During a visit to Sammy Studios' E3 booth earlier today we were given a demonstration of Iron Phoenix, a 16-player fighting game currently in development for Xbox Live. The game was pitched to us as, among other things, a hybrid of Soul Calibur and Counter-Strike, which, although a bold statement to be sure, isn't as wildly inaccurate as you might expect.

　　The primary modes of play in Iron Phoenix will support up to 16 players online and will include a standard deathmatch, giant killer, and a variation of Counter-Strike's VIP missions. All of the online modes will share similarities with those already found in first-person shooters, the main difference being that you'll be armed with one of nine different types of melee weapons rather than with pistols, shotguns, rifles, and the like. The giant killer mode, incidentally, will see one player being randomly chosen to play with much-improved stats as the "giant" and take on all of the other players. The VIP mode, for any of you not familiar with Counter-Strike, will randomly select one player to assume the role of an unarmed VIP who must attempt to reach a predetermined location with one team assigned to protect him while the other attempts an assassination. Although he'll be unarmed, we're told that the VIP will have the ability to heal fallen members of his protection team, which, if nothing else, should make that role a little more interesting.

　　Borrowing from first-person shooters rather than the fighting games that have clearly inspired it, Iron Phoenix will feature a roster of 10 different characters who are, in everything but appearance, identical. The thinking behind this is that you won't be limited to a single fighting style by your choice of character and will instead be able to use multiple styles by picking up different weapons scattered throughout the game's quite expansive levels. You'll be able to carry two melee weapons at any one time, as well as a selection of darts, including some that have the effect of stunning or poisoning enemies. The gameplay obviously has the potential to get pretty manic with 16 fighters running around, but locking onto an enemy will literally be as easy as pushing a single button, and doing so will automatically swing the camera around for a perspective that more closely resembles a one-on-one fight.

　　In addition to your standard health bar you'll have a bar showing how much "chi" you have at your disposal for special attacks, sprinting, and performing Matrix-style moves such as running up walls. We'll bring you more information on Iron Phoenix as soon as it becomes available.