What about the multiplayer, you ask? Don't fret boys and girls, Digital Extremes has what you need and then some. Nothing has been confirmed as to what races will be playable or exactly how many players can shoot it out on-line but all of your standard flavors of fraggin' and cappin' will make the final build. What kicks this title into overdrive is the level editor. Yes, level editor. From what we've seen it is surprisingly easy to use, allowing complex designs to be built in a very short time. You begin by determining the map size and then selecting commands from a Graphical User Interface. It is best described as a combination of the Blizzard StarCraft editor StarEdit and the gameplay of the classic game Populous that allowed you to raise and lower land at will. There are no complex height maps to contend with, no clipping and no lights to worry about. Just drag and drop and voila!

Apparently, there is some technical voodoo that DE have used to manipulate a player's ability to actually store their maps on Xbox LIVE for download by other Pariah players. If this is true then we can expect the first ever console mod community to sprout up soon after its release. The possibilities will really open up for this ambitious title if Digital Extremes can pull it all together for their March 2005 release date. Let's hope Schmalz's dream becomes a reality.

[For more details and a sweet pictorial of the level editor in action pick up a copy of XBN issue 17, August 2004].