With the fall of Realtime Worlds' All Points Bulletin, Hi-Rez Studios' Global Agenda is one of the last MMOFPS games standing. Is it worthy of being at the top? Senior News Editor Chris Tom decided to find out!

Global Agenda's Dome City (the main social hub) has also received about a half-dozen new store openings, which serves well to make the city appear less abandoned than the original. Also new is GA's massive "Sonoran Desert," which is an open-PvE map for low level players to get their hands on some easy equipment while also learning about the game's mechanics through the quests. I ended up completing all of the quests that the desert had to offer and I found these little PvE side quests to be somewhat enjoyable. Unfortunately, upon completing the last quest in the chain, players are directed back to Dome City, where they are then expected to take part in GA's classic instanced content for the rest of their lives. It's not that I don't enjoy the instanced PvP and PvE content of Global Agenda, but it's certainly quite odd when you get to play through one open PvE map at lower levels but, from then on, you never get to experience that style of game play ever again.

In my first Global Agenda preview I noted that the game needed to get some depth in content and character progression for it to really shine, and in this regard, I must say that I was impressed. A plethora of new weapons and off-hand items have made their way into Global Agenda and players can purchase some epic level weaponry using the tokens they win from their PvP and PvE battles. Armor and weapon modifications are easier to understand, and with players now able to purchase both cosmetic armor and real armor, it is now easier to feel a sense of progression in equipment for your character.

Perhaps the only thing that I can still find problematic with Global Agenda is that it still feels like there isn't enough character customization to really maximize your own play style. As a Recon player, there still remains a grand total of four main weapons to use and, of those four weapons, two are SMGs with a slight difference in effective range, and two are Sniper Rifles that deal the same damage but one is effective against Robotics players, while the other is effective against Medics. While there have been some new additions in the form of a pair of awesome looking dual-wield swords, it still feels as though Hi-Rez is being timid with their introduction of new specializations and weaponry.

Right now, a rifle I can purchase at level 30 has the exact same damage potential as my current starting rifle, but the level 30 rifle has a few more modification slots and is purple. I could modify the new rifle to increase my damage by more than 10%, but what I really want to do is change the entire behavior of my gun - to have a sniper rifle that can pierce targets at the cost of additional energy, or a rifle that fires at half speed but deals +30% more damage. Additions like these do tend to profoundly change the game's balance, but this would also allow me to take more pride in creating my own self-specialized Recon sniper.

I came to Global Agenda to assess if this MMOFPS was truly worthy of being adopted by anyone seeking a good blend between shooters and MMORPGs. It is. There is a lot going on in this game that gives it a depth and level of progression that you don't get to see anywhere else, and its gameplay mechanics are as smooth as silk. Making your way out of the death of your MMO can often leave you feeling jaded and cynical with the gaming world, but I would certainly say that if you are looking for a fun MMOFPS with a dedicated team behind it, then look no further than Global Agenda.