Maelstrom's destructive RTS gameplay unleashed in first demo – now available for download

On a ravaged future Earth, one crawling with morphing military tech and organic alien weapons, experience explosive action strategy gaming with the pre-beta playable demo of Maelstrom , now available from www.codemasters.com/maelstrom (in Downloads).

Coming this October exclusively for PC, Maelstrom is the fiercely original result of a development collaboration between Codemasters and acclaimed Russian game studio KDV Games ( Perimeter) and delivers innovative RTS gameplay featuring transforming tech, terraforming, and totally destructible environments.

The demo enables gamers to jump right into Maelstrom 's action-packed missions and enter the battle for control of the planet. Those vying for supremacy are the fearless Hai-Genti alien force, the Ascension and its army of high-tech super soldiers and the human guerrilla fighting Remnants. Set against the violent ecological meltdown of the planet, the demo presents two multiple-objective single-player missions:

Mission One: Games Of Empire

In the first mission from the Ascension Campaign players take command of the technologically superior Ascension forces, their transforming weaponry and cloning super-soldiers. The primary objective is to locate and destroy the four outposts occupied by the Survivors, the last drifters of humanity. The mission's secondary objective sees players plotting the elimination of the rebel Remnant forces in the area.

Mission Two: Evolve or Die

The second demo mission, taken from the Alien Campaign, has players commanding the invading Hai-Genti. Here, pitched against the Remnants, players must penetrate the defences of a Remnant base, capture it and harvest bio-matter to evolve their army. The human forces must be held off until the bio-creature, the Devourer, is bred and turns the tables on the attackers.

Set to be the most frantic, destructive, action-packed RTS game yet, Codemasters will publish Maelstrom in October, exclusively for PC. Discover the future of planet Earth and the future of RTS gaming in the pre-beta playable demo, now available for download from www.codemasters.com/maelstrom

A further playable demo, taken from final code and featuring multiplayer missions, will be available when Maelstrom goes gold in September.

---

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.