http://www.joystiq.com/2013/02/28/tacti ... insecurityThe baseline of Tactical Intervention's design is based on Counter-Strike. It's a first-person shooter, it has terrorists and counter-terrorists, there's a bomb mode; all things Le helped create in Counter-Strike. But with Tactical Intervention, Le looks to add the content he always envisioned would be in Counter-Strike, but didn't have the confidence to pitch.
Tactical Intervention has a number of mission modes with more complex scenarios. Hostage and VIP modes are a focus, too, something Le wanted Counter-Strike to be known for but the community never embraced due to design issues. Counter-terrorists in Tactical Intervention can select where they spawn in the world, making it easier to create dedicated groups of players to attack terrorists and rescue captives from all sides. On certain maps, both squads have the ability to bring attack dogs into the fray that can be given instruction to patrol zones and strike the opposing side for vicious kills. Vehicles are also present in Tactical Intervention, with counter-terrorists tasked with driving a VIP and his valuable briefcase to a safe point for extraction, while terrorists give chase in vehicles in an attempt to kill the VIP, steal the case, and airlift it away on an A.I.-controlled helicopter.
"That's been hands-down the most popular mission," Le tells me.
Having played it, I can see why.
Perhaps the biggest difference between Tactical Intervention and Counter-Strike is the business model attached to each product. CS is a retail game whereas TI is a free-to-play experience, focusing on microtransactions for weapons, armor, and other additions. In the current build, players can use earned experience to effectively rent items in the game for a limited time. Spending real money doesn't purchase free-use of an item, but gives it to players for a set amount of time.
"We don't want people to grind too much. We don't want people spending twenty-hours a week, that's a part-time job. Myself, I want it to balance it so people don't have to spend an obscene amount of time to enjoy the majority of the game," Le tells me, but he clarifies that the business decisions surrounding Tactical Intervention aren't up to him, they are decisions made by free-to-play-focused publisher OGPlanet.
The basics of Tactical Intervention will be familiar to fans of modern first-person shooters. Innovation in the genre, Le says, can come from different ways to approach player movement – like the ability to perform tactical rolls in first-person in TI – or in interesting new modes, like the VIP escort mission. Le has other ideas too, many of which he's keeping close to the chest. The plan for content in TI is to develop new maps and release them on a regular basis, for free, to all players. Microtransactions come from enhancing a player's gear.
Tactical Intervention will enter an open beta on March 14, and will run until March 28.