While E3 attendees will get a good early look at many games, Ground Control II included, the general gaming public doesn't have long to wait to get a personal hands-on experience with Vivendi Universal's upcoming sci-fi RTS. GameSpot DLX will premiere the 196MB single-player demo on May 25.

　　The sequel to Massive's strategy game from 2000 will put players in control of squads of futuristic infantry, armor, and air units. And like its predecessor, Ground Control II deviates from the real-time strategy formula to focus more on unit tactics. Instead of having players harvest resources to buy buildings and units, the game has players do as much as they can with a set batch of units, then earn points toward reinforcements.

　　The single-player demo will include two tutorial missions and a campaign mission to introduce you to Ground Control II's gameplay and to the Northern Star Alliance. The two tutorials follow the newly promoted Captain Angelus, who is trying to force the Terrans out of Newstone. The mission, "Calling the Shots," has players storm a beach then assault the Terran base at Gideon's Landing.