14 DAY TRIAL // Video game Behavior and publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment are announcing that they are planning to launch Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade, their massive shooter and MMO mix, in the summer of this year on the PlayStation 4 from Sony, the Xbox One from Microsoft and the PC.
Gamers will be able to choose between the Space Marines, the Chaos Space Marines, the Orks and the Eldar as they seek to establish domination over the planet on which the powerful Tyranids are also present, a threat to all factions that will also offer memorable boss battles.
The official announcement states that Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade will feature both Player versus Environment and Player versus Player elements, and gamers will have to carefully choose their class in order to fit into a squad that can survive a variety of battle situations.
Each of the featured factions will include its own specialized groups, from Chapters for the Space Marines to clans for the Orks and the developers are saying that the MMO will include hundreds of weapons, plenty of unique gear, extensive customization options for characters and lore drawn from the 29 years of history of Warhammer 40,000.
Stephen Mulrooney, senior vice president at Behavior, says that his studio has received solid feedback from the pre-alpha that was delivered to backers and that they are making tweaks before showing the experience to a wider audience.
Alberto Gonzalez Lorca, the vice president in charge of third-parties and Southern Europe at Bandai Namco, adds, "We are delighted to start a new kind of collaboration with Behaviour Interactive. Thanks to our prevailing distribution network and structure, customers from almost 100 countries will have access to Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade!"
Developers plan to introduce more races after launch
The Warhammer 40,000 universe is uniquely suited to a massively multiplayer online approach because it features factions that seek to exterminate each other and each of them has clearly delineated combat roles that players can choose between.
The fact that the Tyranids are the computer controlled group and attack all others is a great way to create a powerful threat that will offer a long-term challenge for players.
Behavior has also suggested that they will add other races from the universe to Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade, like the Dark Eldar and the Tau, after launch, to offer players more options.
At the moment, players can head to Steam to get the title for 39.99 dollars in Early Access, which allows the developers to see how the fans react to the core mechanics and to tweak them further before the summer launch.
It's unlikely that Eternal Crusade will feature cross-platform play between the PC, the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4.
According to Behavior, the priority is to introduce improvements to the main client and on another mode and map Fortress type map.
The Early Access version of Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade will also receive a strategic layer that shows off territorial conquest as well as more items and other types of rewards for players.
