While the E3 demo of the online shooter, The Agency, wasn’t playable or live, just a walkthrough of a pre-recorded video, Sonly Online Entertainment did assure us that they have gotten to the point in the office where they are having fun with the pre-alpha builds.

You may have heard of The Agency as an MMO for PS3, but they have gotten away from calling it that, since MMOs have that time-sucking stigma attached to them. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the gamers they are going after don’t spend hours and hours in Halo or Call of Duty.

The first stop in many online games is character creation, and we see that is is here as well. There are two main factions that don’t necessarily oppose each other, but just have different styles. UNITE (stands for UN Intelligent Tactical Experts) are the suave, James Bond, suits, whereas Paragon are the “rough ‘n tumble” mercenary type who “drink cheap beer” and “use explosives to do all their talking.”

Most of the demo centered on UNITE, and we began by entering their secret HQ, through a florist’s. In the lobby, they showed off a Q-Bert arcade machine, fully playable as a flash mini-game, but explained that the same technology can be extrapolated to baccarat and poker at an in-game casino. The scenario of purposely losing money to make enemies think you’re a noob sounds a little complex, but they envision it as part of the final game.

The Agency takes a “you are what you wear” approach (a similarity to SOE’s other upcoming online game, Free Realms) so that rather than picking a class, your character can rank up in any job (weapon specialist, medic, etc) depending on what outfit you’re in. No need for alts.

More good news is that the entire game will be soloable from start to finish in any role. You may only get bronze medals, but for the casual player, it’s good to know you don’t need a guild behind you to see all the content. Silver and Gold medals will require either exceptional skills or a group, possibly both. For example, in a mission to protect a German embassy, there are four pillars about to be bombed–if even one goes, you’ll lose the gold medal. That will be impossible without some teammates. At the climactic end of a mission, party members compete in what sounds like maybe a quick-time event to see who stars in the quick cut-scene.

Probably the most exciting feature of The Agency, is the Operative system. This is where the “Agency” part really comes in, as you’ll be building your own out of “living loot.” You can recruit up to 100 NPCs at max rank, but there are over 400 in the game, so you’ll have to specialize according to your style. You can employ up to five in a single mission, but note that they don’t necessarily accompany you. In fact, their most interesting uses are during time you may not even be in the game.

For example, you can send them on side missions or give a scientifically minded operative the schematics for a gun, which he will build in real time. (Could take, say, three days.) The game will also somehow sink up with your cell phone, so that if a scout of yours gets trapped in enemy territory during a side mission, you’ll be given the option right away to either pay ransom, abandon him, or return to the game later to try to save him. If you’re away from the game, your operatives can even be used to help out your guild with big crafting projects or be assigned to assist specific friends.

So far a subscription model hasn’t been decided on, although they know shooter fans aren’t the type to plunk down their credit cards every month (but then again there is Xbox LIVE, so a certain amount of recurring fee seems tolerable…) Add support is a possibility, as long as they are appropriate for the setting, but they are going to be looking at how Free Realms (a family friendly MMO we’ll discuss later in the week) does with it’s free-to-play/premium account format first. The release date hasn’t been decided, but The Agency will be available on PC and PS3–sooner is better if you ask me!

Tags: E3, Sony Online Entertainment, The Agency

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