Review: 'Secret World' _ a thinking person's MMO

With "The Secret World" (Electronic Arts, for PC, $49.99, with 30 days of game time), developer Funcom has a created a mythical virtual Earth populated with haunted houses, secret societies, vampire cults and zombie invasions that feels completely distinct from other titles in the genre like the hugely popular "World of Warcraft" and "Star Wars: The Old Republic."

The adventures begin in New York, London or South Korea, depending on whether recruits choose to join the clandestine Illuminati, Templar or Dragon factions. However, that decision hardly matters because players of any ilk are quickly dispatched to a dark corner of New England where they pursue — solo or together — all the same quests.

"The Secret World" has abandoned a typical class structure in favor of abilities determined by weapons such as shotguns, swords, assault rifles and magical books. Players can equip two at a time with a total of seven active and passive abilities. The freedom is welcome, but it probably sounds more groundbreaking for the genre than it plays out.

While many quests are of the kill-an-X-amount-of-this or fetch-a-Y-amount-of-that variety, the developers have neatly masked such MMO grinding with storylines that are both spooky and funny. They've also created mind-boggling investigation and puzzle-based missions, some of which require players to do stuff like decipher Morse code or read the Bible.