Stormrise offers fans of the classic RTS genre an immersive and dramatic twist whilst challenging the conscience of the gamer. Experience the heat of the battlefield by leading your troops from the front line, instead of the traditional way of controlling the units from a detached view point. Stormrise also allows units to be commanded in the air, across rooftops, on the earth’s surface and even underground, this unique idea of “verticality” introduces multiple layers of gameplay that must be mastered for strategic advantage. The experience is heightened by a simple yet effective control system tailored specifically for consoles, which allows easy unit selection, rapid navigation and precise deployment.

Set on a bleak and barren earth, devastated by a catastrophic event centuries ago, Stormrise sees the Echelon and the Sai battling to survive in a hostile and uninhabitable wasteland. Remnants of a superior technological people the Echelon survived the event through self-educed hibernation, whilst the Sai, a more tribal faction, still exist having learnt to adapt to their surroundings and the new environment. Having evolved in vastly different ways, the differences between the two factions have spurred much animosity and hatred between the two races, and the future of the planet is now hanging by a thread…

Echelon

Stalkers

Stalkers are tall menacing bipedal machines engineered to swiftly destroy their enemies. Multiple Stalkers on the move usually means a quick, brutal end to any conflict. Equipped with tremendous armour, the Stalker also has mini-guns, surface-to-air missiles and a powerful anti-armour laser at its disposal.

 

Special Abilities

• Sam Missiles: Airborne units don’t stand a chance against the Stalker’s surface-to-air missiles.
• Laser: The Stalker can transform into a devastating anti-armour laser.

Seekers

The eyes of the Echelon, Seekers were originally manufactured hundreds of years ago after the awakening to patrol the frontier and alert the Echelon to brewing trouble spots. Once a danger zone was discovered the Seekers would loiter around the area providing useful combat data to friendly forces including radar telemetry. That function is as useful today as it was when they were first created.

Special Abilities

• Targeting Feed: The Seekers can use their Targeting Laser on nearby enemy units, giving all friendlies firing nearby an accuracy bonus.

The Eclipse

The Eclipse is the most powerful vessel ever created. Built to shield and save mankind from the storm, this vessel dwarfs anything created before it. With the state of world affairs in constant conflict, the Eclipse was modified to carry a battery of weapons, including the most powerful weapon ever created, the Polaris Rift. One unforeseen side effect of the anti-storm shielding was the shutdown of any Sai abilities underneath it.

Special Abilities

• The Polaris Rift: The Polaris Rift is the main weapon of the Eclipse. When fired, it generates a Super Rift which causes a titanic explosion and destroys anything beneath it.
• Anti-Ground Mode: The Eclipse changes its Anti-Air default focus by lowering itself and concentrating all of its defences on ground targets. This reduces its damage from ground-based threats and directs all its firepower that way as well.

Sai

Matriarchs

In the quest for the ultimate assault machine by Sai scientists, Matriarchs are a creation of genetically manipulated crabs infused with Sai energy. The gigantic and heavily armoured Matriarchs were more than the Sai bargained for. The first surprise was when the Matriarch gave birth to a clutch of Broodlings that swarmed to protect it. The second surprise was when the Matriarch launched jets of acid out of two toothy sphincters on its shoulders, sometimes at tremendous ranges in acid rain-like attacks.

Special Abilities

• Acid Rain: The Matriarch shoots a high arcing gout of Acid which rains down, melting all those below.
• Spawn Broodlings: The Matriarch can give birth to a swarm of Broodlings who upon emerging will protect the Matriarch with much ferocity.

Rift Worms

Ferocious predators, the Rift Worms have formed a close bond with the Sai and eagerly go into combat obliterating all those who oppose them with vicious blasts of Rift energy. Rift Worms fly with a freedom that machines do not possess and provide the Sai with a powerful all-round air unit capable of launching an extremely powerful Rift energy storm!

 

Special Abilities

• Stormbringer: The Rift Worm can focus tremendous energies between its tails, resulting in a tremendous blast to its target.

Sirens

Sirens are the ultimate Sai energy users. Powerful women who are able to bend the laws of nature with seeming indifference, they come replete with multiple powerful abilities. Once they show signs of power as young teenagers the Sirens are taken off to a secret school to be trained in the Sai’s highest arts, including levitating. The three most common powers displayed by Sirens include the ability to create a shield to protect nearby troops, the ability to teleport themselves to anywhere in sight and the amazing ability to summon a vortex of pure Rift Energy, destroying anything caught beneath it. A Siren on the battlefield spells doom for her enemies.

Special Abilities

• Vortex: The Siren can summon in a massive vortex of energy which destroys any enemies in its path.
• Mobile Shield: The Siren can summon forth a shield which helps to weaken the power of incoming shots over any units within its radius.
• Blink: The Siren can teleport to a location within her line of sight, prepared for a surprise attack. On arriving, she has to physically recover from the teleportation so she is paralysed for a short time.

Stormrise marks The Creative Assembly’s first foray into developing a purpose built RTS title for console and is slated to ship in March 2009.

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