Official Site: http://rustyhearts.perfectworld.com/
Source: Youtube Channel steparu
Developer: Stairway Games
Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment
Platforms: PC (Available on Steam)
Release Date: July 27, 2011 (Close Beta Start)
Genre: Beat-Em-Up, RPG
Pros:
-Satisfying, arcade-style beat-em-up mixed with RPG elements
-Interesting characters, humorous dialogue, and captivating combat
-Unique animé-style, cel-shaded 3D graphics makes it easier to distinguish surroundings
-Fast-paced and easy to learn, but still challenging and engrossing to the advanced player
Cons:
-A lot of items are exclusive to those who pay with real money
-Going through the same dungeons multiple times can get repetitive
-Some of transitioning in attacks feels sluggish and clunky
I’ve been waiting for the global release of Rusty Hearts for quite some time now (1-2 years) and was very happy to hear that Perfect World Entertainment was going to publish and host the game. The game is what I hoped it to be: fast-paced, instant gratification, challenging, and reminiscence of great beat-em-ups of the past. With classic style beat-em-ups becoming a dying trend in the game industry, it was exciting to see Rusty Hearts bring some of it back while breathing new life into the genre with MMORPG elements such as questing, party gathering, looting, and equipment acquiring. Since it’s an online game, it’s not as straight forward as retro beat-em-ups where the player just keeps moving on to the next level and beats the game in half an hour. But the different objectives given to players by the in-town NPCs, different skills learned, and varying difficulty levels keep the game fresh, even when running through the same dungeon 5-10 times. If you’re looking for a game you can instantly enjoy or a good cooperative game to play with friends, I would definitely recommend checking Rusty Hearts out.
Graphics
The majority of the game is based on an animé-style character and theme design using Cel-shaded 3D rendered models as its main look. Because of the simpler graphics, I was able to run the game at full resolution and at the highest quality on my laptop, though the graphics lagged a bit so I switched the resolution down. I would’ve liked to see graphics a bit more advanced for the game, but I think the developers desire to create an edgy look on the game works with the path of art style they chose. Character dialogues have 2D versions of themselves next to the text. Dialogues are usually 1-3 sentences by each character while they exchange quips and witty responses. It makes reading the quests and character dialogue much more tolerable. The conversations taken place among the characters in the game are actually quite hilarious considering the darker mood set by the darker color choices. Despite having a heavy use of black, grey, and maroon, there’s a sense of vibrant contrast and colors throughout the game. Franz is fitted with an extravagant coat, Angela has a bright red spiky hair, Tude has light blond hair, and upcoming character Natasha has a pastel violet hair which makes all the main characters stand out from the rest of the environment. This makes is easier for players to keep track of where their characters are in dungeons as most of them are dark and in a very somber tone. The graphics aren’t the best, but they work really well for the game. It’s unique and distinguishable as its own game when compared to other online games. Graphics: 8/10
Audio
I want to start off by saying that I really like the music. It sounds similar to the style in music for Land of Chaos Online
Gameplay
The easiest way for me to describe the game is to say that it’s like a 3D version of Nexon’s Dungeon Fighters Online. The character walks around an open town to collect quests, purchase equipment, gather their party members and then instance into a dungeon together. It may be that I’m not that far into Rusty Hearts yet, but the dungeons are a linear path (though it may not be later on, I’m not sure). So it’s very much like retro beat-em-ups of going from one part of the screen to the next. The combat is very basic with attacks being able to chain up to a certain amount of times while character skills can further continue the chain. Each character starts with two special attacks and can later acquire more as they level up. Players can block by holding down the Z key, but they can only execute it when they’re not moving or attacking. A portion of the action bar can be spent to dash out of an attack in the middle of a combo. The gameplay is very straight-forward in that the player must defeat all the enemies to advance forward, but the combat can be tricky as each enemy has their own special ability and attack to prevent the player from progressing further. A lot of the attacks feel sluggish and clunky, but I suppose it’s to emphasize the amount of strength that each attack has when connecting each hit to the enemy. It’s quite annoying in the beginning, but you’ll get used to the timing and be able to play more tactically that way. It can be considered rather repetitive as many quests require the player to go into the same dungeons over and over again, and when the player isn’t advancing towards new skills. One must understand that the game is a beat-em-up and that it mostly involves a lot of combat. To some, the game might be more of a button masher than anything. Players can easily jump into a party by using the party finder in town and gather up 4 players to get through each dungeon. For the paying items in the game, some of them do give paying players an advantage; however, a majority of the items are for aesthetic purposes with outfits and accessories to dress the character up. I am so keen on playing games such as Rusty Hearts now since they don’t require too much time to fully enjoy the game and the core game is playable right from the start (I do love my MMORPGs, but too many of them require that you hit a certain level before you start instancing or PvP). There hasn’t been a free online game recently that has made quite a good impression as Rusty Hearts has. Gameplay: 9/10
Overall
The game has high quality development in aesthetics (graphics/audio) and concept (gameplay). I was really excited to be able to play it after waiting for it for so long. Even better, Perfect World has added Rusty Hearts to the Steam program which makes downloading and updating much easier. The game isn’t complicated and a ton of fun. I also must commend the localization team for the translations, dialogue, and voice over dubbing. The texts for quests are interesting and humorous, the dialogues between the characters give more personality to them, and the translation seems to be holding up very well so far. I hope that more online game publishers AND developers learn from Rusty Hearts in creating dialogue that players care about. I love the lore in a lot of games, but I don’t need to read 5 pages worth of dialogue to know that I’m supposed to kill 10 rabbits and bring them back. I wish Perfect World Entertainment the very best in running Rusty Hearts and hope that more people will try out this magnificent game. Overall: 8.7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment