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| | Title:
Citizen Zero
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System:
Xbox
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Genre:
Action/RPG
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Publisher:
N/A
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Developer:
Micro-Forte
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Release:
TBA
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
RP
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John De Margheriti isn’t a household name, neither is Micro-Forte, right now. Soon, though, things will change as De Margheriti, who’s both CEO of Micro-Forte and founder of the Australian Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE), brings gamers a massively on-line multiplayer game for the ages.
For those who don’t know, Micro-Forte was founded in 1985, by John De Margheriti and Steve Wang...Micro-Forte was a development team that created many games on earlier home computer, and gaming, platforms. Skip ahead some years and you have a game developed by Micro-Forte called, Alien Infestation. The X-com, isometric-style clone wasn’t well known, and didn’t sell well under the now defunct publisher, Ripcord Games. However, the drawback hasn’t stopped John De Margheriti from helping to establish more development teams under the wing of AIE, and bring the lofty project known as Citizen Zero, to an Xbox and Xbox 360 nearest you.
What’s it all about?
Citizen Zero takes players on a crash course in battling for your life, striving to grow stronger, and outdoing your fiercest rivals. The story is loosely based upon escaped prisoners on the planet Typhron. You, the player, will take the role of one of the escapees, who has broken free from the technological devices established by the United Military Industries. The device has kept you from venturing the planet freely. With the dead weight lifted, you are now a marked prisoner who carries a label that’s suited only for outcasts. Players are thrust into a world that houses the outcasts known as zeros, and you are one of the outcasts known as a Citizen Zero.
Big World Technology
Nearly $4 million has been invested in the server technology that houses the gaming platform of Citizen Zero. Truly, the software is going to be a revolutionary step in the MMOG genre for years to come. The Big World Technology allows the development of more core gaming functions due to handling more server/client functions for on-line play. In other words, Big World Technology makes it easier for developers to work on the core gameplay, rather than focusing on developing the on-line aspects of the game’s design. The Big World technology that powers the on-line engine of Citizen Zero is a true work of software architecture.
Making waves and leaving marks
Micro-Forte has been developing Citizen Zero for a handful of years now, and the results have come a long way with big aims. The Citizen Zero engine features interactive indoor and outdoor environments; richly immersive cityscapes and metropolitan areas, as well as desert oceans and open plains. The environments themselves span across the likes of urban cities, brooding towns, deserted ruins, dark territory, enclaves and much, much more.
The game, though, was specifically designed, with server/client considerations being a top priority for fast and fluid gameplay. For the most part, “fast and fluid” gameplay is commonly used as a way to sell a game. In this rare case, fast and fluid gameplay accounts for the fact that thousands upon thousands of players will all be able to play Citizen Zero on-line in the smoothest fashion Micro-Forte can afford to provide--with a $10 million budget. Citizen Zero is also stretching the possibilities of on-line player capacity, by allowing up to five-times the amount of on-line players, in comparison to most other MMOGs. The world of Citizen Zero relies heavily on the Big World Technology to hold as many players as the developers could fit into the living, breathing, and evolving world of the game.
Building Character
Developing your character, their skills, and their abilities, in Citizen Zero is a two-fold element that Micro-Forte has designed. While your character will be customizable with great detail, your character will also receive bonuses and skills as you gain experience in your quest to get them to level 50. You’ll also receive bonuses that can further enhance the gameplay. Some of the neat additions that can be unlocked, accumulated or acquired are: special powers, new missions, new battle features, new regions, and thousands of items. Micro-Forte is also making sure players will be kept very busy trying to uncover and discover all the content provided in Citizen Zero.
Big shoes to fill
The developers are also bringing some heavy muscle to the third-person genre. One of the things that make the Big World technology so amazing, is that players can actually upgrade and enhance their abilities in real-time. Enhanced dodging and evasive maneuvers can be learned or improved; enhanced accuracy, weapon and physical attributes can all be attuned for perfection. It’s like taking all the fun aspects from first and third-person action shooters, and tossing in the unbeatable replay-values of upgrading your own character like an RPG.
Unlike other massively multiplayer on-line RPGs, Micro-Forte’s Citizen Zero allows the player to freely battle without the fake time-units or invisible turn-based elements. Players will battle in real-time against NPCs and other players either cooperatively or competitively, much to the likes of any other third-person shooter where weapons can be acquired and used accordingly.
Syndicated violence
Like recent MMORPGs, friends and foes are interwoven into alliances and squads that are developed over a course of time. This feature gives players the option of deciding when to take on missions and tasks, that can change and evolve the world they play in.
The game consists of five NPC factions that are regretless, and personified, according to their respective qualities. Each faction offers something that players can choose to join or fight against, willing. Some missions or assignments may have you scouting on the likes of another faction’s activities. Likewise, the faction you could be planning on attacking, could also be planning on attacking you--all while another faction is planning on taking both of you out. Making Citizen Zero a tense, dog-eat-dog world of betrayal and supremacy as players vie for power and respect.
Beyond the standard deathmatch
An interesting factor to the gameplay, is that the battles aren’t measured in a player’s ability to kill another computer drone or human player. The confrontations are being geared towards the result of mission assignments, rather than the standard shooting frenzy that has you blasting everything in sight, and then wondering what to do next.
Therefore, players are treated to the rare occurrence of having a fun shooter with story depth that revolves around a character you control, develop, and enhance anyway you see fit. In effect, the game offers players the ability to mold and shape your character in an open-ended environment...an environment that allows you to interact with NPCs and human players alike.
Gestures and miscellaneous animations were even added to make players feel like they are part of a living, interactive, immersive world. In some cases, players can even interact with other players to help them get to some hard-to-reach places, or accomplish tasks that might require a helping hand.
Clan wars
Building your character is about as important as building a clan. A vital piece of the game’s character involvement relies on player created clans. The clan aspect, though, can define how clan members grow as characters. Completed missions, or assignments as a clan, can enhance or improve characters in ways that otherwise would have been limited if they were flying solo. Moreover, with each completed mission a clan can improve their standings with specific factions. As connections and alliances become tighter, your rivals and enemies grow more relentless towards you, making missions and challenges more difficult as you and your clan grow.
But what’s a powerful clan without a powerful stronghold? To top off an already impressive list of features and gameplay options, Micro-Forte has included the option to manage, build and improve your clan’s HQ. So, as your character, skills, and clan improve, so does your head-quarters...making Citizen Zero an even more evolutionary and immersive gaming experience.
We'll keep you posted on the progress of Micro-Forte's MMORPG masterpiece here at Xboxcore.com
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