StarCraft: Ghost [Canceled] [Xbox]

After shifting in the region of eight million copies on the PC, the Starcraft juggernaut is coming to consoles. Blizzard, the traditional developer of the franchise, has opted to work with Nihilistic Software to produce a stealthy action game in the vein of Metal Gear Solid, and it's getting its first public outing at E3.

Ghost's players take the role of Nova, a special ops soldier featured in the original PC real-time strategy game. She's a conditioned, psychically active, infiltration specialist, with a range of abilities and awarenesses to help her.

The demo mission Blizzard were presenting began with a briefing very much in the style of Starcraft. The Zerg, an alien enemy of the human race, had destroyed a refinery, and it was Nova's job to go in and clean them out.

Like other stealth games, there's a radar in the top left corner of the screen that shows nearby enemies. Unaware bad guys patrolling an area show up in white, but if you alert one of them, the symbol changes color, making it easy to keep track of your surroundings.

The game is third-person, with a camera that can be rotated to see around objects blocking your direct view. Unlike other third-person games, when objects get between Nova and the camera, they don't turn transparent or vanish -- rather, the camera will snap instantly to a better location. Sounds a little disorientating, but we got used to it quickly. "We've spent a lot of time working on the camera," a Blizzard representative commented, and it certainly shows.

Weapons on display include Nova's modified C-20A canister rifle, which includes a zoomed sniper view for picking off enemies from a distance, and an energy pistol that can be charged before firing, rather like some of Halo's weapons. If you don't manage to kill your adversaries before they realize you're there, they'll start to track you down, or find a position behind cover if they decide they can't reach you.

Nova's special abilities are the heart of the game. She can turn invisible at will -- a handy power in a stealth game -- although her footsteps and actions can still be heard. If she interacts with crates, doors, or any other object, nearby guards are likely to investigate, and won't hesitate to sound the alarm if they suspect a cloaked intruder. The ability can only be used for a short time before it needs recharging, and the faster Nova moves, the quicker it depletes. Other abilities include a vision mode that highlights important objects like enemies, ledges, ziplines, and other interactive elements in bright colors.

Blizzard and Nihilistic have gone out of their way to make the controls as easy to learn as possible. "There's not a lot of control memorization to worry about," said the rep -- and they're right. Once you've got to grips with the two-stick weapon aiming and the special abilities mapped to the d-pad, you'll be able to perform just about any action Nova can. Climbing ladders or ledges and interacting with doors is just a matter of pointing her in the right direction. Even the quiet, one-hit-kill attack uses a familiar golf-swing meter for timing.

Due in late 2004 on all console platforms, Starcraft Ghost's fluid gameplay style and grittily atmospheric graphics make it one to keep your eyes on -- if you can spot it at all, that is.