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WITH A RELIGIOUS BACK story and the Quake 3 game engine, Apocalyptica promises a lot of hell raising, and demon bashing.

Set in a bleak future where mankind has colonised space but is suffering civil wars, Satan himself has come forth to stake his claim over mankind once again. Military heroes have been called forth to do battle against evil minions of the horned one. You won't be alone, however. You also have to chose an intrepid combat team made up of knights templar, nuns, robots and seraphs (angels). The concept of combat nuns sounds particularly novel, if somewhat incongruous.

The religious overtones do not stop just at the protagonists; the weapons cache has a particularly biblical flavour. You can chose from such unlikely weapons as the restoration sword, the bible basher, eye of God, hand of God, mace of storms and (Gameplanet's favourite) the Martyr gun.

Depending on the characters, you also get a mixture of special powers to use against the ungodly. Kick in the door, chuck in a few divine interventions, and then clean house with the bible basher. It doesn't stop there, of course. The environments range from desolate cities, Nu-Hades (trendier than the old one), greater use of neon and background music provided by the Osmonds, Jerusalem 5 (a giant space ship) and Satan's own galaxy cruiser, the Suneater. And you also get have a bash at Hell itself (the old one).

The developers have promised wide open environments and fast paced combat. The monsters you will battle against also promise to be an interesting mix with both demons and robots (the good, the bad and the mechanical). Coupled with specific mission goals including escort, rescue, etc., it looks to be an amalgam of a lot of the current third-person shooters on the market today.

The game will also ship with a multiplayer option including deathmatch and mission-related quests. There will also be support for up to 16 player LAN play (smite your ungodly friends). All in all, this is a game that promises a very different storyline but much of the same on the Quake engine. If you are mad keen on shooters and want to inject some religious piety into your game, then this could be for you.

Apocalyptica is scheduled for release on 3rd February.

Show me the screenshots!