You're probably thinking "not another World War II shooting game." Well - this isn't yet another WWII shooting game. It's something much different.

If you didn't know, Winston Churchill used a cane. This was because, when he was in New York City at one point before becoming the Prime Minister of Great Britain, he was struck by a cab. In Turning Point: Fall of Liberty's timeline, that cab actually killed him.

Without Churchill, England fell to the Nazis. The war ended in 1944, and the United States, still isolationist, is at peace with Nazi Europe. At least, they are until the fateful day that the Germans invade New York City while you're high up in the air, working on building a skyscraper.

You're not a supersoldier, special forces or a dashing spy. You're just a regular guy, really, trapped on some girders way up in the air while jets swoop by, bombers destroy buildings and enormous zeppelins disgorge hordes of soldiers into the streets of New York. You're thrown right into the action, trying to make it off the girders without falling and having to deal with the occasional German soldier who'd like nothing better than to crack open your skull.

Even though this is alternate history, it's not a spectacularly alternate history. There are no freeze-gun armed tanks or death rays. Instead, all of the technology that the Germans have is based off what they had in development at the end of the real World War II. They have MP-50 assault rifles, descendents of the MP-44; jets; Vampyr night vision systems; even 2,000-ton supermassive tanks. The United States is still around the same level of technology as we were in World War II.

This is a first-person shooter where you're not issued a gun. Instead, the only guns you can get are the ones you take or find from dead soldiers. It doesn't always just stay in first person, however. If you fall off a girder, or grapple with an enemy, it'll go into third person.

"But SeanMike," you ask. "Why would I want to grapple with an enemy if I have a gun?" Well, there are a couple of reasons:

1. It's cool. They based the grappling off an Israeli military grappling system and even had instructors come in to show them how it works.
2. You can use enemies as human shields! While holding them, the camera stays in third person in sort of a tilted "Batman" cam, and you can dispatch enemies until they either kill their friend (which they won't hesitate to do) or you kill him yourself.
3. You're low on ammo or just want to be quiet. You won't see ammo crates lying around. If you need more ammo, you need to take it before the enemy shoots it all (at you!).

But the human shield will probably be the most common reason, because the artificial intelligence in this game is aggressive. If you try to run and gun through this game, the enemy will adapt. So, you have to adapt, too.

There was one overriding principle that they kept to when developing this game: Keep it simple; keep it fun. You have around 15 weapons, including a sniper rifle with a Vampyr scope on it - which is really cool when looking for other snipers, as you can see the cones of their infrared scopes. There will be multiplayer, unlockable content and huge fun scenes - such as one where you shoot down one of the massive blimps.

That scene (when they showed it to me) really showed off the custom-made particle effects that they have going as they use the Unreal engine. The streets of New York City were vividly shown, and I'm sure Washington, D.C., (and where ever else you go) will also look good.

Codemasters is shooting for a fall/winter 2007 release.