With titles like Rainbow Six, Rogue Spear, and Force 21 under its belt, Red Storm Entertainment isn't expected to stray too far from the ultra-realistic where game design is concerned. After all, Red Storm's previous tactical combat and strategy games focus on real-world scenarios littered with licensed weapons, existing armory, and believable storylines. So you can imagine our surprise when Red Storm's external development manager, Kevin Perry, dropped by GameSpot to show off Shadow Watch, the company's latest work in progress.

　　Shadow Watch is a turn-based strategy with gameplay in the same vein as Jagged Alliance and X-Com. That in itself isn't "surprising" by any means, but once Perry fired up the game's intro and jumped into a random mission, it became clear that Shadow Watch is unlike any Red Storm game we've ever seen.

　　The story revolves around a team of six operatives who've been given the task of investigating the recent sabotage of an international space station. Shadow Watch's six agents hale from all over the globe. They are: Ian Archer, an ex-SAS officer and the team's leader; Lily Yu, the petite Asian martial artist; Bart Berisnky, the Canadian muscle; the Brazilian Rafael De Ariano, who excels at demolitions; Maya Knight, the American sniper; and Gennady Roschinko, the resident Russian hacker.

　　Shadow Watch takes place in one of three locales: Hong Kong, Rio de Janeiro and Russia. The gameplay itself is split up into two distinct forms: actual action sequences and investigation modes. Players will start off the game in one of these three locales, with a select number of Shadow Watch operatives. Initially, the game's interface resembles that of a classic adventure in that you will talk to a number of different witnesses, suspects, and other people. Also, you will embark on a mission based on the information you receive from the dialogue screen. Once you are on a mission, the interface changes to a turn-based strategy. After the success of each mission, which moves along like any other TBS, your characters will receive experience points, which you can use to upgrade one of nine skills and abilities unique to each Storm Watch operative.

　　While the gameplay itself is atypical of Red Storm's prior work, what really threw us off guard was Shadow Watch's artwork. The game's look and feel resembles a comic book's or a graphic novel's. Solid and pastel colors are the norm for the surrounding environments, while the ingame characters are brought to life by somewhat exaggerated animations and movement. "A lot of our inspiration came from shows like Batman: The Animated Series and Adventures of Superman," said Perry.

　　To get a better idea of Shadow Watch's look and feel, be sure to take a look at the attached screenshots. The game has been in development for well over a year, so the final product, due by March 2000, won't look drastically different from what these shots depict. Look for more Shadow Watch coverage as the game moves closer to completion.