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The Firing Line: What ever happened to that game?
Online shooters are a dime a dozen these days. Heck, so are MMOs. I can't get up from my computer chair for five minutes without missing some sort of PR blast about the latest, greatest gift to gamingkind. It's easy to lose track of all these titles, and it's even easier when some of said titles are fairly niche to begin with. In this week's edition of The Firing Line, I'm going to figure out something to write about until I get into the PlanetSide 2 beta. Er, I mean, I'm going to do a little detective work in an attempt to figure out what happened to a few of the MMO shooters that have dropped off my radar.
Face of Mankind continues updating new content
Face of Mankind recently got a nice-sized update in the form of NPCs to hand out quests and a brand new city. Duplex Systems is continuing to fine-tune these updates by adding to them, and players will find even more new content in the next few weeks. For those of you who found the new NPC system a bit confusing, there is now a tutorial in-game to help you get your bearings. Face of Mankind's unusual setup meant that more than a few players gave up on figuring things out, and Duplex acknowledges that, hoping that the tutorial will induce players to give them a second chance. The tutorials will be worth your while in either case, as they will offer significant monetary rewards. You'll find some changes to combat in Face of Mankind as well, including the addition of a recoil system for a little extra realism -- you'll need a little extra skill to hit your target as you compensate for the recoil now -- as well as faster overall combat speeds. Finally, the city of Berlin has been re-introduced as a completely lawless city: killing other players will no longer earn penalty points, so watch your back. Take a look at the Face of Mankind site to learn more about these latest updates.
Face of Mankind adds new NPCs and city
Face of Mankind, the young MMOFPS from Duplex Systems, has gotten a pretty significant update just a few months after going retail. A problem that comes with a game containing player-generated content is...well, a lack of content at times. The addition of NPCs with this update will go a long way toward solving that problem in Face of Mankind, as they will bring the introduction of "chained missions, which have a definite starting and ending point, and open up further successive missions upon the completion of prior ones." NPCs aren't the only addition, however. The city of Berlin has arrived to Face of Mankind as well, but it's not quite the Berlin you remember. Described as a "dilapidated wasteland", the city is an area devoid of any sort of law. If you've not checked out the story behind the fall of Berlin on the FoM site, spend some time catching up before venturing in game -- it's well worth it. The new content is in game now, so if you haven't checked it out for yourself, what are you waiting for?
Face of Mankind opens the gates for open beta
If you've been on the fence about trying out Face of Mankind in its earlier iterations, now might be the perfect time to jump in and try the game out. The roleplay heavy MMOFPS is back in action as it launches into open beta and calls for new recruits to join the ranks of the game's eight factions. The game has undergone significant changes to its in-game systems since the initial release of the game back in 2006 and the subsequent closure of the game in 2007. Faction systems, penalty systems, territory control, and many more aspects of the game have been tweaked to ensure proper function and fun for the players involved. However, even with all of these changes, the publisher of the game, Duplex Systems, has stated that things are not as balanced as they wish it to be but they wish to iron out more problems with the help of players in open beta. If you're interested in the single, persistent universe game, jump on over to the website, sign up for an account, and grab yourself the client. Update: Nexeon Technologies has clarified that the game is no longer carrying the "Rebirth" subtitle, and is simply called Face of Mankind once again.
Face of Mankind: Rebirth goes into closed beta phase four
Face of Mankind: Rebirth, the revitalization and recoding of Face of Mankind, has hit their last beta milestone as of last week -- closed beta phase 4.Phase 4 is the final phase of their beta, the one where they let the flood gates wide open. If you have ever signed up for an FoM beta account, your account has been activated and you can log in to play the game. All you need to do is download the game client, which is available through links provided in your account activation e-mail.
The Daily Grind: FPS 'mah MMO?
Combat systems are always an integral part of games, as they provide the main source of conflict and challenge for most players. Lately, however, we've been seeing a change in how our MMOs handle combat. Traditional systems have always been based on click targeting and skill usage, but a number of MMOs have opted to utilize new technology and integrate aiming and elements of first-person shooters into their systems. PlanetSide has been one of the first (as it's built to be a first-person shooter MMO, obviously) but other games like Darkfall, Face of Mankind, Hellgate: London, Huxley, APB, and others have embraced the aiming concept. Our question to you today is what do you think of this shift? Do you like having to aim in your games, as it presents a new level of skill-based gameplay, or does the aiming just not work for you, as lag and other factors can give some players a hefty disadvantage? Take your thoughts, pull them out of your head, smash them against your keyboards, and let them land on our webby page. We're used to these sort of things.
Face of Mankind: Rebirth bites the dust and NanoVerse Online announced
It has been declared that Face of Mankind: Rebirth is indefinitely canceled, the statement citing a lack of financial resources as the primary cause. Face of Mankind had its trials and tribulations, it launched back in 2006 and was plagued with bugs and many players found the gameplay difficult. It still managed to gather a small supportive playerbase and remained in operation until the official portal was hit by a series of denial of service attacks all throughout May, 2007. The attacks played a factor in the game's eventual closure in November, 2007, the perpetrators were later identified and arrested by the Scotland Yard computer crime unit. Duplex Systems, an already small development team, announced an attempt to continue support, add a bevy of new game mechanics, and relaunch the game as Face of Mankind: Rebirth if a publisher could be found.While it's sad to witness the death of one MMOG that wanted to live again, not all is lost from Face of Mankind. Duplex Systems has announced plans on a new MMOG entitled NanoVerse Online.
