- publisher: Reakktor Media
- developer: Reakktor Media
Neocron is an online RPG / e-Community hybrid set in a 27th century metropolis. The user becomes a citizen of Neocron and its up to him whether he wants to experience exciting adventures or just live a normal life in this virtual world. The game can also be described as a 3D massively multiplayer online RPG (MMORPG) or a graphical Multi-User Dungeon/Dimension (MUD).
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Neocron fuses the genres of FPS and MMORPG to a new online experience. MMORPG stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. Many modern computer games support multiplayer gaming, but few are designed to support thousands of players in real time. In Neocron you cannot start your own server, but instead you join a massive server run by us which connects you to a world where players from around the world gather.
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This keeps the community together and allows for thousands of people to play online together.It is being developed to allow hundreds playing in the city at one time. The limit will depend on the hardware specification of the server.
Neocron is set in the far distant future. It s populated by cyberpunks, psi-monks, hackers, spies and other characters you d expect to meet in a 27th century metropolis. However just like in a traditional RPG, there are quests and puzzles to pursue. You might choose to become a Tank-Warrior and go for some evil destruction or perhaps you become a merchant making his profit selling goods from one area of the city to another.
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The way you behave in the game is entirely up to you. There are many roles which you can assume. These include a villain, bodyguard, shop keeper, bounty hunter but the list is endless.Some of the things you will be able to do include getting a job, renting an apartment, joining up with others, forming a gang, living in the Outzone, becoming a wanted criminal or trading on the stock market.The game's open architecture allows for just about anything.
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There are two main forms of transport available. The first is Hoverbikes which will be public property but will be limited in quantity. There is currently talk about allowing players to own their own hoverbike but this has not been finalised. The other form of transport is the subway system.There is a day and night cycle within the game, which will last 24 hours in "real" time. In the city it will be too smoggy to be sure whether it is day or night but outside the city, in the wastelands, you will be able to see it. Inside the city there will be dynamically changing moody lighting and fog/smog.
Fighting works in a similar way to most other first person shooters. You can approach another player, draw your weapon, aim and shoot at them.There is only two hit zones on a player: the head and the rest of the body. You will take extra damage if you get hit in the head but there is no such thing as one-shot kills.
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There is a system within the game that measures how good or evil you are and is called your SoulLight. If you kill someone with a less evil SoulLight then your SoulLight will become more evil. If you kill someone with a more evil SoulLight then your SoulLight will become less evil. Your SoulLight is only affected by committing murder so attacking but not killing another player will have no effect on it's rating.
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If you are threatened by someone that you do not want to fight then running away is the best option, especially in the safe zones. This will give the time for the CopBots to arrive and take care of the situation. There will be emergency buttons all over the peaceful areas to call for the CopBots.
If you commit murder then CopBots in the vicinity will react to the news and arrive at the crime scene within minutes. CopBots will also have the ability to look into your soul and tell how good or evil you are. If your soul becomes too dark and you enter a safe zone such as ViaRosso then the CopBots will shoot you on sight. It is possible to kill CopBots but you can expect a large amount of other CopBots to hunt you down. CopBots are also very difficult to kill compared to the other NPCs and PCs.
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Death is not the end for your character in the game as you will have the option to respawn in your apartment. Within the game there are terminals called GeneReps which record the current status of your character. When you respawn your character will be recreated using the information stored from the last time you used a Generep. If you have just started your character and you die then the best option available is to restart the game completely.
You will however lose all your possessions when you get killed. Your murderer will have the option to collect these items if they want.There is one final option available when you die. PsiMonks, with Psi skills of the appropriate level, can resurrect you. Therefore it may be worth waiting before you respawn to see if a friendly PsiMonk can help you out. You will be able to loot the bodies of people that you have killed or have found dead. To do this you will click on the corpse and a window will appear showing the items which you can loot. You can then drag these to your inventory.
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Not all fighting in Neocron is ranged combat. There will be melee fighting but a player with a gun obviously stands a better chance of winning. You cannot throw items to injure players and thrown items will drop on the floor causing no damage to anyone in their path.
Neocron is still under development and beta testing is planned for approximately autumn 2000. To be considered for the beta test of the game you will need to sign up for the newsletter. The final release date will depend on the success of the beta but is planned for the first quarter of 2001.
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