The Future Is A Violent Place
The year is 2155 and you've just been broken out of a containment vat from under the thumb of Big Brother. What's your agenda, Citizen? Are you a player in the Global Agenda or merely an observer? Global Agenda is the name of this fast paced, slick MMO-FPS being developed by Hi-Rez Studios in Atlanta. An independent, self-funded company, a little indie company among the behemoths of the genre, Hi-Rez has managed to create a future earth of intrigue, infiltration and interrogation. The developers call it "Spy-fi," a sub genre of the spy-thriller, action-movie genre that merges science fiction with technology. Think Nick Fury, Ludlum and Bond all rolled into one.
Classes & Customization
There are four classes in-game: Recon (sniper / intelligence / trap detection), Assault (tank / DPS), Medic (healer / damage) and Robotics (turrets / "pets" / shields). Each class also has three skill trees for players to specialize in. As all players will be fully armored and the game is fast paced, the armor of each class has a distinct silhouette for easy identification in a battle; big bulky shoulders for the Assault, flexible pipes and packs for the Medic, a sleek, slim silhouette for the Recon guy and a 3rd robotic arm for the Robotics. As the silhouette needs to be preserved, there is little customization available in the look of the armor, besides the color of the pieces. On the other side of the scale, there is much greater customization available for the character's entire head. Head shapes, eyes, nose, cheeks, lips, chin, eyebrows, etc. all have slider bars. It is complex and detailed enough that players can recreate their own faces if they wish.
Player avatars are called Agents and they have three stat bars: Health, Power and Boost. The power is common and all skills use it. Skills are similar to most other games in that some skills have a cooldown while others don't. Power regenerates quickly in-game and use of your class skills will build the Boost bar. When this bar fills, a powerful class boost is available for the agent to use, though it's best to save it for the boss in the mission.
World & Gameplay
This is a PvP-centric game and the conflict is player driven. The goal is to gain and to hold territory. An Agency is Global Agenda's term for guilds and clans, and agencies can ally to form Alliances. Once that is done, its territorial warfare, all fought in 15 to 20 minutes objective-based matches on different maps. Cities are the social areas where players congregate, trade and obtain missions. City areas are persistent, but the mission areas are all instanced. All actions are connected, however; for example, an agency might enter a map and manage to take out shield generators belonging to an opposing alliance, and weaken or take down all their boundary shields.
The world is laid out in hexes and each hex is outlined in a different color to show which alliances hold them. A color key on the right of the screen shows the alliances which hold the territories. Each hex represents a single PvP map, except for the cores, which are key points and as much as 60 hexes large. The conflict runs for about 45 days; at the end, points are counted, winners are declared and the contest for territory continues in a new region.
Apart from PvP battles, there are PvE missions and the very first mission you undertake is your tutorial. We are ordinary agents when we escape the clutches of the Big Brother, but the first hour of play will select a class. PvE missions will involve forays and raids into Big Brother's spaces and territories.
For more details on Global Agenda, pick up a copy of Massive Online Gamer -20, now on newsstands everywhere.
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