360 Players Cannot Play Sapiens Or Alts

[Drowect]

I know I’m a bit late on this one but I’ve had to play a little catch up on a

few things. This is one I didn’t want to pass up writing about however

since I’ve been taking a look at it since I first learned of the game. I’m

talking about Webzen’s MMOFPS Huxley, loosely based or at the least

inspired by Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”. Don’t get confused

though, this is not a “Brave New World” but just an inspiration. The

storylines are not the same but it is a “Brand New World”.Huxley touts

itself as a cross-platform interactive game using the Unreal 3 graphics

engine and will be available on both the PC and the XBox 360. Players

from PC and from the XBox will be able to go toe to toe and maybe at

last we’ll find out who are the better FPS players. Players on PC will be

able to choose the side of the Sapiens or the Alternatives. On the XBox

360 players will be able to play as a part of the Human Liberation

Organization (HLO) and fight against the Sapiens and Alternatives in

order to “unshackle the oppressed Hybrids”

While Huxley is an FPS it also has the MMO aspect going for it. There will

be in-game quests that allow players to learn more about the world they

live in as well as obtain new skills and weapons. Here’s a little snippet

from their site that tells a little about the storyline.


At E3 I got a chance to lay my hands on the game itself and try out the

small section they had up for people to check out. Once more, our

gracious host was Chris “Vosx” Mancil and I was anxious to give the

game a go.

I need to explain one of my strange quirks when I try a new game. I do

things oddly. That’s the only way to explain it. I purposely am a gimp for

the first bit. Someone on the floor came by as I was checking the game

out and while Sean “Ashen Temper” Dahlberg and Chris were on

another machine looking at the game. He seemed to believe I was a

total newbie and started giving some advice. I don’t mind getting advice

when I’m actually trying to play. I mind when I’m just testing the waters

a bit. I think perhaps he had the assumption that I needed advice as I

attempted things like jumping through a window. “You can’t jump out

windows,” he said. I had tried shooting one out and no dice. “You need

to turn around to get out,” He said as I gimply attempted to back down

the stairs to get the feel for how it handled down the stairs and around

the corners as if you’re in a firefight. “It’s ok,” I said. “I used to play

competitively. I swear there is a method to my madness,” I had to tell him.

The game handles as smooth as you’d like. It has that intuitive Unreal

Tournament feel. It’s a bit awkward on the backup but I’m not sure how

much of that was because I had an observer that was assessing

whether or not I needed a straight jacket.

The environments are what you expect in an FPS as well. It’s high quality

and clean with some great textures to give it that realistic feel you’ve

come to expect in a game. It’s a nice piece of work. Also outside were

ships you could use for transport around the map. I have to admit one of

my weaknesses is flying. I do all right enough but I bumped into more

than one building as I worked on getting a feel for the lift of the thing. I

was told that you could not fly over the buildings but had to go around. I

think that was wrong however because later I was able to once I had

enough loft to actually clear from a distance away. Maybe it’s all just

down to the handling.

There’s not a whole lot I can tell you about the game beyond a few

minutes of play. There are capture points you can get and of course

defend as you move about. The demo we saw was limited but when I

took my hands off the keyboard I had those after ‘twitches’ we all know

and love after playing a good FPS. Does Huxley rate as a good FPS? I

think it could very easily especially with the MMO aspects tied in.

This game is on my watch list. It looks good. It feels good. One of the few

things I didn’t like that I’ve gotten used to with games like Unreal

Tournament was the alternate fire on weapons. Huxley didn’t have this

capability. I’m sure it’s something I can get over provided I am given

enough variety of weapons and skills, which I’m assured Huxley, will

have.

When will Huxley release? They claim to have it ready for 2007. I’m going

to give them the benefit of the doubt since they actually had a working

demo in their booth and it looked good and felt good. I think they are

well on their way. With the right handling this could be THE MMOFPS

people have been waiting for. I am in the ‘Wait and See’ club but I’m

hoping the seeing will make many others and me believers.

Editor's Note: Danielle Vanderlip is the Assistant Community Manager for Shadowbane and covered E3 for us.

Article By: Danielle Vanderlip

Created On: May 24, 2006

[Felix12g]

That's the first I've heard that the 360 players will not be able to play one of the two playable races and will instead be constricted to the NPC faction.

[Drowect]

It makes me a sad panda, i really hope its not true, but that was an essay from i guy that went to E3 soo.... it is pretty reliable i guess

[connnnn]

Unfortunately that part of the article isn't attributed anywhere. There's no mention of whether that came straight from Webzen at E3, or if they got that information off another website, or what.

They have said that they want to create a slightly different overall game for the console, so perhaps this HLO business all ties into the single player emphasis for X360... or something...

[Felix12g]

Doubtful, I have run into a person that went to E3 that mentioned them talking about HLO being available for consoles but he said they weren't too clear on how. That leads me to believe it might have been a marketing thing to toss out to the crowds that sounded neat.

The other thing to keep in mind is that there is probably going to be a single player side to Huxley for the consoles for those that don't have online capabilities and it would tie in there if anywhere.

[connnnn]

Well from that article it sounds like console players all have their own faction to fight against PC players. It just sounds like a really... strange idea. Especially since they mentioned PC players interacting with console players in a cooperative way before.

[brycenation]

WAT !

360 players cannot play sapiens or alts

if thats true brycenation = angry.

i thouhgt sapien one were humans ??

