Preview: Huxley (PC & Xbox 360)
Most people have never heard of Huxley, yet this is a game that has all the characteristics that can make a game exceptional.
Huxley belongs to a game category which is not well established yet, I’m talking about the MMOFPS genre. The setback of this genre is that it’s very ambitious by nature and, in due course, it disappoints, because MMOFPSs just don’t look good and most of them don’t even play well. We saw the declining of Planetside in 2003. And while Entropia Universe maintains a relatively strong fan base, it isn’t appealing to most gamers due to its unattractive presentation and outdated gameplay.
But Huxley represents a fresh start to the MMOFPS genre, as it makes full use of the renowned Unreal Engine 3.0, while using the realtime physics engine PhysX. This means that the game will have game mechanics very similar to those found in Unreal Tournament 3, while providing the eye-candy that is lacking in other games within the MMOFPS genre.
Huxley looks stellar.
However, being an MMOFPS, Huxley doesn’t seem to fall short on the RPG elements that make games like World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online so sought-after. In Huxley, you can customize your character to fit your every need. As such, you can update your armor, you can alter your look, and you can even attain licences that will enable you to own better vehicles. The main focus, however, is on the weaponry. There are seven weapon categories, ranging from machine guns to optical rifles. In each of these categories, you’ll be able to get dozens of different weapons. The key here is customization, given that, when you reach level 30, you can craft your own weapons.
So we know that there will be a lot of variety when it comes to weapons, vehicles and armor. But how big is the world of Huxley? Well, at launch there will be two main cities. These cities will have their own tram transportation system. Of course there will be an outside world where you will get your quests and earn experience points by passing them. Also, the game is said to have more than twenty different battlegrounds for PVP matches. These matches can be as small as a 1vs1 match, or as colossal as a 100vs100 match. To top it off, each server cluster is said to accommodate at least 10.000 people.
The tram and trains provide transportation within and between cities.
Huxley is a very promising MMOFPS indeed, but why haven’t most people heard of it? My deliberation is that South-Korean based publisher Webzen Games Inc. has decided to spend more money on the actual development, rather than spending it on marketing and advertising. After all, this game has been delayed since 2005 when it was first demoed at E3.
Does this mean that the people at Webzen are so confident about their product, that they know it will be acclaimed by reviewers and players everywhere? How can they be so sure that a game which resembles Unreal Tournament 3 so much will appeal to a good amount of gamers? Especially considering that Unreal Tournament 3 fell so short of its goals.
How will Huxley compete with MMO’s like World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King and Warhammer Online? How will it even contend with MMOFPS’ like Darkfall, Massive Action Game and The Agency, which also uses Unreal Engine 3.0? And we can’t overlook the fact that Entropia Universe is now being overhauled by the newly acquired CryEngine 2 licence.
We will have to wait a little more to get an answer to all these questions, as Huxley is due to ship on the 25th of November 2008, for both PC and Xbox 360.
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