X-Squad

• Title — X-Squad • Developer — Electronic Arts Square • Platforms — PlayStation 2 • Genre — Third-person shooter • Modes — Single-player • Director — Takashi Kuroki • Producer — Ray Nakazato Stephen Murray • Composer — Masanao Akahori

• Illustration — The player is prompted to use commands for Ash to give to his teammates. X-Squad takes the form of a third-person shooter, with the two analog sticks moving the character and camera respectively. In the game the player leads a group of up to three soldiers through nine levels, giving them commands to perform helpful actions. The player can also use the R1 and L1 buttons to strafe.

In the year 2037, W-Squad has been defeated. Doctor Bianca Noble has been kidnapped and her experiment Project Medusa has been stolen. Ash, the leader of X-Squad, along with teammates Maya, Melinda and Judd, is deployed to rescue Dr. Noble and take down her kidnappers.

The Japanese version of the game's story starts in 2036 where the government is forced to quarantine certain area. Two months later, government officials and a medical team were sent to the quarantined areas to investigate. Ash and his team were assigned to conduct a special forces op to figure out what happened to them.

EA partnered with Animation Science Corp. for developing the game's 3D animation. An early preview reported the game used 30 fps with a huge amount of motion capture sequences. The game was formerly known as X-Shooter prior to being known as X-Fire. X-Squad was first shown in Japan in 1999 during the TGS convention. EA showcased the game during the 2000 E3 convention. According to an interview with Mike Jeffress of Electronic Arts, the changes made for the non-Japanese version include English voiceovers, AI improvement, and changes to the story's plot to suit North American audiences. He mentioned that plans were considered to add multiplayer, but it was later discarded due to time constraints and feedback that most players didn't want to fight each other in the game.