LOS ANGELES — By all surprises, The Agency was one of the coolest and most unique games at the convention, when, as an optional first-person/third-person shooter, it shouldn’t be.
Coming from Sony Online Entertainment (SOE), The Agency is a massively multiplayer online shooter taking place in a world where spies and assassins are a day to day commodity. At the beginning of the game, the player decides whether they want to be a part of the sophisticated and stealthy Unite, or if they would rather enter with a bang in ParaGON.
After the player makes this decision, they do not have to choose what type of spy they will be. Unlike previous SOE titles like Everquest and Vanguard, players are not stuck to the role of a medic or a sniper, but rather can change their class whenever they want.
The Agency is an online game where it is important to spend a lot of time developing a character to be the best it can be, but developers behind the game understand that people have lives they have to live beyond the game. That is why they developed Operatives, non-playable characters work under a player’s character and do various missions to assist a player in completing their own. Operatives can carry out missions even when the player is not playing the game, which allows for continual development. Even when a player is not on The Agency, they can still receive text message and e-mail updates of decisions and achievements their Operatives completed.
Coming from a long line of multiplayer online games, SOE is making The Agency more personal by allowing four to 16 player matches versus the 256 player mªl©e in Sony’s upcoming title Massive Action Game (MAG for short).
The Agency will be released in December of this year for PC and the Playstation 3. SOE is developing ways to allow cross-console gaming for their online community.
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