First screens of Raid over the River DS hit home

Yesterday we concluded our report on the first gameplay-light announcement of new plot-driven shoot-'em-up Raid over the River DS with a sarcastic: "What no smart bombs?"

And just maybe someone at the Polish developer was listening in; 24 hours later the company has dropped a second payload, consisting of gameplay news and the first screenshots.

So do we get smart bombs? Well, as you'd hope from a shooter – even one with the high ambition of Raid over the River – there'll certainly be a range of deadly technology at your disposal, from sonic blasters to plasma cannons, backed up with intelligent missiles, particle blasters, laser attacks from space and even back-up from wingmen as special attacks. All that and a gravity bomb (smart or otherwise we're yet to discover).

Inevitably the epic time travel plot we heard about yesterday also breaks down into traditional chunks of gameplay. Specifically there will be six campaigns set in different historical eras: Ancient Greece, Europe during World War 2, Cold War Russia, today's United States, Germany in 2018, and a sci-fi Japan of the future.

These different epochs won't just change the background you vertically scroll over – you'll also get six new vehicles in turn, each with its own special move. All will be ultra-manoeuvrable, with barrel rolls and nose dives promised (the latter will apparently help you bomb ground targets), and these fancier stunts and attacks will be microphone-controlled (although if you've laryngitis you'll be able reconfigure for entirely button-driven action).

Story, Arcade, Dogfight and Survival modes flesh out the single-player action, and another four currently unexplained modes are also in the works for multiplayer.

With a strategic side involving fuel and ammo management and cooperation with other units as well as plenty of hidden missions and vehicles in the mix, Raid over the River certainly has a very full feature list.

Of course, it's immeasurably easier to set such lofty goals than to finish such a game, and with the studio currently unproven in the genre, we're awaiting our hands on impressions before setting our hopes too high.

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