A storm is brewing… Maelstrom campaign details sweep in

Codemasters today reveals new details and screens of the campaigns in the explosive action strategy title Maelstrom from KDV Games. Codemasters and KDV Games also announce that Maelstrom will benefit from further development time to realize the game's ambitious design and is now scheduled for release in February 2007.

Set on an ecologically ravaged future Earth, Maelstrom will deliver innovative RTS gameplay featuring transforming tech, landscape terraforming and fully destructible environments. The first three campaigns of Maelstrom will each focus on a different faction: first, the guerrilla freedom-fighting Remnants; second, the technologically advanced Ascension forces; and third, the aquatic alien race, the Hai-Genti.

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.

A climatic fourth campaign will complete the struggle for the future of the Earth in dramatic fashion. Set to offer an exhilarating, action-packed and destructive RTS experience Codemasters will publish Maelstrom in February 2007, exclusively for PC. Discover the future of planet Earth and the future of RTS gaming with movies and more, now available for download from www.codemasters.com/maelstrom

About Maelstrom

In the space of fifty years, Earth changed from a planet on cusp of a challenging future to a world a breath away from lifelessness and plunged into an apocalyptic time of ecological disaster, global warfare and the meltdown of human civilization. This is the time of the Maelstrom. In this ravaged world, the planet's dwindling resources have divided what remains of mankind in two: the urban freedom fighting Remnants and the technologically advanced Ascension. Now they must wage war against a new threat, the invasion of a savage alien race, the Hai-Genti, and each other in a desperate struggle for supremacy and survival. Through the game's missions, you'll take command from different viewpoints and employ faction-specific tactics and weaponry to achieve your objectives. Complete with the ability to terraform landscapes and transform units, Maelstrom will provide gamers with the power to harness the forces of nature in the most frantic, destructive, action-packed RTS game yet.

· Maelstrom is the evolution of RTS gaming - a stunning mix of action-packed missions set in a totally destructible and immaculately realised environments.

· A devastated future Earth becomes the battleground as a divided human race fights for survival against alien invaders.

· Through the game, players control each of the game's three factions - the Remnants, Ascension and the alien Hai-Genti - each with unique identities, strengths and tactics.

· Modify the terrain and use the elements as a strategic weapon. Create valleys, carve out lakes, freeze water, melt ice, create tornadoes and even control the wind.

· Characters grow experience and level up with new abilities as you progress through the game.

· Intense, addictive six player multiplayer gameplay with different modes and online ranking.