Preview: The Secret World with New Screens and Art - Preview

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Two weeks ago, I made the trip to San Francisco for the Game Developers Conference. No, guys, it didn’t involve a bottle of wine and a gigolo. While there, I met up with Funcom. Being the all-round swell chaps they are, they gave me a sneak peek of their upcoming titles, Age of Conan and The Secret World. I've already expressed my two cents regarding Age of Conan; so let me ramble on about The Secret World.

For those of you just joining us, let's get caught up to speed with what we know of the game thus far.  The Secret World is an urban MMORPG set in real-world locations, but features not-so-real vampires, (real-in-my-dreams) zombies and other creatures you wouldn't want to come face to face with. You should be thinking of a Left 4 Dead/X-Files mash-up. Here is the catch, though: this is an MMO with a storyline. All right, hold your applause, we know you were caught off-guard.

Think of the storyline as one gigantic quest chain with cutscenes. Once you complete one objective, you are sent on another and then another and so on. It’s like the Groundhogs Day of gaming, except it doesn’t involve Bill Murray and I mean it in a good way. This is an interesting take on the MMO genre, and I'm really anxious to see exactly how this will be executed. It'll add a ton of depth and purpose to the game, that's for sure. No more NPCs saying "I’m hungry, go catch me 10 fishes."

The premise for the game is built around three secret societies that 'pull the strings of our world'. At the start of the game, you can choose to be part of the Templar in London, which is really the closest you'll get to playing the ‘good guy’. Or, maybe, you'd like to be part of the Illuminati in New York City, who crave nothing but power. These guys are pretty bad. Lastly, you can choose to become aligned with the Dragon society. The members of this society believe the more chaos there is in life, the more balanced good and evil are. Clearly, they’re a head-trip to listen to.

As far as locations go, that makes London, England, New York City, USA, and Seoul, South Korea. You will also have the chance to travel to Egypt, but your motive for being there is yet to be told.

The first location in the game is Kingsmouth, a town off the coast of Maine.  You get a brief introduction of what (or who) has been plaguing Kingsmouth by watching the video below. Basically, Kingsmouth used to be a quiet, happy town. Then, like all Happy Town Turned Crap stories, the fog rolled in and took most everyone away. The ones who managed to survive are left to fend off these undead creatures that refuse to die.

The story is all about digging deeper, as nothing is quite as it seems anywhere you go. Even the people are just a 'coat of white paint, but rotten underneath' according to the Lead Designer, Martin Bruusgaard. All the characters have their own back stories, which will be explained via cutscenes throughout the game when you accept a mission. If you want to replay a mission, you can choose to enter Challenge Mode. Don't worry, you will never be shown the same cutscene twice, unless you start over with a completely new character.

Another interesting feature of The Secret World that I have yet to discuss is that there are no classes and no levels in the game. Your ability is based on what you've chosen to specialize in, the powers you've chosen to bring with you, and etc. Speaking of powers, expect to see melee fire, mage fire, healer, damage dealer and the rest of the circus. You can only have seven active powers and seven passive powers at a time, so choose wisely. Funcom has really done a fine job at crafting the powers as some of the passives may affect your actives. For example, any player can use any power, too. The beauty of this is that you won't ever have to create a new character because you can just swap out your powers.

After you finish the story mode (or during story mode), there will be numerous dungeons, PvP battles, and all the classic MMORPG staples. You can choose to partake in these activities early on, but I suggest powering up a bit or else you may not be too useful.  Regardless, you complete story mode at your own pace. Feel free to team up with people from your Cabal (the fancy word for guild) and gain XP while you're at it.

The game looks attractive for an MMO title. I was able to watch a four-person group battle an angry electric squid creature, which can be seen briefly in the video below (and the image above). It looked like a good time and I wanted to grab the controller and start playing. I have high hopes for The Secret World solely because it's different than anything I've played before. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that the story mode isn't a gimmick and thrown in there to get you to buy the game. I really don't think it is considering how much of an emphasis Funcom is giving it, but we'll know in due time.

The video below is a teaser of what is to come this Thursday. Funcom will be releasing the first gameplay video of The Secret World, so be sure to stay glued to VGChartz for a first look at that. A release date has not been set, but expect this title sometime in 2011 for Xbox 360 and PC.

All the images used in this article are brand-spanking new. Here is some additional artwork from the game. Go to our game database to see more.

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