The
beta for Global Agenda came to a close on last Tuesday and I can
finally pool my thoughts together about this all-too-enjoyable
adventure. At first glance, Global Agenda looked to me like
another class-based shooter, this time with a permanent leveling system
and perks/skills, but that opinion changed quickly once I got my feet
wet. Hi-Rez studios has crafted an addictive blend of the finest first
person shooter gameplay, and even included a respectable PvE aspect to
boot. 

 

Character creation is relatively standard fare, with over 20 male and
female heads and several styles of individual features to choose from.
One important thing to note is that, during your account creation, you
create your name, and by your name I mean the name of ALL of your
characters. No matter if you log on as a Robotics, a Recon, or an
Assault, they will all share the same name and the only thing
discerning them at your character selection screen is the class and
level. This basically enables two things: you can build a reputation
throughout the community no matter what character you're on, and it
makes it extremely easy for anyone to contact you and keep in
touch. 

 

Once you've wrapped that up character creation you're given the option
to play through the introductory missions. These have some brief
cutscenes with voice acting and give you a good introduction as to the
backstory of the game. All basic weapons and controls are covered and
the missions will also give you plenty of opportunities to practice the
fine art of using your jetpack. The jetpack is one of the unique
aspects of combat in Global Agenda. You’re required to switch
from your weapon to the jetpack to activate it, but it can enable you
to escape or get into advantageous positions over your opposition. Just
remember to switch back to your main weapon upon landing! 

Upon
completion or skipping of the intro, you're thrown into your new home,
Dome City. Dome City is your hub for everything in this game. If you've
played Phantasy Star Online or Universe you’ll notice
similarities to the cities in those games. Cities are instanced and
upon login you're likely going to be thrown into “Dome City
112” or some similar random number. The city splits off into
two main halls--one for skill assignment and crafting and the other for
various forms of items and dyes. In the middle of every city is your
mission hub, which you'll need to access if you ever want to get beyond
level five. 

 

You can access this mission hub to queue up for any type of battle for
which you qualify. In beta there were 5 kinds of PvP missions and 5
kinds of PvE missions. The PvP consists of standard capture and hold,
attack/defend, escorts, and nothing terribly new or groundbreaking. It
should be noted that the maps for each are very well done and thought
out, though, to compensate for the lack of ingenuity in the modes
themselves. Each PvE mission select had several varied maps, picked out
at random, and a seemingly random boss at the end as well. All weapons
are viable in each setting, which includes your melee due to its
ability to deal massive damage and its bonus effects when hitting
opponents from behind. 

 

PvP typically breaks teams into 10 each and randomly throws people on
each team unless you queued up as a team to begin with. The only
penalty on death in PvP is dropping a health orb that's worth about
1/3rd of your max HP as a heal for the person that picks it up, and the
humiliation of running back from your respawn point. One of the neat
things they've introduced is a mobile respawn location people can
deploy to front lines and behind obstacles to quickly reinforce hot
spots. Of course, these can also be destroyed and the team lacking a
respawn beacon near the objective is at a serious
disadvantage. 

 

PvE boils down to 4 goons storming a facility and taking out a boss
target. Unlike PvE in typical MMO's though, the normal enemies can and
will kill you if you engage in a stand-still firefight. You have to
play smart and use cover and take advantage of how they lead their
shots to have any kind of chance. Of course, having a Medic or Robotics
at your back and an Assault at the front soaking up damage greatly
increases your chance of survival, but the queue system doesn't care
about the makeup of your team. (I've been teamed up with 3 Recons as a
Robotics before, which certainly led to some creative
tactics.) 

 

Experience points are given out at the end of a mission based on your
performance score with a hearty bonus given to the winners. If you
manage to win the PvP round, or complete a PvE matchup without too many
deaths, you get a cash award, which can be used towards crafting or
customization of your character.  The amount of experience
needed to level starts off at about 2-3 missions per level, and
increases by about three missions every five levels.  style="background-color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">I
never really noticed
a particularly bad grind--the gameplay isn't about filling experience
meters, it's about shooting people in the face! Leveling does unlock
skill points and new weapon types to mess around with though, so if you
want to get creative with your load out for a mission, you will have to
level some to enable that. 

 

Speaking of your load out, you have 15 device points with which to
enter a mission. Your melee weapon, jetpack, and boost (ability charged
with dealing damage) are all free and should be with you on every
mission. From there you can assign a standard ranged weapon, a
specialty, and 3 off-hand devices. The options for each are specific to
the class you've chosen. Each item you've picked can be assigned a
weight of 1 to 4 points, with increasing points giving increased
potency to the item. You do not have to fill all slots, so it's not too
uncommon to see Assaults running around with a minigun and no sidearm
so they can afford more potent off-hands.

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Close combat is brutal, and requires good reaction time to avoid being
blocked.




You'll also get skill points as you level up, which can be put into a
skill tree to unlock minor bonuses to certain items you're using. There
are two unique trees to each class and one shared, fairly generic one.
There is no penalty for resetting and reallocating your skill points so
you are free to experiment as you see fit. Using this system to power
up devices you've decided to bring along at level 4 is generally
advised, as they'll be your primary weapons. 

 

A lot of systems are still being overhauled and fine-tuned. Crafting is
in a bit of an odd spot at the moment--items have limited
durations/uses and the material cost for creating anything is rather
prohibitive The Agency vs. Agency combat system, which can be summed up
as a quest to take over the most land possible, takes place only at
certain times of day to prevent the loss of territory overnight. If
you're not able to be on at the specified time, you'll never get a shot
at that piece of the pie. Hi-Rez is doing their best to make these
systems enjoyable for everyone and they received many patches in the
last month alone. 

 

Global Agenda is all about taking class-based shooters to the next
level. A subtle experience system handles the unlocking of gear without
overpowering the characters since no matter how high you level, your
base stats remain the same. Many creative weapons are at work, and the
map design is top-notch. If you're sick of one kind of stage, a
multitude of others is a click away. It's strangely addicting and I've
spent many a night until sunrise happily filling people full of holes.
My only regret is that I'll have to start over soon with the beta over
and Head Start coming up. Hopefully I'll see you there!