It is the year 2010: after more than a half-century's worth of military interventions, the United States of America, together with the former Soviet Union, have wearied of their roles as global police. The former world powers are forced to minimise military operations that threaten damage of mammoth proportions upon their domestic political affairs and economies. As a counter-move, more and more nations are recruiting secret, highly specialised mercenary units to carry out specific operations. Wars are no longer determined by state armies but instead by small, powerful units of armed soldiers of fortune.
In "SÖLDNER - Secret Wars" the player takes command of one such special unit. As squad leader, the player's mission is to work with other players to control this highly mechanised elite mercenary company - consisting of soldiers, helicopters, light tanks and vertical take-off planes - and carry out a very wide gamut of missions. To make thing even more interesting, these units are stationed on a mobile carrier disguised as a freighter.
Every decision made, every assignment accepted or rejected, brings with it consequences for the remainder of play. Over the course of time, the player has the option of acquiring new weapons systems currently in existence only as secret prototypes in the weapons industry's research laboratories or as plans in the heads of the military leadership.
According to Kay Grünwoldt, Product Manager at JoWooD Productions: "With SÖLDNER - Secret Wars, Wings Simulations has once again managed to re-define an entire genre. The revolutionary technology behind the game, the focus on the multi-player aspects and the well thought-out, innovative game routines of SÖLDNER make this game one of the most exciting titles in the coming year."
"With the focus on multi-player teams, we will open up new paths to create exciting competitions and matches for the large online community. New game features will promote team communication in an unprecedented manner. The SÖLDNER website, www.secretwars.net, will provide support for multi-player fans with rankings and clan-hosting", explains Teut Weidemann of Wing Simulations.
SÖLDNER - Secret Wars is expected to be released in the first half of 2003.
JoWooD Productions Software AG, a publicly traded company on the Vienna Stock Exchange, which is rapidly establishing itself as a leading force in the video games industry. Its strategy is to identify develop and publish internationally competitive, high-quality entertainment software for all existing next-generation gaming platforms. JoWooD Productions has in-house development facilities in Vienna and Ebensee, Austria and a fast growing roster of exceptional subsidiary studios, including Wings Simulations and Massive Development in Germany. JoWooD Productions Software AG head office is based in Austria with wholly owned subsidiaries operating out of the UK, Germany, Japan and the USA.