StarCraft: Ghost

If one were to describe Nova, one would might be “super,” but that would be a tad mundane and obvious. Actually, when talking about Nova, her class of warrior describes it all – Ghost. 

Starcraft: Ghost is a single-player experience from Blizzard for the Xbox that tracks the career of a mutated human/Terran warrior named Nova. She is genetically engineered to be a superior warrior, and everything she does proves that point. 

The game is a combination of stealth and hardcore shooter.

“There is definitely a lot of stealth in the game,” stated Blizzard’s Scott Mercer. But “we have missions that are a lot of more action, a lot of hardcore stuff.” 

Mercer was talking about the latest addition to Blizzard’s legendary world during Thursday’s session of the Electronic Entertainment Exposition (E3) in Los Angeles. The Ghost display was tucked away in a corner, but those lucky enough to find it were treated to a game that has a ton of variety, and exquisite graphics.  

The game will have more than 20 missions spanning 7-8 environments. Missions will take Nova to the Zerg world and will have her battle the Protoss forces. She can even aid the Terran cause. In addition to the foot-adventure shooter mode, she can go into sniper mode, paint targets for artillery, will man a turret to protect repair machinery, or can climb into one of several vehicles for a new kind of mission experience. 

Players can go invisible and use it to sneak past enemy units without being spotted. In stealth mode, Nova seemingly disappears and the only way players can tell she is there is by the crystal outline left to mark her place in the world. 

While a player can play in just about any way they wish, going into a “kill everything” mode is not advisable. 

“Shooting everything that moves is a viable option,” Mercer said, “but there can be a lot of negative consequences.” 

The patterns of the enemies are preset, and players can pick up on a pattern. There will be a lot of areas within the game where Nova can be saved.  

The game graphics are wonderful. The game does have some of the pop-up enemies that appear and attack, and in some regards this is typical of action shooters. But this title is also Blizzard’s foray into the console system and as such, care is really being taken to ensure it is right.  

This first look at Starcraft: Ghost showed a game that is tightly constructed and brimming with life in the Starcraft galaxy. Those who are fans of the Blizzard franchise may find this a little different experience, while shooter fans will want to have this on their “must-play” list. This is a game that could well have a ‘super-nova’ impact on the gaming world.

For All E3 2004 Previews