Post by Morreion on Mar 14, 2010 10:46:28 GMT -5
Glogal Agenda is a sci-fi themed shooter with some persistent elements. Once you drop the idea that is is an MMO, you can move on and have fun with it. This is the most important thing I can say in this review!
GA has 4 classes to pick from- Assault (DPS), Recon (stealth/sniper), Robotics (support- forcefields & turrets) and Healer. Each class has a special ability or weapon, such as healers having poison daggers. The first 5 levels are a single-player tutorial that you can skip if you've done it before. There are 50 levels in the game, and leveling in GA means you unlock additional abilities and better equipment. You choose your equipment and abilities by spending training points. Pretty straightforward. As you gain more money and levels, you can purchase cooler-looking gear. The focus on training as you level up is to improve your equipment; you start out at level 5 with a lot of the abilities you have access to. Each class has a jetpack for brief periods of flight or jumping long distances, which is fun. You are a harder target to hit while flying, but you cannot shoot when in flight.
Once out of the tutorial, you go to one of the mission hubs, which is a game lobby. This is a common area where other players run around, train, buy and sell stuff, and get missions. This is a small part of the game- you will spend most of your time in instanced missions. This game is mostly an FPS with some persistent elements tacked on, so don't expect an MMO or a community. If you expect that, you won't like it. If you look at it as an FPS with some character development thrown in, you'll like it more.
Missions in GA are either PvE 4-person co-ops (different levels of difficulty according to your level), PvE Double Agent (PvPvE), or PvP 10-vs-10 matches. All of these take place in instances. GA is mostly instanced, although they are adding on an open world zone soon to appeal to those who like more of a persistent landscape.
PvE missions are fast-paced, there usually isn't much talking between the 4 players who are fighting their way through a facility against robot opponents. You fight your way to a boss encounter, and it is all over when you defeat him. You earn loot in the form of salvage parts off of the robots you kill (and the occasional blueprint or other rare item). You gain experience by completing a mission. The first 10 levels are pretty fast. It is a good idea to start out doing PvE missions so you can learn how to interact with other classes and so you can show up in PvP having some levels under your belt.
The game looks good and runs well, there was the occasional lag pocket that I'd run into but overall things were smooth in windowed mode.
PvP missions are where much of the fun comes from. This is very much the FPS experience, except that you can face opponents who are stronger or weaker than you depending on their level. Many of the PvP missions center around taking and holding objectives- there is never much travel involved, so the pace is fast. You can have different spawn points that you gain access to by conquest.
One of the nice things about this game is that you have enough tactics to make the FPS play interesting. For instance, you can have an ability that gives you a brief period of invulnerability shielding as an assault class- this ability is on a timer, so when it runs out, suddenly you are no longer godlike with your minigun chewing everybody up and can be taken down. So it is more than just shoot until you die, use your abilities with good timing and you'll be more effective.
Another example is that the recon class can do lots of damage with their swords by attacking from behind, almost like a backstabbing stealther in an MMO. Healers can have healing grenades to toss into groups of friendlies for an AOE heal. The unique abilities add richness to the FPS experience.
Overall, GA is a fun game that can be played in small doses. I played by myself without a guild, so I cannot comment on the more social aspect of the game, other than to note that it seems very single-player oriented. There are crafting and auction house elements to the game as well. Things happen pretty fast so you aren't exactly building a community there. The nice thing about the game is that you can just buy the box or the download and never subscribe while playing it like a traditional FPS. You can also subscribe to it for greater persistent elements and access to vehicles and persistent conquest of instanced territories, but I don't plan on doing that. It's nice to have the option of doing either, though.
Choosing a class
My healer with his spiffy poison dagger
GA has 4 classes to pick from- Assault (DPS), Recon (stealth/sniper), Robotics (support- forcefields & turrets) and Healer. Each class has a special ability or weapon, such as healers having poison daggers. The first 5 levels are a single-player tutorial that you can skip if you've done it before. There are 50 levels in the game, and leveling in GA means you unlock additional abilities and better equipment. You choose your equipment and abilities by spending training points. Pretty straightforward. As you gain more money and levels, you can purchase cooler-looking gear. The focus on training as you level up is to improve your equipment; you start out at level 5 with a lot of the abilities you have access to. Each class has a jetpack for brief periods of flight or jumping long distances, which is fun. You are a harder target to hit while flying, but you cannot shoot when in flight.
A mission hub
A mission load screen- reminds me of Unreal Tournament a bit
Once out of the tutorial, you go to one of the mission hubs, which is a game lobby. This is a common area where other players run around, train, buy and sell stuff, and get missions. This is a small part of the game- you will spend most of your time in instanced missions. This game is mostly an FPS with some persistent elements tacked on, so don't expect an MMO or a community. If you expect that, you won't like it. If you look at it as an FPS with some character development thrown in, you'll like it more.
Picking missions
Missions in GA are either PvE 4-person co-ops (different levels of difficulty according to your level), PvE Double Agent (PvPvE), or PvP 10-vs-10 matches. All of these take place in instances. GA is mostly instanced, although they are adding on an open world zone soon to appeal to those who like more of a persistent landscape.
PvE mission boss behind a 1-way forcefield
PvE missions are fast-paced, there usually isn't much talking between the 4 players who are fighting their way through a facility against robot opponents. You fight your way to a boss encounter, and it is all over when you defeat him. You earn loot in the form of salvage parts off of the robots you kill (and the occasional blueprint or other rare item). You gain experience by completing a mission. The first 10 levels are pretty fast. It is a good idea to start out doing PvE missions so you can learn how to interact with other classes and so you can show up in PvP having some levels under your belt.
The game looks good and runs well, there was the occasional lag pocket that I'd run into but overall things were smooth in windowed mode.
PvP missions are where much of the fun comes from. This is very much the FPS experience, except that you can face opponents who are stronger or weaker than you depending on their level. Many of the PvP missions center around taking and holding objectives- there is never much travel involved, so the pace is fast. You can have different spawn points that you gain access to by conquest.
One of the nice things about this game is that you have enough tactics to make the FPS play interesting. For instance, you can have an ability that gives you a brief period of invulnerability shielding as an assault class- this ability is on a timer, so when it runs out, suddenly you are no longer godlike with your minigun chewing everybody up and can be taken down. So it is more than just shoot until you die, use your abilities with good timing and you'll be more effective.
Another example is that the recon class can do lots of damage with their swords by attacking from behind, almost like a backstabbing stealther in an MMO. Healers can have healing grenades to toss into groups of friendlies for an AOE heal. The unique abilities add richness to the FPS experience.
Teamwork helps a lot in PvP 
You will see varying levels of cooperation in matches.
You will see varying levels of cooperation in matches.Healers shoot green plasma heal rays at their friendly targets to keep them alive. Note the target 'reticle' that shows your target's health and your own health & energy level.
Most missions are indoors but there are outdoor areas near your objectives as well. A sniper looks for targets.
Overall, GA is a fun game that can be played in small doses. I played by myself without a guild, so I cannot comment on the more social aspect of the game, other than to note that it seems very single-player oriented. There are crafting and auction house elements to the game as well. Things happen pretty fast so you aren't exactly building a community there. The nice thing about the game is that you can just buy the box or the download and never subscribe while playing it like a traditional FPS. You can also subscribe to it for greater persistent elements and access to vehicles and persistent conquest of instanced territories, but I don't plan on doing that. It's nice to have the option of doing either, though.
