Huxley

[rabb1t]

Gamespot updated look (http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/huxley/news.html?sid=6167645&tag=topslot;title;1)

IGN updated look (http://pc.ign.com/articles/773/773954p1.html)

Looks like they are shooting for later this year. That puts them about 1 year behind original estimates. :eek:

[rabb1t]

It still exists...

IGN - Huxley Progress Report
The silence is broken with new details, screenshots and movies. (http://pc.ign.com/articles/856/856905p1.html)

[rabb1t]

IGN - Huxley Character Creation and Skills
Learn all about crafting a new avatar. (http://pc.ign.com/articles/857/857213p1.html)

[mmorpeegee]

Hi :) I was reading about that game called Fallen Earth and it looks really good. I am in closed beta for Huxley at the moment and thought I should spill the beans about it. Feel free to edit this if you don't want the info here.

I was in beta 1 and beta 2 which just ended. Beta 1 was very basic and then it ended for a month or so and they told us that the full game would be available in beta 2. That didn't happen.

Basically this game is a very basic PVE shooter, and a very basic PVP shooter, and both parts are completely separate. It seems to be a game by a budget company, not a big budget MMO. It runs well and looks ok, but the gameplay is a real concern to me. The PVE so far has been pretty pathetic. You go in to an instanced outdoor/indoor dungeon, and you run around with your 2 or 3 weapons, blowing up endless attacking mOnSt0rZ!1! while trying to achieved various lame objectives. It's not *bad*... but it's just definitely not good either. It reminds me of Quake or Serious Sam or something, only not quite as good, and those games are ancient now.

Most of all though, it reminded me of Hellgate:London which I also beta tested. I actually even preferred that game, because at least that game had more interesting dungeons and there were better weapons like flamethrowers and some of the classes could use spells. In general, the combat and the areas themselves was just better in Hellgate, and that game has apparently died now. I played the beta for a week or so and just thought it was all so mediocre. Well Huxley is a notch or two down from that PVE wise.

As for the PVP, you just click an icon on your screen and it brings up a server select screen, just like you see in most online shooters. It's a bit more elaborate because you can change your equipment (which is useless really) and buy/sell stuff here. The server list is to the right. You click to join and then you join the server and you wait forever for other people to join. The hosts are mostly real people... So first off, people seem to come and go constantly and often the hosts themselves are AFK. When you finally do start, you are at the mercy of the host's web connection, but also your distance from the host. There are some good games, and a few bad ones, but there are never more than about 12 or so people on these kinds of servers.

The crucial fact about this game is that you pick 1 of three classes and each one is extremely basic and bland. There is a sniper, a rocket guy, and grenade type guy. If you have ever played Team Fortress in any variety, you will be sorely disappointed playing this game because it just feels like a very limited version of that. It looks like UT3, almost identical infact (same engine), but whereas in UT you run around grabbing a wide variety of weapons, in Huxley you are forced to just use 2 and then later you can get some more. But really it's all about your main 1 or 2 for most of the game and it just leaves me wanting more. You basically have to grind and grind, just to achieve what UT gives you right at the start.

The maps are all quite small and boring, and there is only DM / team DM / CTF and a capture a radar type game so far. There are slots for player owned vehicles but none of that is in the game yet, and none of the big onslaught style maps are in the game yet either.

That's basically the situation so far. The game sucks at both PVE and PVP at the moment, but there is a lot of potential there. If things worked out well, it could end up being UT3 but with custom characters that you can build up and they become cooler than just playing UT3. There will also be the added bonus that you can play PVE as you please too, and they also promise massive matches in both PVE and PVP which will be hosted by the company. These big battleground type matches some people have played but they are struggling to get it working properly at the moment.

If you are desperate for something like this, then it might be worth keeping tuned to see how they come on. It's still a good while away from release so they may end up with a good shooter for people to play. Personally though I would need to see a miraculous transformation for me to want to play. If there was nothing else to play, I still wouldn't be excited about this game, but with stuff like Fallen Earth on the horizon, I can't imagine why anyone would want to play Huxley.

If I had to bet, I'd put money on it being another Hellgate, but only time will tell though I suppose. I think it will be better than Hellgate, marginally, in some ways, but I still think it won't be that great. It seems to be a small company who make small games though, so even a small following may be enough for the game to be a success.