Global Agenda Impressions

I decided to snag Global Agenda over the weekend while it was only $45 on Steam. After hearing so much good about the game from some of the writers and bloggers whose opinions I appreciate, I figured the game would be a solid bet.

So after a weekend of play and after tonight's launch event (got to play around in game with the loverly Seraphina Brennan of Massively fame), I have a few thoughts to throw out there about the game so far. Here they are, in no particular order:

Badly. Frankly, there is just no reason for a social game, MMO or shooter or otherwise, to NOT have a functioning friend's list. Sure, you can join up with an Agency (guild) but that seems to be the only way to see if your friends are online. The game is run through Steam, so perhaps they just assumed you would use your Steam Friends list, but people don't use the same name for their Steam account as their character names.

The gameplay and shooter action are top notch. The game has a very quick pace to it, but not overly twitchy like some first-person shooters can be.

There will be much class balance to come. They all feel solid right now, which is great, but I forsee a lot of balancing down the road.

Phantasy Star Universe 2.0?

If you ever played either of Phantasy Star's online games, the set up for GA will be very familiar. There is one city that acts as a hub where players can meet and group up if they'd like, visit the auction house, craft, and a few other essential functions. From there, all the missions are instanced be they PvP or PvE.

Grouping Is Easy

I love that I can queue for a mission and be auto-grouped for the mission when it pops up. Sometimes I've had to decline the mission when it pops (no group packed full of Recons will really work that well), but in general it mixes and matches well. Plus I can run through the city while I'm waiting for my mission to pop. It's really that simple.

Included Voice Chat

The voice chat is well done and implemented, with just a few simple controls to make it work smoothly. The side effect is that PvP matches can devolve into the worst of the worst when it comes to angry voice chat rants from teammates. I haven't heard that happen much, and when I have I heard it I just turn down the voice volume.

Variety

Right now, it seems there's a variety of activities and things to do. There are tons of PvE maps of varying difficulty and a few PvP maps with different objectives. Hopefully the team at Hi-Rez can keep a quick pace with adding new maps or swapping maps out so that things stay interesting.

Pace

LOVE the pace. Everything is timed. No more 30-minute PvP stalemates, the match will end sooner rather than later. Same with PvE maps as you are given a countdown timer and you must kill the boss within that time frame or fail. You literally can jump in and out with just 15 minutes of play time and be productive.

Crafting

Seems basic right now. You can buy recipes from the vendors or get them as random drops in PvE missions. All materials drop in PvE. If you prefer PvP, you can always buy the materials and recipes from the Auction House. However, it does seem like crafting weapon and armor mods is rather important.

Choose Your Adventure

Its your choice whether you want to level via PvP or PvE or some combination of both. I'm assuming you can level in the Conquest mode as well, but I haven't joined an Agency yet so I cannot confirm that. You gain more money in PvP matches, but more experience and the ability to get crafting mats in PvE, so there's a definite choice you'll need to make. Personally, I just like shooting other players.

Conclusion

I'm having fun with the game. I'll jump on board with an Agency within the week just so I can try out the Conquest mode stuff while it's free, but even if I don't decide to subscribe to that function, I'll still have the option to have fun in the regular PvE and PvP missions. I'm looking forward to where this title goes and hope that it picks up some steam as it moves along because it really is a solid title… once they add a friend's list, of course.

-Dickie