Game Play 8/10
Global Agenda remains to be exactly what it set out to end up as, a competitive PVP shooter. The average player will spend the vast majority of their time in Global Agenda duking it out in finely crafted team based arena style maps. PVP games or 'Mercenary matches' as Hi-Rez so eloquently puts it, pit teams of 10 against each other for the completion of a set of goals, generally to capture control points or push floating boulders up hills(Think of it as American Gladiator if the rocket ball launcher actually launched rockets.). Spec ops is the co-op PVE game mode which provides players with a quick supply of crafting material and an oft needed reprieve from the stresses of the mercenary life. Players are rewarded for the timely completion of objectives while minimizing casualties. Generally speaking, if the team can complete the mission with less than 3 deaths, their compensation will be quite healthy at missions end.
The final game mode of note is what many consider to be Global Agenda's end game. Agency Vs. Agency game play turns guilds and alliances against one another in harrowing battles for control of hexagonal portions of a map. Each hexagon has certain inherent properties which make them desirable for ownership. Alliances and guilds fight to either take said spaces or defend them from those that would pilfer their hard earned territory.
Four classes, each with 1 shared and 2 unique skill trees, allow players to fill a desired role in the game. The Soldier, which can fill the important roles of tank, guy with the BFG and Arnold Schwarzenegger's body double in Terminator 2, is the all-around weapons specialist and meat shield. There is nothing small or subtle about the soldier, or perhaps he is just compensating for something? Available weapons come in the form of big, bigger and biggerest while most available equipment focuses on enhancing the act of getting shot and not falling down. Next is the Soldiers best friend, the Medic. Medics provide much needed healing to all classes and may also augment the group’s overall damage through the application of poisons. The method used to heal as a medic is dependent on the healing tool the medic has chosen to outfit himself with. This unique take on healing provided by the medic may give players who generally shy away from the role reason to not only try it, but thrive in the process. Both the Recon and Robotics classes are DPS providers with 2 very big differences. Recon will shoot you; Robotics specialists will let their minions shoot you.
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Crafting in Global Agenda is a fickle friend indeed. While the system has the potential to be so much more than it is today, I can't help but feel the system in place was little more than an afterthought with no intentions of ever carving out a meaningful place in the game. The production of player created goods boils down to little more than breaking down end of mission rewards for various and sundry widgets which are then combined for the purpose of the creation of objects which do little more than modify stats whose effects are marginal at best. The truth about crafting quite simple. Crafting in GA requires a level of work that is severely disproportionate to the potential rewards which ultimately culminate in the ability to craft repair kits. The crafting mechanics themselves are a solid representation of traditional MMOG crafting, a diamond in the rough if you will. With more variety in creatable items such as unique weapons, vanity suits, armor pieces and equipment, crafting in GA would take on a whole new light. I don't just want to conduct genocide with a laser sword; I simply want to build the sword. After all, a Jedi is not a Jedi until he constructs his own light saber.
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Social Aspects and the Community (7/10)
Before gathering your party and venturing forth, one must ensure they have with them a healthy supply of fire and acid. Why, one may ask? Any self-respecting man knows the only way to truly kill a troll is to knock it down and burn it, with fire or acid, posthaste. Yes folks, Global Agenda is absolutely brimming with those froob (Free Noob) warriors we call trolls. In all honesty, the City chat channel in Global Agenda has the power to make the old school Barrens chat in World of Warcraft look as if it were an intellectual meeting of your local MENSA club. Not to say witnessing the philosophizing of dangerously inebriated player X on the topic of drinking the resin does not provide good laughs. After taking the above into consideration, it may be wise to seek out the shelter offered by a guild chat channel. Thankfully, finding a good well populated guild to join is as simple as using the auction house. Where most games force the guilds to come to you, Global Agenda allows you to go to the guilds. A simple search interface provides prospective guild recruits with the means to search for and request membership in their desired guilds.
Polish 9/10
For many games, there is a fine line that must be walked in order to succeed. In most cases this comes down to how the simple, often overlooked, details look when they come out of the oven. Things such as the complexity of the features on hand, the efficiency of the UI and the prevalence of bugs to name a few. This line is often a finite path which more often than not is strayed from at one or several points in any game. MMO players desire a level of polish and complexity in their artificial worlds which would make lesser gamers shirk in fear of our love for spreadsheets and micromanagement. It is this small but crucial category in which GA shines once again.
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Several years of shaping and molding by a seemingly competent developer has created a shining example what it means to be polished. During my most recent foray into the world of secret agents and the battlefields they ply their trade upon; I was met by naught but the most trivial of bugs. Never once was I slowed while attempting to discern the function of the UI or proper use of items of functions within the game. Hi-Rez has clearly focused much of their attention towards streamlining the experience they have created for the odd intrepid gamer who is willing to take the risk of trying something new.
Longevity (8/10)
In terms of Longevity, Global Agenda has two major elements working in its favor. In most traditional MMO experiences, there exists a requirement, a law if you will, where players must be able to commit vast quantities of time in order to keep up with their companions. This creates an endless reciprocating cycle in which players are rewarded for collecting unemployment checks. GA neither attempts to nor desires to be a game in which progress is dictated by ones chronological contributions. The next crucial aspect to the long term appeal of GA is the simple fact that it's free. Whether you use GA as a means of suppressing those frequent urges to shoot things; or as your full time MMO of choice, one thing is certain. You will never be required to play for access.
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All in all, Global Agenda will work for some and not for others. When a particular game breaks the mold in such ways, it often finds fanfare outside the usual circles. An avid Modern Warfare player could very well feel at home in GA, where your more traditional MMOG guru perhaps would find the pace unnerving. Those who enjoy something fresh and harbor no quarrels with the shooter mechanics could easily find GA to be a well desired long term interlude from the monotony which has marked MMO gaming of late.
Conclusion
For those who have had the pleasure of experiencing GA in its current and former embodiments, witnessing the transformation of GA from what it was to what it is today has been quite a ride. Few games which embrace the F2P model experience such a fruitful revival as GA has. It is clear to me that much of this success is due to Hi-Rez Studio's chosen profit model. Primarily because, unlike many of its F2P brethren, GA has elected to put emphasis on ensuring the game continues to be more about simply playing and competing and less about what micro-transaction will be most beneficial. This, when coupled with the steady addition of quality content, simply means the game has improved.
