After wetting appetites earlier this year with the announcement of the anticipated F2P FPS MMO (too many abbreviations?) Huxley, NHN USA yesterday revealed at E3 that they’ve got another Unreal Engine 3 based title waiting in the wings. Alliance of Valiant Arms is a free-to-play, microtransaction supported title that takes place in a parallel universe present day Europe, and centers around a hypothetical World War III. The title will be available via the eight million members strong ijji.com.
“With the addition of games like Alliance of Valiant Arms, ijji.com is quickly becoming known by FPS gamers as the place where guns never cool and the smoke never clears,” said Philip Yun, CEO, NHN USA, which hosts ijji.com. “We are more and more discerning when deciding which titles to bring to the hardcore gaming portal, and A.V.A. simply blew us away. Not only does A.V.A. offer a unique urban warfare setting, but the combination the game’s realism and stellar engineering make it an intense, consuming experience our fans will have a hard time pulling themselves out of.”
A.V.A was developed by REDDUCK, and ijji.com recently secured the North American publishing rights via Neowiz, who services the game in Korea via Pmang. The title has an expected launch date of late 2009, perhaps just in time for the post-thanksgiving holiday season to commence.
The battle rages on between the European Union (EU) led by France and Great Britain, and the Neo Russian Federation (NRF), and is set in dense urban environments. Once the conflict spreads to German borders, the United States leaps into action on the EU side. Steve Butts’ coverage over at ign.com outlines the play action,
The game plays out in rounds with players taking on the role of one of three different classes. The Point Man is the scout of the group, capable of getting in and out quickly but not able to hold his own in a protracted firefight. The Rifleman is a nice mid-range class that can hit hard and fast. For long range fighting players can take the role of the Sniper. Each group has a wide range of weapons and you can setup your loadout for each class before the match begins. A selection of additional items for each weapon can impact their stats, giving you even more control over your combat abilities.
As the game will be microtransaction financed, it’s a pretty good bet that the ‘additional items’ available for each weapon will be featured in the in-game item shop and be available for purchase.
