The Agency E3 preview

It’s been a year since last seeing The Agency, a spy-based massively multiplayer game from Sony Online Entertainment and what a difference a year makes. The game’s graphics, which had been more cartoonish, have been sharpened up considerably and while players will still be living the life of an elite agent for one of two opposing sides, it will be in a world that rivals anything on the market.

“We worked on fidelity to make it more competitive with other MMOs,” said a developer on hand to demo the game at the SOE booth at E3.

The multiplayer portion was the only element on display at the show, and it offered fast-paced team-based combat. While there are player-versus-environment elements, those in the game can also level up through player-versus-player combat as well. Voice chat will be integrated into the program and players can PvP at any time using a matchmaking cross-server service.

The game still features the combat between opposing agencies Paragon and U.N.I.T.E. and players begin with one role, but as they play, more roles are unlocked and players can change roles later in the game. Of course, the new roles come with a new suite of abilities.

The Agency is now looking for a release date in 2011, maybe, but the changes made over the past year have been intelligent and instead of merely delaying the release of the game, the changes have augmented and have made it a better game. With more development time ahead, it seems likely that The Agency is on the way to provide a strong MMO contender with a unique perspective.