LucasArts trails RTX

LucasArts has released a trailer promoting its forthcoming third-person action epic RTX Red Rock, a game made all the more interesting because it isn't based on a Star Wars film. Due out early next year on PlayStation 2 and GameCube, RTX is a typical science fiction adventure about a one man army's attempts to reclaim the vital Red Rock colony from aggressors on Mars.

The game's hero is part of an elite special forces branch called Radical Tactics Experts, which means he's a walking, talking action hero cliché, and the 8.5Mb trailer showcases a lot of the impressive CG visuals surrounding his mission. The trailer also demonstrates some of the gameplay sections, with a space-suited player being blown out of the side of a ship, ducking and diving out of the path of incoming fire in a claustrophobic space station corridor, and we've also seen a number of droids, both good and bad by the looks of it, a staple element of any LucasArts outing.

The visuals are of a high quality, as well you might expect, with some Trade Federation ship-style interiors matched by more realistic and apparently dynamic space station exteriors, reminiscent slightly of the big space frames in Event Horizon, although we're pushing it a bit on that one. Although there are some decidedly low-res elements to the trailer, a gorgeously animated, shiny female droid sidling up a corridor and our hero diving out of the way of swooping spacecraft does make up for it somewhat. If LucasArts can match the cinematic values evident here to an interesting gameplay dynamic, then perhaps RTX won't simply be a poor cousin to similar Star Wars adventures.