[Drowect]

Naw the sapiens look the "most" like humans but they are mutated just like everyone else, i dunno but to tell you the truth if we have to pvp vs PC players, then goodgame us, PC players will RAPE us, one simple thing you have think about. What do u have more control of? your arm? or your thumb? good game. PC players will rock our house

[Vagabond]

it's really good that they have a working demo like you said atleast they are making some progress but.....that doesnt even make sense that those who have X-Box 360 cannot play Sapens or alternatives. i really hope it's not true..even though i dont have a X-box,hehe

[Vicioushellsing]

will definately be interesting to see. If it is console vs PC even with some amazing console players I see most of the fights being very one sided. So definately would be more interesting in my opinion if we could work side by side.

[brycenation]

hopfully they will make the sensitivity of the mouse for pc players 1 then they will be nice and slow like consel players.

thats bad news if true about xbox players not aloud to be sapiens.. fair enough alternatives casue there ugly munts anyway. i got a sapien one clan for xbox 360 players only with 23 members. take it if it is true we will all just switch to humans. not much choice ne ways.

[DanDortz]

I hope the HLO faction that we 360 players are resitricted to is only for the single player campaign. it would make a good single player, trying to free an oppressed race.
Even though they aren't oppressed. They try to kill all sapians and alts, so why we should be forced to help them is beyond me.

[Detnation]

Both 360 and pc huxley players can play the same class that would make no sense if they made it so there were different races for each game that would just be a retarded mistake don't make stuff up cause you are.

[DanDortz]

Originally Posted by Detnation

Both 360 and pc huxley players can play the same class that would make no sense if they made it so there were different races for each game that would just be a retarded mistake don't make stuff up cause you are. .... you dumb.

uh nobody made anything up. Webzen has said the exact same thing, but have not released any information to clarify what they mean.
Also, THEY ARE THE SAME RACES. But as Webzen says, 360 players are forced to play the Sapians (PC guys can play them too) and "free the oppressed Hybrid" (you know, those NPC mutants that attack everyone.)
Also, please point me to the interview where it says that 360 and PC players can play the same class.
No? Then I must quote you,

Originally Posted by Detnation

don't make stuff up cause you are.

[Drowect]

ya i didnt make that up, im too lazy to write that much, i got that article from an E3 thing, so dont get ur panties in a bunch

[urza551]

That will suck if thats true and heres a thing from 1up.com


That's a residential area; you'll find clubs and bars there. This central part over here is more like a town square where players will gather. And out here in the outskirts we have ruins--the bad part of town." Producer Kijong Kang swoops the game camera for an aerial tour of the central city in Huxley, a first-of-its-kind mega-multiplayer first-person shooter due for the Xbox 360 in 2007. A lived-in-looking metropolis of dunnish apartment blocks, smog-belching industrial parks, and blazing neon signage, the city will hold thousands of players within its nearly one-square-mile area. "At first it was two-and-a-half square miles," Kang says, "but we scaled it down because users couldn't find each other."

Even shrunk down, Huxley is a lot to take in for console gamers, who are used to first-person-shooter multiplayer counts maxing out at 32 players and online worlds that typically don't require their own mass-transit system to get around. And even for computer gamers used to this sort of supersized online gaming, Huxley--which hits the PC first at the end of this year--still comes as a system shocker. It's part first-person shooter, part massively multiplayer online (MMO) role-playing game. It will have PC gamers helping out their console brethren. Even the developers at South Korean MMO specialist Webzen need a whiteboard to chart out the workings of the game's strange new world.
Kang draws two circles on our demo-room board and labels one as the city of the sapiens and the other as the home of alternatives, two of the three races in the game. The PC version packs both cities. He draws a third, separate circle and labels it the capital of the Hybrid Liberation Army. It's the one city in the Xbox 360 version, and it's home to the player's custom-made avatar, who fights for the freedom of the game's third race, the loping hybrid monsters. He then scrawls lines connecting all the cities, showing how they'll sync up for PC and console cooperative and combat missions, before finally drawing separate squares that represent the battlefields outside the cities where all combat will actually take place.
The central city itself will hold 5,000 players. They'll mingle, form clans, buy and tweak weapons and vehicles (for which they'll need special driver's licenses), and talk to nonplayer residents for stuff to do. "There are two types of quests in Huxley," says Kang, "main story quests and side story quests, which link to the main story line. Players will get the quest by locating and speaking with NPCs. They'll also find them by using the in-game e-mail system or other forms of communication."
Once players get a quest, they'll posse up with others who've accepted the same mission and then head to the quest area--always a location separate from the city. It could be in the wasteland of the outskirts, or maybe in the dungeon-like nether regions. Developer Webzen offers few specifics on mission types yet, but it's planning quests that support up to 200 participants for full-on 100-on-100 wars. Some missions will allow far fewer participants. One underground quest, for instance, limits participation to how many players can fit in the elevator to the combat area. Unlike the PC game, the 360 version offers a solo campaign--but even that packs online elements (after all, this is from a Korean developer that makes nothing but online games, in a country where people have actually died of exhaustion from not knowing when to log off). You'll play as a hero of the Hybrid Liberation Organization, and you'll go on missions that often require a trip to PC players' towns for items and info (see sidebar for a step-by-step guide). Again, Webzen offers few solid details on how the game will entice cooperation. In fact, with well over a year to go until the game's release, the developer is hazy with lots of details. Will Webzen charge a subscription fee? (Likely.) How will Xbox 360 players using joypads compete against PC users wielding the superior mouse-and-keyboard combo? (Webzen says it's working on leveling the playing field.) Will console players even embrace the massively multiplayer online shooter concept? (They'll also have Webzen's other 360 MMO--All Points Bulletin, a car-combat game from the creator of the original Grand Theft Auto--competing for their time.)

[GrandHero]

why would you play Huxley on a console anyways? PC > console anyday for a FPS game...