether she can Lockdown the subject. Obviously this will only apply to mechanical objects and units, including Missile Turrets and security cameras to avoid detection. Other than using it for Lockdown, you can also simply use the sniper mode to…snipe.

Grenade Launcher With Grenade Launcher mode activated, Nova will be able to lob grenades out of her modified gun. Different grenade types can be found throughout the game, including heat seeking, time-delay, and bouncing rounds.

Assault Rifle If your enemies turn out to be closer than you had originally expected, you can quickly modify your gun to Assault Rifle mode, in which you can start blasting enemies at point blank range.

Flame Thrower

One of the other familiar weapons Nova will be using at some point in the game are the plasma-based Perdition Flame Throwers commonly utilized by Firebat troops. The perfect weapon to burn your everyday Zerglings to a crisp.

Nova roasts a couple of Marines with her Perdition Flame Thrower.

Cy-Blade

Making its debut in SC:G will be a Protoss/Terran hybrid weapon – not called the “Psiblade” of the Zealot – but the “Cy-blade.” This scythe-type weapon will be nasty and efficient, silent and deadly.

Nova silently offs a patrolling guard using her Cy-Blade.

	Psi Meter On the lower left corner of the screen is the Psi Meter. Just like in Starcraft, as you use each Psionic ability the meter will drain at a constant rate. This prevents users from relying on the special abilities too much and presents a strategic aspect of the game: choosing when and how long to use each ability. When no Psionic abilities are being used, the meter will slowly but surely recharge. As the game progresses, the rate of the draining meter will slow down; the farther you are in the game, the lesser the penalty for taking advantage of your special abilities. The meter itself is the blue bar above the Psionic ability icon. The icon designates which Psionic ability you have currently selected. When the ability is activated [ie you are cloaked], a slightly smaller version of the icon will appear above the Psi meter.
	Health Meter The Health Mater is pretty self explanatory. You will start with a set amount of Hit Points, and it will drain as you are successfully attacked by your enemies. As the game progresses, your HP max will increase. Expect items such as armor powerups and health boosts found in the game to keep your health up.
	Minimap Each unit, friendly or enemy, is displayed on the minimap in the form of little 2D cone things. The cones will show you which direction each character is facing, and the direction the cone is facing will show you your enemy’s line of sight.
	Weapons Interface The Weapons Interface located at the bottom right part of the screen tells you several things. The white number on the bottom is the regular ammo counter. It will rapidly drain as you are shooting up your enemies with the Assault Rifle. The little icon above it will designate special ammo types, such as a flame when the Perdition Flame Thrower is equipped or perhaps even Lockdown shells. The number to the left of the icon is the counter for that type of special ammo.