I had high hopes for this game when it was first announced a few years ago. One of these reasons was that idea that they, seem to be at the least, inspired by Aldous Huxley and Brave New World. Another reason for these hopes was my admiration for the game Planetside, a MMOFPSRPG that was the first of its kind, which has been the only MMO to ever grab my attention for more than the trial period. I had very little about this game and, sadly, figured that with the tag of a MMOFPS that it would be similar to Planetside. Well…It wasn’t anything like it.

Graphics

Great, lovely, pristine graphics usually are not synonymous with MMOs. Huxley, on the other hand, does seem to nail this part down quite well. The world, the Dystopia, can, at times, be very immersible.  At first I didn’t feel this way, as you start off in a limited “boot camp” but once I left this location and entered the city I was impressed. The buildings are well-crafted and seem to loom depressingly over you. While the graphics do not outmatch the likes of other recent FPS’s, I believe the graphics hold their own when compared to other MMOs. The models, however, aren’t really interesting to look at and remind me quite a bit of Phantasy Star Online.

Gameplay

Fast. Paced. Shooting. Those three seem to boil the point of the game down nicely. I feel like that is all to it. Running around as fast as you can and filling your opponent with led faster than he can as your HP slowly dwindles down from ~150 to 0. There is no strategizing, at least I never was grouped with a team that wanted to employ any resemblance to strategy. This is what disappointed me the most. Another facet of the gameplay that disappointed me was how the world was set up. When in “solo” mode you move about in third person to talk to NPCs, visit shops, chat with other players, and accept quests from NPCs.

Once you decide to complete a quest you move to a section of the map and fast travel to different zones. When you enter these zones, which are basically small maps, you enter into First person mode and must complete different tasks which vary from killing X amount of y and picking up W amount of Z. When you decide to combine the “multiplayer” part to the MMO, you move your mouse to the bottom of the screen and click the option that will deliver you to choose a server. You then play on different small maps with  amounts of players that supposedly can be up to 100 vs. 100…I never was in a server anywhere near this number. This disappointed me tremendously as I was hoping for large scale battles, not some Unreal Tournament clone with MMORPG elements.

What Could Save This Game?

I hope they can increase the player count. If they really can reach 200 players per map…they need large-scaled maps. I’d also LOVE to see them incorporate an open-world map…similar to Planetside…but I suppose that is too much to ask for this late in development.

Another element that I believe should be tweaked is how they go about the whole “solo” mode. Why not have a portion that is meant for PVP(the large scale maps) and have the parts surrounding the city open to ALL players? I’d love to be working on a quest in a zone and see other players run past me going after some other creature. As of now, all they have is allowing a “team” of buddies to enter the solo zone together which makes the game feel more like Sven-coop(Half-life modification).

Last Words

Perhaps this game just isn’t for me. If you love shooters and MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, Everquest, and the countless other clones…then you may enjoy this more than me. On the other hand, if you were expecting this to be a Planetside clone then I suggest to hope that someone comes along and tries to emulate that genre another time.

Josh T. beta, Games, impressions, PC, Uncategorized