I like strategy games. I mean really like them. There’s just something about building structures and sending tiny units to their deaths that can keep me captivated for hours on end. Maybe that just means I have all the makings of a power-mad infrastructurally-concerned dictator; the kind of power-mad infrastructurally-concerned dictator that’s really helpful to have on your side in 2v2 matches. I also like shooting stuff, but hey, what power-mad infrastructurally-concerned dictator in training doesn’t?

It is for these two reasons that SouthPeak Games has caught my attention with the announcement of their new game, Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger, which promises to blend together both genres: very much like a tasty, virtual, peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Raven Squad will be putting you in command of eight mercenaries that end up in the Amazon behind enemy lines. Each of these soldiers will have their own unique weapons and abilities which will need to be properly utilized in order to escape the malaria-imbued rainforest. This is done by switching between them, and a strategic interface, at will.

Kind of sounds a bit like 2003’s Savage: except that there aren’t any other players on your team, and you can switch places, and you can’t build stuff, and you aren’t fighting sentient animals … Okay, maybe it really isn’t like Savage afterall.

Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger will allow players to get their RTFPSS (Real Time First Person Strategic Shooter, I just made that up) on when it releases for the PC and Xbox 360 sometime this fall.

MIDLOTHIAN, VA - July 3, 2008 - SouthPeak Games today announced that it
will distribute Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger for the Xbox 360(r)
video game and entertainment system from Microsoft(r) and Windows PC
this fall. Published by Evolved Games, Raven Squad is set in the near
future. The game is a unique blending of real-time strategy and
first-person shooter genres.

Developed by Atomic Motion, Raven Squad puts players in control of two
groups of mercenary squads who crash land behind enemy lines in the
Amazonian jungles. It will require tactical planning and a liberal
amount of brute force to escape to safety. Each of the eight squad
members possesses distinctive skills and weaponry that the player will
have to use wisely to progress through the game's story driven
objectives. Raven Squad sets itself apart by allowing players to switch
freely between real-time strategy and first-person shooter gameplay.
Only by mastering both of these modes of play, and becoming adept at
switching between the two, will players make it out of the jungle alive.

"Raven Squad combines two extremely popular genres into a single robust
experience where either gameplay mode could stand on its own merits,"
said Melanie Mroz, CEO of SouthPeak Games. "Atomic Motion is creating
something that's visually compelling and building new boundaries in what
a military title can accomplish. Fans of both RTS and FPS games are
going to love it, as will anyone who enjoys intense, action titles."