'Next generation' DS game C.O.R.E. secures European publisher

Last year it materialised Polish studio NoWay was working on a new first-person game for DS called C.O.R.E. The game essentially sounded like a handheld Quake, with you playing a US marine sent in to investigate an old meteor crash site on which a scientific facility has been built. You're there because all contact has been lost with the facility's government workers, see.

Back then, the studio was still to secure a publisher for the game, and things subsequently went a bit quiet.

But now it's been confirmed publisher Conspiracy Entertainment has secured the European rights to distribute the game, and will be doing so in the hopefully not too distant future.

To go along with the announcement of a publisher, NoWay has also released more details on the game. And they're sounding ambitious to say the least.

For starters, the studio refers to the game as a "next generation" title and promises to be the first game to bring the first-person shooter experience of a PC game to the handheld. It also promises to push the limits of the DS with full 3D animations, special visual effects and complex free-roaming levels made up of buildings, underground passageways and chambers.

Each of these levels begins with an in-game movie and each can apparently be completed in a range of different ways, with players free to roam about looking for bigger and better weapons and hiding places. The game begins with a delve into the facility and its labs but then ventures underground where we're guessing the enemies (made up of insane marines, deranged scientists and deadly mutants) really kick off. Finally, you end up tunnelling into the remains of the meteor itself, which we suspect also isn't the safest place in the world to be visiting.

On your way through there are weapons to pick up, ranging from your standard hand guns and shotguns to meatier rocket launchers and experimental weapons such as the plasma gun. There are also obstacles stacked in your way, which require the finding of access cards and switches and looking out for video cameras. And, to top all that, expect bosses intent on stopping you in your world-putting-to-right tracks.

Completing the game's PC game-esque feature set is four-player multiplayer, which offers modes like Death Match, Team Arena and Capture the Flag. Even with just one copy of the game, four players will be able to shoot it out against one another.

With that little lot on the table, it's not unfair to say that C.O.R.E's developer is promising a lot with this title. Whether the studio's first DS title will be as ground-breaking as it sounds remains to be seen, of course, but C.O.R.E. could well be worth keeping an eye on. If not just because DS is majorly lacking in serious first-person shooters.

No release date has been announced but we'll of course fire it your way when one eventually pops up.