Finally, possibly the most interesting title currently under development at Rage is Hostile Waters. Hostile Waters can only be described as an action/strategy title, although this description does not quite do the game justice. The year is 2013 and a New World of peace exists. However, generals from the Old World Order threaten this peace, operating from 20 islands spread across the Pacific. As the New Order has no weapons of its own (it is an Order of peace so of course it doesn't!), it salvages sunken Adaptive Cruisers, huge ships capable of manufacturing their own war vehicles. With these ships it intends to end the chaos of the Old Order, and of course you are in charge of doing so.

Gameplay basically involves ordering the various vehicles manufactured on the Adaptive Cruiser to complete various missions or destroy certain targets. At ECTS, I was shown one objective that involved ordering other helicopters to lift oil tankers to a location so you could more easily destroy that location. Needless to say the pyrotechnics were gorgeous and this scenario is just one example of the interesting gameplay aspects to this title. The action part of this game comes in when you can take over any one of the vehicles, allowing you greater control over situations. While you are absent from them, "Soulcatcher" chips containing the minds of dead soldiers control the various other vehicles. Interestingly these chips have distinct personalities. One example of the Soulcatcher chips in action occurs when the Soulcatcher chip of a tank commander is placed in a helicopter. He will grumble and complain that he'd rather be in a tank (although he'll still get on with the job like a good solider). You can choose which "Soulcatcher" chips to put within which vehicle, and of course armament is also customisable for each vehicle. Hostile Waters is certainly an interesting looking title, and if Rage can get the gameplay right it will be one to watch come early next year.