Zombie Studios Announces New Cel-shaded Shooter

Zombie Studios has been doing well for itself lately with its hit free-to-play shooter, Blacklight: Retribution. Blacklight has captured a hardcore audience, thanks to its extensive character/weapon customization and skill-based gameplay. Yesterday, we learned about Zombie’s next effort, Special Forces Team X, which looks to have a totally different feel.

As you can see in the gameplay preview video above, Special Forces Team X is a very different animal than Blacklight. Zombie has opted for a third-person over-the-shoulder perspective and a cover-based play style that no doubt draws some inspiration from the blockbuster Xbox franchise Gears of War. The game is also outfitted with a tremendous cel-shaded visual style and what appears to be an extremely fast pace. Zombie’s Jared Gerritzen mentioned that, rather than going for the hardcore player (as Blacklight does), Team X will be tailored more casually for someone who just wants to jump in and play.

So you might be wondering, what makes Team X different from Gears or a game like Microvolts (a personal favorite of mine)? The answer is dynamic, customizable maps made up of a combination of three different “tiles”. Before a match, each team will vote on one tile each, and the middle tile will be randomized. According to Gerritzen, the game will ship with nine tile sets, but the plan is to add hundreds more over the game’s lifetime.

Similar to Blacklight, Team X will have customizable character appearance and loadouts, as well as what appear to be kill streaks. Based on these elements, we assume that the game may include microtransactions, but we have confirmed that Team X will not be free-to-play (though we don’t have any additional details yet). Zombie has also obtained licenses from companies such as H&K so that weapons in Team X will bear their real-life names, something rarely seen in games due to the cost of such licensing.

If you’re ready to get your cel-shaded destruction on, you won’t have to wait long to join Team X, as it’s scheduled to release later this summer. The game will be available via download, but there will be no beta period beforehand, according to a tweet from Gerritzen. No platforms (read: Steam) are definite yet, but Zombie is in talks with several avenues.

With PAX Prime only a couple of weeks away, we hope to get some hands-on time with Team X at the Zombie booth. For now, definitely check out the interview and gameplay footage above, and keep your face glued to KBMOD for more Special Forces Team X news as it becomes available!