The Return of the Communist Mutants from Space

"The Return of the Communist Mutants From Space" was the last game to be developed by Area-7 for the Sega Dreamcast in late 2000. At that time, Sega had announced that they were officially pulling their support for the Dreamcast, resulting in many third-party developers like Area 7 canceling their current and future developments.

Background

The Idea for "The Return of the Communist Mutants From Space" came from a 1982 Atari cassette game called "Communist Mutants from Space" which, despite the title, made almost no reference to communism outside its opening story. In reality it was basically a space invaders clone. The developers at Area-7 thought that the idea was interesting and decided develop a more inspired back story based on some of the real world events that had taken place between the original 1982 game and 2000, such as the end of the Cold War, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Story

The game is set in the year 3050, when the Milky Way is still recovering from the Space Cold War (2967-3034). The heads of the four "super planets" (ie superpowers) are convening on the planet Alpha 7 to begin the Galaxian Reconstruction, which aims to restore order to the galaxy following the collapse of the Union of Mutant Socialist Planets. However, this dissolution was merely an elaborate ruse to lure the Capitalists into a false sense of security. In reality, the Union of Mutant Socialist Planets is still quite real and as the Representatives convene on Alpha 7, the Communists begin planning their attack on the planet, to put an end to the Capitalists. Later in the game, three other planets join in the conflict: the Planetary Alliance of Chinza, joining forces with the USMP, the Galactic Kingdom, joining forces with the Universal Republic, and the Conference of Independent Planets, attempting to remain sovereign from all parties.

Game play

The game play is similar to the game "Red Star", in that the player takes control of a squad of 7 soldiers, who take part in multiple ground conflicts, across 7 different planets, and space conflicts. The game allowed the player to choose which side to fight for; either the anti-communist forces of the Federal Republic, or the Glorious People's Army of the Union of Mutant Socialist Planets (USMP). Three other planets are unlocked as the game progresses, though it is not known whether they were playable. The anti-communists have to protect the planet from communist forces, whilst the communists have to "liberate" the planet from the capitalists. The game spans over approximately 28 levels, each broken into 3 to 4 stages: one space battle, two land battles, and on certain planets, a sea battle.