Huxley

March 7, 2008 - In our Huxley coverage this week, we've gone through the progress of the game, the various avatars you can make and city life.
Now it's time to talk about the action. Outside of the city, you can
enter quests to fight against AI enemies and beasts or engage in
massive 100 vs. 100 player fights. It may look like a typical arena
shooter, but this MMOFPS is anything but that.

Your primary means of attacking, unsurprisingly, will be the good,
old-fashioned gun. There are seven categories of them in Huxley:
machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles, optical rifles, rocket
launchers, Inquisitors (guided rockets) and Regulators. "By the way,"
said Huxley producer Kijong "KJ" Kang, "the Regulator is a unique
weapon to Huxley. It gives low physical damage to your enemy, but it
drains an opponent's shields. You can then use it to regenerate your
teammate's shields. A Phantom with a regulator can be a great addition
to any team in battle."

We're told there are hundreds of weapons in each category, which means
there shouldn't be any trouble finding the exact weapon you need to get
the job done. Though you can own a whole arsenal of these weapons,
you're only allowed to take three into battle (not even a mutant can
carry 20 guns at once). To provide enough variation in each category,
some weapons have extra abilities in addition to different stats. "For
example," said Kang, "there are poisoning rocket launchers that release
a poison gas capsule and give an additional poison damage to your enemy
as well as ordinary exploding rocket launcher."

If guns aren't your thing, you can just hop into a vehicle. Huxley
sports ground-to-ground, ground-to-air and air-to-air vehicles that are
designed for both combat and transportation. With hundreds strong
battles, you can see why a vehicle might be necessary. Trekking across
a giant map only to get killed would not exactly be fun. Like most
everything else in Huxley, vehicles won't be available to just anybody.
According to Kang, "Players must acquire a license to control vehicles,
and they must complete various challenges in order to get the license.
This is a unique element of Huxley, and can present a challenge to
players who wish to have a better ride."



If that weren't enough to think about already, there's also the skill
system to add some depth to Huxley. Some will allow you to sprint in or
out of a battle. Others give you advance warning of enemies with
infared vision or one that warns you when an enemy gets close. There's
even one that drops a flash-bang once your stamina drops under a
certain amount, affording you a chance to escape. We like the sound of
a non-lethal equivalent to Call of Duty 4's Martyrdom perk.

Defensively, you can equip up to five pieces of armor to keep you safe:
helmet, gloves, body, belt and boots. These can all be purchased or
crafted and then be customized, though you'll need a higher skill level
to gain access to every customization option.



Perhaps a better defense, however, will be your squad mates.
"Fundamentally," says Kang, "battles in Huxley are carried out by a
squad, consisting of 4 members: 1 commander and 3 other members. Being
in a squad gives expanded skills and game-play bonuses to each member."
If you wander away from your squad, you won't get the bonuses of being
a part of it. In this way, the various classes in Huxley will be
required to work together to stay in one piece.

In the end, how you do in each battle will have a lasting effect on the
world of Huxley. We're told that Battlezones are made up of dozens of
smaller battle fields where people can fight. The result of those
scuffles directly affects the strength of the team's respective
factions and cities.