Modes

The game is basically split into three main modes of play. The first of which is the City, which serves as your species headquarters, as well as a spot for you to work through the game’s campaign, receiving story quests, NPC quests, and instance quests. We were assured that teaming up to take down bigger threats will be crucial even in the mostly single player story mode.

The second mode is called Virtual Combat, and serves as a no-risk PVP combat area. Players looking to improve their talents or practice new skills can take it into Virtual Combat and play against very real opponents without the risks associated with the third mode.

That third mode is called Battleground and it includes larger maps, larger player counts, vehicles, and a rewards and penalties system for your respective wins and losses. Battleground focuses on several main “contested spots” where warring factions fight to control areas. Winning areas will affect your city’s economy, and one way this will manifest itself is in the sales of weapons and items. Winning factions will spend considerably less when buying items and loot will have a higher resale value. And let’s not forget the bragging rights for you and your faction.

Subscription Plan

The people at Huxley are still a bit shy when it comes to talking about a subscription plan. They repeatedly assured us that they didn’t want to make price an obstacle for the consumer, and juggled words like micro-transactions before admitting that the details hadn’t been fleshed out quite yet. An important point to be sure, and a lousy plan could certainly be a deal breaker for many would-be gamers.

Round up

Things are looking good for Huxley, though there are still several key questions left to be answered, including a definite release date. Without that, it’s hard to say if legitimate hype can generate; fans will surely remember the last time Huxley was the media darling, when the words “coming in Summer of 2006” were emblazoned at the end of its trailers. Even without all the answers, our time with Huxley left us feeling very hopeful.

Apr 1, 2009