When I saw that Tragnarion Studios announced they are releasing a new co-operative 3rd person shooter titled The Scourge Project I did not think anything about it. Then I saw the screenshots and instantly went looking for a trailer. I've not found a game play video of it yet, but the screenshots look really nice.

The Scourge Project will use Epic´s Unreal Engine and features a unique focus on co-operative narrative and gameplay. The Scourge Project will be a story-driven 3rd person shooter game built from the ground up for co-op, where up to 4 players each experience a personal story whilst playing together as a squad. The Scourge Project will release on Xbox Live Arcade in March 2010.

The Scourge Project will come on a 2 episode bundle with more than 5 hours of gameplay spanning 4 complete levels, up to 4 Player Co-op Campaign Mode, 4 Unique Playable Characters to choose from, an arsenal of weapons and special abilities, thrilling boss-fights and environmental puzzles. The Scourge Project will have multiplayer modes such as Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag and Frontiers, all of which allow up to 16 Players.

Omar Salleh, Game Director for “The Scourge Project” at Tragnarion Studios said: “We’re really excited about the upcoming release of The Scourge Project. The whole team has put a huge amount of love and effort into creating something special and we’re all eager to see action gamers the world over having a blast with the gameplay and soaking up the breathtaking visuals and soundscapes. Our unique blend of co-op action plus co-op storytelling, in which each playable character has a distinct perspective on the central plot, brings something new to the table and we’re definitely looking forward to expanding on this and much more in the rest of the Scourge Saga.”

Set in the near future, The Scourge Project throws you into the boots of Echo Squad, an elite group of mercenaries hired by The Tarn Initiative to deal a decisive blow against the power-hungry Nogari Corporation. Your mission: First, to locate and rescue Dr Reisbeck, Tarn's double-agent inside Nogari; Second, to recover a piece of the meteorite fragment that Nogari has used to develop Ambrosia, the powerful new energy source with which they now control the world economy.

Stranded on Nogari Island shortly after being mysteriously attacked during your covert insertion, and surrounded on all sides by hostile forces, you'll need all of your skill to stay alive as you fight your way through the chaos that has consumed the alien-infested facilities that lie before you...

Game Features:

• Up to 4-Player Co-op Campaign with 5+ hours of gameplay
• 4 Playable Characters, each with a distinct combination of Special Abilities
• Unique Flashbacks per playable character, showing you critical past events that shed a new light on your predicament...
• Squad AI for groups with less than 4 Players
• Quick-Order-System (QOS) for rapid deployment of Squad-members
• 9 Weapons to suit your playing style
• Up to 16 Players in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture-The-Flag and Frontier Multiplayer Modes with dedicated multiplayer maps
• XP System to track your experience and skill in Campaign and Multiplayer

Nogari

Although Nogari Corporation was founded decades ago by prominent Astronomer Gorou Ayuma, little is known about its current activities apart from the fact that it owns the rights to Ambrosia, the controversial new energy source that has quickly become the most valuable commodity on the planet. Hikaru Ayumu, Gorou's reclusive great-grandson and Nogari's self-styled 'Visionary Leader', maintains a veil of absolute secrecy regarding the goings-on within Nogari Island's scientific research facilities.

Despite Nogari's vice-like grip on the world economy and political landscape making it all but immune to official intervention, regular acts of sabotage by groups such as The Tarn Initiative have been on the rise recently, ever since the fringe group started utilising the services of skilled anonymous mercenaries. Regardless, Ayumu is determined to stay the course and see his secret vision for Nogari Corporation, and indeed humanity as a whole, come to fruition. What the world doesn't know won't hurt it... until it's too late...

Tarn

The Tarn Initiative is an anonymous group of anti-corporate saboteurs, made up of highly-ranked individuals within various institutions and organisations. Their goal: to put an end to the draconian manipulation of the world by Nogari Corporation, creator and sole owner of 'Ambrosia'. Although The Tarn Initiative did not begin as a militant movement, it has recently begun employing the services of highly-skilled mercenaries who, for the right price, are willing to strike deep within the most highly-guarded locations on the planet: Nogari's Scientific Research Facilities.

In the last few hours, Tarn has just launched its most daring offensive yet, with Echo Squad as its vanguard. Echo Squad has the most dangerous part to play in this operation, and so its members consist of mercenaries who all have ulterior motives for signing up. Only with the promise of access to Nogari's Laboratories have they individually agreed to risk their lives. Only time will tell if this gamble has been worth it...