Our mighty chief editor Brendon Lindsey and I had an appointment with publisher ijji to see two of the company's games at E3: fast-paced futuristic online shooter "Huxley," and the real-ish military-themed online shooter "Alliance of Valiant Arms." One of these titles featured a long introduction where an employee of Ijji explained game basics to those in attendance; the other was just sort of thrown at us. This is about the latter.

Going into E3, I didn't even know of "Alliance of Valiant Arms'" existence, and even if I had, I probably wouldn't have researched it any further than reading a press release or two. Every company and their subsidiaries develop and/or publish a free-to-play military-themed online FPS title supported by real money transactions (RMTs).

"What makes this one stand out?" I thought as I began to write this preview...

Well, ijji built "AVA" using the Unreal Engine 3, so everyone and everything looks as good, if not better, than comparable online FPS titles released this generation. Of course, if your computer was built in 2001 you probably won't notice the fallout spread of a rocket after contacting its target, the gradual spread of room-filling smoke from a grenade, or the intricate detailing of each weapon and character model.

Other than that, ijji didn't tell or show us why we should care about this title. Like I said, we were thrown into a map and ijji basically said "have fun." I did have fun, but I played for five minutes with Brendon beside me. Put us in front of any multiplayer title for an equivalent length of time and I assure you we'll find "the fun."

But that's probably not a good enough preview for some of you online FPS fans, so here's what else I experienced.

The pre-game loadout screen looked almost identical to "Huxley's." Your selected character stands in a separate pane in the upper left and here you can modify the loadout - standard stuff really. Brendon messed around with his a bit, but, for the most part, I left mine "as is" for fear of completely gimping my character. These titles have yet to be released; who knows what kinds of bloodthirsty bugs lie between the cracks. I didn't want one to creep out and sully my brief time.

We fought against each other in an escort map. Here, Brendon's team had to escort a tank from one edge of the map to the other, while my team had to blow the machine up.

The tank moves autonomously, which is a good thing since there's roughly an inch of extra space on either side. One wrong move and the buildings would topple, presuming they possessed that kind of capability (they don't).

Advancing players can jump on top of the heavy machine gun and man the turret to help better defend, but naturally they're a barely moving target. The gun seemed a little too powerful at the time, as I continuously fell victim to its fire on multiple occasions even when I was hiding behind sturdy, possibly bulletproof, objects. Maybe my character possessed an oversized red-painted toe and it was sticking out from his boot, providing an easy target. Or maybe I just sucked.

The map was small -- even smaller than the smallest of small maps in comparable FPS titles -- but it worked. We all continuously engaged one another, but could plan and use sneaking tactics as necessary.

By the end of the match I didn't care if I could play another or not. I left with a feeling of indifference towards "AVA." Hours later, when Brendon and I discussed what we saw that day at E3, we couldn't remember "AVA's" name; we started referring to it as "Not 'Huxley,' but the other game we played at ijji's booth."

Fans of online FPS games may want to give it a try when it comes out, but don't expect anything groundbreaking or different from the norm. Like I said, it's just yet another free-to-play military-themed online FPS title.

Posted by Kyle Stallock
June 12, 2009

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