Battlefront.com on Friday announced that DropTeam is now shipping. It’s a sci-fi themed tactical combat game for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux operating systems. DropTeam costs $45 (as a downloadable version — a CD version costs $10 more). DropTeam has been available in a playable public test version; a “gold” demo will soon be released.
DropTeam’s setting is a series of battle-scarred planets in a part of space called “The Rim.” Two competing factions vie for control of mankind’s few populated worlds in this far-away region, using military tactics.
Although it’s a futuristic world, DropTeam emphasizes “realistic” tactical combat. The developers say the game features real-world physics, ballistics and damage. The graphics engine — made for this game — features advanced shading technology, High Dynamic Range (HDR) lighting effects and more. You don’t find medi-packs that instantly heal you, for example, and you’ll play in arenas that range from 100 to 900 kilometers.
DropTeam features both single and cross-platform multiplayer capabilities for up to 16 players at a time, so you don’t need to be online to play. Modding is also supported. Users can create their own add-ons and conversions for DropTeam using Extensible Markup Language (XML)-based documents. Terrain data supports industry-standard topographic and geological file formats.
DropTeam ships will all platform versions together. System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.4.5 or later, G4/1.2GHz or higher. The Web page indicates that Intel-based Macs aren’t supported, but that info may be out of date — Universal Binary support was added late in the beta test.