First look: BigWorld

Australian developer Micro Forte, the studio behind the upcoming strategy game Fallout Tactics, has released a new batch of screenshots from its upcoming massively multiplayer online game BigWorld: Citizen Zero. The company describes the third-person game as a blend of action and adventure with a strong role-playing influence. Players assume the role of a citizen of the planet Neo-Eden, which began as a penal colony and is now a free society. The minds of the characters have all been erased, leaving a blank slate on which to build a new life.

Characters can choose one of three playable races: humans, biomechanical cybrids, or the beziel, an athletic alien race. As former members of the penal colony, characters enjoy certain advantages, including complete freedom of travel. This freedom makes them valuable to the Overarchy, a group of powerful organizations that will assign missions to those who show the greatest potential to help advance their particular interests. Players will find one of the organizations, known as an Overarch, that will match their playing style.

The game takes place in a group of four planets in a distant solar system. Characters can travel between the planets using a mysterious teleportation machine that is left over from the times of the penal colony. Three of the four planets are known to be inhabited, and several cities exist on those planets. Less is known about the fourth planet, except that it has a weak gravitational field and that everyone who has visited it has vanished without a trace.

Through the course of the game, characters can advance in rank within their respective Overarch by completing missions. As the characters advance, their skills and abilities improve, and they will gain better equipment and other resources. An in-game mission generator will customize a selection of missions to match the player's character level and experience.

BigWorld: Citizen Zero is scheduled to begin beta testing at the end of 2001, and it is expected to be released sometime in mid-2002.