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Steel Soldiers turn comic

Real-time strategy game "Z : Steel Solders" to feature comic book style cutscenes courtesy of Cool Beans

Over the years the computer game cutscene has taken on a variety of forms, from the lavish FX-laden movies of the "Wing Commander" series to the grimy cartoons of "Thief", by way of the stunning CG movies of recent "Final Fantasy" games and the real-time rendered cinematics of "Metal Gear Solid", using the game's own engine to produce the required effect. Now the Bitmap Brothers are branching out into new territory with real-time strategy sequel "Z : Steel Soldiers", which will be one of the few games we can think of to use comic book style cutscenes.

Our first peek at a Steel Soldiers cutscene

Produced by Cool Beans Productions, which counts veterans of Marvel Comics and 2000 AD amongst it members, the cutscenes will feature comic book style illustrations enhanced by "animated elements", with the usual voice-overs and a musical score to accompany them. Publisher Eon Digital are claiming that "the resulting experience perfectly compliments the game's visual styling, humour and action", and certainly it's a novel alternative to your run-of-the-mill FMV or CG cinematics.

Source - press release