Global Agenda - a decent mix between fast paced fps with mmo qualities? let's see

recently i took the dive and preordered the game, mostly to test it out because i had money to blow, and i didn't want all my friends going into a game that was terrible.

so over the weekend i purchased the game, downloaded and played the beta. i believe today was the last day of the beta before the final release next week.

below is my review of the beta, and the game itself.

a little info on the game (for those who don't know what it is) - global agenda is a 'mmofps' though, it's moreso an mmo similar to guild wars rather than massive amounts of multiplayer action on the same server. the servers to global agenda are instance based, and there is so far one central main city which contains everything you need. as a shooter game, it's done in the 3rd person which works out wonderful because you constantly need the ability to pan around and fight with a sword while taking notice of your surroundings, and the shooting actually works VERY well for the game, especially since it's fast paced. the mmo side to it is that there is a main city, there is a mailing system, there is many players, there is pve / pvp content which works on leveling your character, there is a crafting system and auction house, there is a character personalization system, there is skill points and player statistics you can further upgrade to increase your characters health and other attributes.

the game goes along the principle that there is an evil government trying to have world domination!!! (what else, right?). the story doesn't seem to be heavily involved with the game, but it doesn't matter since the action is far to fast paced to be paying attention to anything else other than teamwork.

PVE:

player versus environment lets the player engage in different missions through a 'difficulty' selector (which is only open for the players who meet the minimum level criteria for the mission). you queue up and are instanced to a server with a team of up to 4 players who also queue up for the mission. for example, the 'low security' missions means the NPC's have lesser health, do less damage, and the rewards are less and there are less NPC's there.

the missions mainly go on that you're 'assaulting' some building that is controlled by the government and wiping out the people defending it so the commonwealth (?) can take over the facility and use it. these facilities are weapons facilities, laboratories, factories, etc, that are all used in benefit for the govt. you go through the facility taking out guards and whatnot, and then at the very end there is a boss. the PVE missions give you XP and materials used for crafting but no money. the higher the difficulty, the more challenging and more teamwork required (and trust me many of these missions will require some sort of strat to be devised before attempting). the missions also have a very cool 'pool' of maps so you're not replaying the same mission over and over. for the easy missions, there is about 5-6 buildings that i counted and so forth. so far there were perhaps 6 different difficulties, so maybe ~25 maps total for PVE missions that we were able to do?

PVP

the PVP is very similar to the objective games from TF2. there is no deathmatch, there is always some PVP objective - capturing territories, defending a base, capturing a base, defending a robot, etc. the pvp is VERY fast paced and VERY fun. honestly, it's addicting and refreshing, especially since the 'mmo' content is tied to it. you're not mindlessly doing missions. there is a very good reward and punishment for doing good or bad in pvp (and pve). the rewards are money and xp. the classes at this point are very well balanced since it requires people to really play together, so nothing is too overpowered in my opinion (except for the robotics class' turrets that they deploy, the damage is simply too much and you can't take these headon as they kill you in seconds).

overall the PVP content is exceptional.

Classes - there is a 'tank' class, a 'dps' class, a 'healer' class, and a 'support' class. each work well, and are a powerful quartet if used together. each class can do damage, but it's moreso that each class is suited best for a particular situation. the assault class has a large health pool and powerful AOE damage, which allows the class to be very good at taking on many enemies. the medic class can channel heal you like the medics in TF2, and they do a decent job at damage with their poison weapons. the robotics class is like the engineer of TF2, and can do some very nice defense by adding shields, healing stations, turrets, and robots. the recon class is weak health wise, but has a very high damage output, especially since it can stealth and stay hidden, opening up quickly for a surprise.

AvA - in the game you create an 'agency' which is like your clan, and then you can further that by creating an alliance. an alliance is like a faction of clans who band together and claim that they will be allies. there is no attacking in the main city, so everyone is an ally there, and the PVP content is not affected by what agency you're from.

in AVA there is 6 different zones which are open during certain hours of the day. each zone contains perhaps 50+ hex's which are miniature maps. agencies and alliances are allowed to 'take control' of these maps. when you take control of a map, you're allowed to build a facility on the map which can further your progress to taking domination of a zone. a research lab over time generates blue prints for your agency, and blue prints are what is used for crafting items and weapons. a mining facility finds the materials needed to do certain things, like build vehicles, buildings, fuel, and stuff for crafting. a factory actually builds things for your agency (like vehicles and whatnot). a missile facility is used to have weaponry that you can use on other maps within the zone. you can actually send off a tactical nuke from the missile factory.

