Stargate Resistance - Like a Giant Super Conductor?

Troubled developers Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, creators of the up-coming MMO Stargate Worlds, have announced a new over-the-shoulder class-based deathmatch game set in the Stargate universe (small 'u').

Stargate Resistance (SGR) promises to let players play as the airmen and marines of the SGC fighting against a resurgent Goa'uld force (the Big Bads that got royally kicked in the final seasons and made-for-TV movies of Stargate SG-1). There are six classes, presumably three side, and a range of weapons familiar to anyone who's seen the series.

The list of features seems pretty uninspiring and from the screenshots already available it appears little has been made of the Unreal 3 engine. This is the developer's best window of opportunity to grab the gaming public's attention and they give us a handful of blurry, poorly alliased and low textured screengrabs? A disappointing start.

So what are CME and Firefly Studio playing at? Given this is the first mention of SGR, their current financial troubles (Stargate Worlds for a long time was considered vapour-ware) and the very close release date of Q1 2010, it seems likely that Resistance is a stop-gap measure to provide a little security and buy the developers time to complete Stargate Worlds.

The whole affair is remeniscent of the Stargate: Alliance fiasco from 2006. Alliance was a highly anticipated SG-1 first-person shooter which presumably was well into active development by Perception Studios when funding was cut and the game disappeared. It was shocking to the show's audience and even to the executive producers because content from the game including SG personnelle, equipment, weapons and the Stargate Command base formed a large part of the season 8 episode "Avatar".

Let's just hope Stargate can finally get an official licensed PC game out of the door. After all these falls starts it would just be embarrassing to never get to play a part in a setting with so much potential for interactive entertainment.