Global Agenda Preview: Solving The World’s Problems

With the launch date of “Global Agenda” upon us, its time to give you a brief overview of what “Global Agenda” is all about. I’ve been in the preview for the past few months, and I also took part in AvA, in one of the largest alliances in the beta. In short, I experienced everything “Global Agenda” has to offer with the expectation of vehicles (they weren’t in the pre-order beta).
 
So what is “Global Agenda”? It’s HiRez Studios’ attempt to mix traits found in MMORPGs like “World of Warcraft,” with the first person team games like “Team Fortress 2″ with jet packs thrown in. You essentially have four “agency” classes: Recon, Medic, Assault, and Robotics. Like a typical RPG, your agent will gain new skill points to use on the skill tree and unlock new equipment for them to abuse on the field.

In the beginning, you start at level 5, although you can use the “GA” tutorial to understand the mechanics of the game as well as the storyline. Even though I am a veteran of the genre, the tutorial was surprising very informative as it teaches you the essentials on how to play the game. New players should be able to jump into the game rather easily, especially since low level characters have a more straightforward approach to character builds. As for the plot, it’s nothing too spectacular. In short, there is this big evil organization known as the Commonwealth that is oppressing people and you play as an “agent” to fight against them. The story plays a backdrop and you won’t see any actual attempt to force the plot into your face, unlike “Guild Wars.”

Once you are past the tutorial, you will transported to the Dome City. You will need to get familiar with this place as this is the only “town” in the game. In “Guild Wars” fashion, the Dome Cities and Missions are instanced. Unlike other typical MMORPGs, “GA” doesn’t throw loads of fluff at you. This is a very welcome change when you see all the shops labeled nicely and it’s very hard to get lost in city since there is a navigation computer that will point you to the right direction. It is also here where you can access the mission menu with a press of the M key.

When you access the mission menu, it gives you a rather simple list of missions you can partake in. There are five types of PvP and PvE missions. The first four PvE missions are set based on difficulty: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Max. The Easy and Medium are very straight forward, but the Hard is where you really need to put those shooter skills to the test. Maximum almost feels like a miniature MMO raid, only you have four people instead of an entire guild on your back. The PvE missions aren’t heavily scripted like what we have seen in “World of Warcraft Wrath of the Lich King,” but don’t be surprised to see yourself dying from numerous traps in some of the harder levels. Some of them even give that old school platforming vibe where you need to time your movement carefully. The last PvE mode is Double Agent, where, out of 6 people, two will fight for the Commonwealth. It’s a really unique mode, especially when you are on the other side getting healed by the NPC “team mates” when trouble hits the fan.

The PvP missions are pretty standard fare, especially if you played “Team Fortress 2.” You have Control Point, where there are three points to control on the map but you only get points if you have at least two. Scramble is King of the Hill and once your team has three hills conquered, you win. Demolition is a variant of Capture the Flag, where each side has a powerful robot they must pilot to the other side and run into the “capture point.” Payload is identical to the “TF2″ version with only 3 points. The last one is Breach, where one side plays as the defender and the other is the attacker. The attacker’s job is to capture 3 points in sequential order while the defending team prevents them from doing so. While all these modes sound typical, it already has been announced on the Global Agenda boards that HiRez does plan on adding more game modes down the line, some being subscription based only.

Yes, this is a subscription based game, but it is optional. What I just told you is what you will get if you purchase the game. If you subscribe, you can partake in another game mode called Alliance vs Alliance. An alliance is a group of agencies (a.k.a. clans, guilds, etc.) that fall under one name. However, you are not just making an alliance, but you also try to stake your claim in GA’s world by taking over territory. There are several different zones with a different makeup of hex-based maps. Your alliance will try to take over these hexes to get resources and build facilities on these. The purpose of this is not only research technology that will help your alliance, but it to build the Forge. When you build the Forge on a Zone, your alliances wins that zone and gets some nice pieces of equipment. The drawback is it takes 45 days for the Forge to be built, so many other alliances will try to seek ways to delay building the Forge.

What happens when someone tries to take over your land? The entire progress is based on a bid, so whoever chips in the most credits will get fight the defending Alliance for the land. Once this is completed, it is open to join from both the defenders and attackers for a certain time frame. Essentially, it is a modified version of Breach, only with the addition of cool new things you can deploy on the field like rocket turrets, android squads, and vehicles. As stated before though, vehicles weren’t in the pre-order beta, so I can’t talk much about something I never touched.

With all these features, “Global Agenda” seems to be the answer for those of us who want a bit of persistence game elements without the excessive grinding. It seems HiRez Studios looked at other games and decided to grab all the good things about those games and leave the flaws to where they belong.

Related Posts:

• February 18, 2010 -- Global Agenda Review: The Game Has Changed
• January 11, 2010 -- R.U.S.E. Multiplayer Preview: Not Your Grandpa’s WWII Game
• September 9, 2009 -- Your Heroes of Newerth Questions Answered – Plus More Free Beta Codes
• September 8, 2009 -- Heroes of Newerth Preview: Like DotA, But Better
• July 28, 2009 -- Borderlands Preview: Exploring Pandora In A Warehouse In Brooklyn