Images and Impressions of Global Agenda at PAX 2009

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Posted Sun, Sep 06, 2009 by Sardu

Global Agenda was dressed to impress and certainly turned quite a few heads at this year’s PAX. Eager gamers got the chance to jump into the game for some intense 8v8 matches which included 3 different objective-based match types developer Hi-Rez had set up at each of the event's demo stations. I had the opportunity to dive in and experience the escort missions playing as the Recon class, which specializes in some of the game's more stealthy aspects. In this particular map type the objective is for one side to help protect and push a specified object along a set path to various points across the map. In the meantime, the opposing team is not only going to do everything in their power to stop your progression, but will also employ some other interesting tactics to make things difficult.

For example, in the respawn area, team members on either side are able to pick up a beacon for their team which can then be used somewhat as a teleportation landing pad when placed out on the battlefield. This can not only to help your fallen teammates hop into battle much more quickly after being defeated, but also has a direct impact on the pace of the battle itself. The trick here seems to be placing the beacon as close to the current conflict nexus as possible but without making its presence too obvious since it can essentially be destroyed and sent back to the initial spawn point. Finding and destroying these objects is just one of many ways of hampering the progress of the opposing team that I got to see employed in my short time with the game, but is also a great example of how certain lesser objectives still have a direct impact on the flow of battle.

While my time with Global Agenda was somewhat brief, I walked away impressed with how polished the gameplay felt even at this stage in development. The controls felt extremely intuitive, and although combat can certainly be slightly chaotic when first hopping in, it didn’t take all that long to get a feel for the role of your class in a given scenario or even for some of the game’s more tactical elements to become much more apparent. Currently GA is ramping up for the next phase of closed beta testing, but in the meantime we’ve updated our galleries with some fresh images for your viewing enjoyment.