i'm not fully familiar with the AvA content as i only had a little time today to toy with it. however, in order to do it, you need a 'strike team' (which is like a raid team) of 8-10 players. the leader of the team needs to buy a 'drop ship' which will take you there. you can buy a basic drop ship from the city which holds minimal cargo and only 10 players. you can upgrade your drop ship through facilities that you get by controlling points on the map and building facilities. to build a facility, you need to buy the deed to that type of facility and put it there. you can get deeds from the main city, or you can get them in AvA content. also, the buildings can be upgraded to further better production value from them. facilities matter ALOT if you want to do well in AvA content.

back to drop ships and whatnot. the cargo on the dropship tells you what you can bring with you. a beacon costs cargo space. if your beacon gets destroyed in AvA content, you'll need to buy another beacon, or make sure you have brought another one. this is why cargo is important. things that are destroyed in AvA content are gone forever (excluding your character). vehicles, buildings, beacons... they're gone if they're destroyed, so you have to build or buy more. i don't know what vehicles are like, and i have not seen them, so i can't really comment on them, but i know they exist.

anyways, when you do an AvA battle, it's about capturing points on the map. you have x minutes to capture the first point, and then x minutes for the second, and then x minutes for the third and final. if a team captures all the points, then they win control over that land. in order to fight for a piece of land, the strike team must bid on it, with money earned in game. if i want to attack a piece of land everyone is going for, i need to pay a good amount for it. it sounds weird, but it works well, and you'll find after a few hours of doing pvp matches you'll have racked up some decent coin to do 3-4 AvA matches in a row. if you win the bid on the map, then you are set to go to it. if it is already capture by another team, that team's agency and alliance will be notified, and the players who own a share of it will be able to queue up for the fight, with a maximum of 10 players allowed to fight. the matches have an allotted time from when a team decides to strike on it to when the match starts, so the agency defending must act quickly.

i wasn't sure how i thought of this territory holding as i thought it would be like planetside, but it works MUCH better especially since they do it by zone. if your agency wants to 'raid' from 7pm to 9pm, then all they need to do is find a zone that is only open during that selected time. each zone has perhaps a 4 hour window where it's opened for attacking and defending. once that window is gone, you have to go to another zone that is open. only one zone is open at any given time. this means your agency doesn't have to sit around the computer 24/7 worried about losing it's territories and factories and progress. so it's a very nice feature to have, especially if your agency has 'raid times' that it can only abide by.

the AvA content is extremely fun. the PvP matches are very fun and really do get you pumped. the PvE missions are also, very fun. everything is at the perfect stage of challenging at this point. the game is very well done, especially for a beta, and the minor bugs and glitches aren't too bad right now. the game is an absolute refresh, especially for the mmo scene since every mmo is an attempt of a wow-clone meant to kill wow. this game, is not. the graphics are based off the unreal engine, and it looks pretty. the armor is purely for looks and you can paint it whatever dye that you can afford. attribute modification is done through modifiers for each slot you have (arms, hands, head, chest, legs, etc), which are done through crafting or AvA facilities. the actual armor model does not change your attributes, your 'nano suit' underneath your armor is what holds your attributes. the skills trees are very good right now, allowing for 3 trees per class, and one global tree (the 'general' tree, which has the same skills that every class can learn).

i never realized how essential jetpacks should be to games, but they are AMAZING in this game. you can't use jetpacks and shoot at the same time, in fact, you can only use one device at any given time (jetpack, weapon, off hand device, etc), which really, really works well since you don't have flying miniguns above your head.

another great thing is at this point, level doesn't seem to be a factor in who can kill who. for the most part, a level 7 can take on a level 20. skill is much more of a factor in this game than your level is. your level allows for more usage of weapons and skills, but does not make you god-like to lower level characters.

i didn't cover everything in this review, and i'm sorry. but the game is a lot of content to take in and experience in a few days.

as a shooter, the game is excellent. as an mmo, the game is cool. together, the game rocks. i'm anxious for the final version to be released, and after a few days of playing that, i'll report back again letting you know how it works out.

so far, i say FPS lovers (and mmo gamers alike) be ready to put your try pants on, cause you're going to want to try out this game. it's very easy to pick up and play... for hours. enjoy

 

Excellent write up there, I'll have a squizz at this one!