New York – June 18, 2002 – With IGI 2: Covert Strike hotly-tipped as a major PC action title for 2002, Codemasters’ online forum for the game is buzzing with the subject of the all-new multiplayer game mode.  The game’s designers have listened closely to the opinions on the forum and today Codemasters confirm key elements of the game’s multiplayer structure.

IGI2: Covert Strike will deliver a full team-oriented multiplayer mode, with squads of up to eight players on both sides.  Gameplay pits IGI operatives against terrorist groups from around the globe. The varied multi-objective based gameplay will include hacking data satellites to launching space shuttles, bombing oil refineries and escorting convoys. Reconnaissance elements provide for a new style of FPS multiplayer gaming, blending stealth and surveillance with action and gunplay.

The game will contain a series of multiplayer maps utilizing an advanced version of Innerloop's proprietary engine, which delivers excellent indoor locations and expansive outdoor environments.  Throughout the locations, surveillance cameras can spot players and relay locations – sneaking past these will not always be easy.  Teams will strive to establish control over vital elements such as remote sentry guns and electronic doors and shutters in order to reign supreme.

Each player will have access to a cash reserve. However, buying a new weapon from the game’s arsenal of 30 realistic arms isn't the only way to spend the cash. Players will have the option to purchase a specialist kit and pay to re-enter the game if killed.  The cost for players to buy themselves back into the game decreases over time to zero. This presents players with the tactical choice of spending all their cash on a quick re-entry and buying little hardware, or waiting for the time to expire and rejoining play tooled up – but that could be too late. Once the cash has been paid, the location where a player opts to be respawned adds a further tactical element.

IGI 2: Covert Strike is currently in development at Innerloop Studios AS, the Oslo-based team that created the original, and is scheduled to be published* by Codemasters in September on PC CD-ROM.

The games web site and forum can be found at: http://www.codemasters.com/igi2/front.htm

*World-wide rights excluding Scandinavia

--Artwork to follow at a later date.

ABOUT IGI 2: COVERT STRIKE
IGI 2: Covert Strike sees the return of IGI’s award-winning stealth-based first-person shooter action and continues the modern warfare and espionage theme of the original. The covert missions continue the career of David Jones, a former SAS soldier, now working freelance for the secret organization, codenamed ‘IGI’. The spiraling plot will take Jones through Russia, across Libya and into China in three linked campaigns, as he infiltrates a wide variety of locations including military airbases, harbors and secret government installations. Each mission expands the plot and is sequenced with impressive animated scenes that continue to absorb the player in the game’s carefully constructed narrative.

ABOUT CODEMASTERS
Established in 1986, UK-based Codemasters is one of Europe's best-selling and profitable game-makers, developing and publishing titles for the console platforms and PC.  Codemasters’ products first appeared on US retail shelves in 1999 and since then they have continued to provide energetic, compelling and innovative entertainment to gaming fans of all genres.  The company’s 2001 offerings included Blade of Darkness and Operation Flashpoint, both of which met with critical acclaim and enormous consumer praise. Richard Darling, the company’s Design Director and co-founder, is renowned as one of the most prolific game designers and has been involved in the creation of 60 of the company’s staggering #1 titles in the UK.  In keeping with the company's mission to remain on the crest of the gaming wave, Codemasters is developing games for online and next generation platforms.  Additional information about the company and its products can be found at www.codemasters.com

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