Global Agenda (Windows)

GLOBAL AGENDA is set in a world of the future where different groups are defecting from the oppressive government known as Commonwealth Prime. Experiments are being carried out on citizens and Agency Zero has broken you out of the medical lab of the Global Counter Espionage Department (GCED) where you were to be processed genetically and cybernetically. The world has entered a period of outright warfare carried out by teams of highly skilled, covert agents striking against the Commonwealth as well as struggling against each other for control of scarce resources outside of the Commonwealth and GCED controlled Megacities.

Players can participate in player versus environment or player against player matches in the basic game. The subscription gives players access to Conquest which is a campaign on a massive scale between player-created agencies and alliances on a persistent world map. Conquest features include Agency and Alliance management tools, creation and upgrading of Facilities (basically player agency housing), a mail system, and a raid systems which can involve up to 60 players per side.

Global Agenda is a fast paced, massively multiplayer game that combines the combat of a team-based shooter, the character progression of a role-playing game, and the conflict and cooperative play of an MMO.  Players form groups and competing for scarce resources and territory as in a strategy game. The game offers nice options with four different classes that players can explore: Assault, Recon (reconnaissance), Robotics, and Medic. Within these classes, players can go down different skill trees to specialize their characters. The excellent tutorial takes the player through some of the backstory as they escape from Commonwealth Primel, teaching them the basics of movement, flying with the jetpack, and equipping their characters. At the end of the tutorial, players will be level five and have opened up all their equipment slots and gained basic weapons.

Players can also skip the tutorial altogether or jump out of it, to level five and reappear in Dome City, across from the Virtual Reality practice fighting arena where players can test different equipment combinations. The strategy involved is what you bring into the match. Players have 15 device points with which to deploy the devices they want to take with them into battle.  Players who have played the game longer will have a larger variety of devices to choose from, but no more points, so players can either take less high level devices with them, or more lower level devices. It's all about how you play the game and coordination with your teammates. With gorgeous high-definition graphics and fast-paced game play that's violent but gore-free, players that enjoy shooters such as Halo3 or Star Wars: Battlefront may find the added depth of this MMO just their cup of tea.

Online interaction: With player versus player gameplay, along with open chat and crude taunting animated gestures, one would think this game is rife with negative online experiences. However, this is not entirely so. Players are ranked by the computerized match-making system based on their skills and will be matched with and against others of their skill level. The only way to do well in this game is to play cooperatively and that provides incentives for gamers to play well together. However, the game supports using a headset during play which means kids may hear swearing and other conversation that is inappropriate.