Social networks seem like an intuitive way for MMO titles to market themselves, given their inherent online social nature. Appropriately, SOE Tucson has launched The Agency: Covert Ops, a Facebook game tied to the massively multiplayer shooter The Agency set to release for the PS3 and PC.
In the company’s first social media action game, you ll find yourself running covert missions, building a network of operatives, customizing your character and your agency s headquarters, mastering highly replay-able mini-games, upgrading your agent with gadgets and weapons and more, writes Barb Dybwad. You can enlist a mix of stylish non-player characters and your real Facebook friends to engage in group missions, and share accomplishments and creative avatars and HQs on your Facebook wall.
The SOE Tucson team hopes to bring a higher production value to The Agency: Covert Ops than most Facebook titles. The developers are also working with The Agency developers in Seattle to make sure that art design and elements of the world are consistent.
With much emphasis on customization both for one’s avatar and Agency headquarters, the game gives players a ton of options for personal expression, says Dybwad. From clothes and even tattoos for characters and a seemingly endless array of objects befitting a super swank spy pad (Hint: You’ll have no shortage of hot tub options), players will be able to make the world their own well beyond simply selecting one of the five available character classes at the beginning of the game.
The game features a storyline that can be completed by doing mini-games. Players can upgrade their equipment and their statistics as they go along, giving the experience a spy-thriller feel.
In addition, the team plans to continually add new content to Covert Ops, from new missions and mini-games to new weapons, objects, and geographic regions within the game, details Dybwad. And while the team can t divulge too many details just yet about how exactly the Facebook-flavored counterpart of The Agency will tie back into the console and PC MMO still on the way, you should expect the advancements and achievements you make in Covert Ops to benefit your gameplay in the action title and vice versa.
Source: Mashable
