Official Site: http://riseofimmortals.com/
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
It's been a while since I've done a GameOn and have chosen to talk about Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) games this week. It's a fairly new genre and is not officially called MOBA but is used to describe any game that plays similarly to the globally popular Warcraft 3 custom campaign map "Defense of the Ancients" (DotA). In a MOBA, there is generally two teams consisting of players taking different roles to fulfill a need to win a team fight. Throughout a match, both teams try to push their own army into the opponent's base and destroy the main core to win. What's unique about MOBA games is that its core concept is similar to a tower defense game, plays similar to a top-down Action-RPG, and originated from an RTS custom campaign map which retains some of its elements in the genre (MOBA originated from a Starcraft custom campaign, DotA made it popular). There are dozens of characters to choose from, the dynamics of the game changes all the time with team compositions, players level up throughout a match and learn new skills, buy items to become even stronger, and participate in mini-boss fights in the map.
With the success of DotA, many developers wanted to have their take on the new found genre without the limitations of the Warcraft 3 engine. One such game to emerge is "Rise of Immortals" and heavily based on the theme of Mythological beings from various cultures. The game's art style and characters remind me of "Demigod", another MOBA game that was fun but unfortunately suffered from unbalanced gameplay and clunky user-interface. I liked how there was a 3-player cooperative mode to play and practice on a new character in the game. In most MOBA games, players are often tossed into the fray and had to learn everything along the way which made for a steep learning curve (it's not really like that anymore). Rise of Immortals wanted to make the game a bit more involving for players since those who played DotA would know that nothing was kept and a player starts fresh at level 1 every time. In Rise of Immortals, players can earn currency to purchase items that slightly increases an ability of a character to give a bit of advantage and allow a sense of progression like an RPG would. During a match, the player can rotate the camera all the way around and play at an angle they feel most comfortable playing in. The game is still refining itself as all online games tend to do, and here are some things they hopefully improve on:
-The character roster is rather limited (a little better now than when I tried it)
-Gameplay is still imbalanced (some characters are useless while other clearly have an advantage)
-Movement reaction is sluggish or delayed (Not sure why, but there's a slight delay in movement when clicking)
-Less login bugs (A lot of players seemed to have trouble logging in)
It's been a while since I've played the game and I feel like playing it again once more just to check out the new characters. It's free to play so anyone interested shouldn't hesitate to click on the link on top and try the game out.
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query MOBA. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query MOBA. Sort by date Show all posts
Monday, April 16, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
GameOn - MOBA Games - League of Legends
Official Site: http://na.leagueoflegends.com/
Source: Youtube Channel RiotGamesInc
If we are to talk about MOBA Games, League of Legends (LoL) is bound to be the one game to be brought up (other than DotA 2 which isn't officially out yet). I have accumulated close to 600 hours on LoL since I first started 2.5 years ago when DotA was still my main MOBA game. That is perhaps the most I have ever spent on a single game (even more than Phantasy Star Online). It is undeniable that Riot Games' League of Legends is the most popular MOBA game on the market and one of the most played online games. Although there are many similarities from DotA's cast of characters, many of the champions in LoL are distinct with their own personality, unique play-style, and story background. The game is constantly expanding, improving, and updated so that the game's quality continues to further itself. A new champion is released every month with changes to existing ones to balance out the gameplay. There are many things that Riot does right with the new MOBA genre: simple to learn gameplay while still keeping it highly competitive and challenging, organized user-interface and comprehensible item shop, impeccable level design and art style that distinguishes objects from each other and the environment, and listening to the community to keep them involved. Like many other games, it does have its faults. The community is filled with younger audiences which unfortunately brings a lot of immaturity, whining/raging, name calling, and profanity filled goodness along with high egos and arrogance (this is not a generalization, you can tell the difference before schools out and right when the time they get back home). Children aren't the only ones to blame as many adults can be just as disrespectful and uncouth as they are in the streets. In short: the general community of LoL is ill-mannered and hard to get along with. That doesn't mean that everyone who plays LoL are going to rip your head off if you happen to do something wrong. In fact, I had a few matches where players from both teams were very courteous and joked around a lot which made the game really enjoyable (rare case, but they exist). Another problem is that the game frequently suffers from lag, bugs, disconnections to the server, glitches, and problems (usually right after a new patch). The Riot team is incredibly hard working though and has always made it a point to notate all issues and remedy them. The following for LoL is very strong and so there are a lot guides and videos that help players understand the game better. LoL is very balanced and the dynamics of how the game can be played makes for a very interesting match each time one plays. I highly recommend League of Legends for anyone who wants to play a MOBA game as an introduction to the genre as it's one of the easiest to learn and get into. Click on the top link and click play for free on the upper right hand corner to begin downloading and playing. This concludes this week's GameOn event, I hope everyone enjoyed it.
Source: Youtube Channel RiotGamesInc
If we are to talk about MOBA Games, League of Legends (LoL) is bound to be the one game to be brought up (other than DotA 2 which isn't officially out yet). I have accumulated close to 600 hours on LoL since I first started 2.5 years ago when DotA was still my main MOBA game. That is perhaps the most I have ever spent on a single game (even more than Phantasy Star Online). It is undeniable that Riot Games' League of Legends is the most popular MOBA game on the market and one of the most played online games. Although there are many similarities from DotA's cast of characters, many of the champions in LoL are distinct with their own personality, unique play-style, and story background. The game is constantly expanding, improving, and updated so that the game's quality continues to further itself. A new champion is released every month with changes to existing ones to balance out the gameplay. There are many things that Riot does right with the new MOBA genre: simple to learn gameplay while still keeping it highly competitive and challenging, organized user-interface and comprehensible item shop, impeccable level design and art style that distinguishes objects from each other and the environment, and listening to the community to keep them involved. Like many other games, it does have its faults. The community is filled with younger audiences which unfortunately brings a lot of immaturity, whining/raging, name calling, and profanity filled goodness along with high egos and arrogance (this is not a generalization, you can tell the difference before schools out and right when the time they get back home). Children aren't the only ones to blame as many adults can be just as disrespectful and uncouth as they are in the streets. In short: the general community of LoL is ill-mannered and hard to get along with. That doesn't mean that everyone who plays LoL are going to rip your head off if you happen to do something wrong. In fact, I had a few matches where players from both teams were very courteous and joked around a lot which made the game really enjoyable (rare case, but they exist). Another problem is that the game frequently suffers from lag, bugs, disconnections to the server, glitches, and problems (usually right after a new patch). The Riot team is incredibly hard working though and has always made it a point to notate all issues and remedy them. The following for LoL is very strong and so there are a lot guides and videos that help players understand the game better. LoL is very balanced and the dynamics of how the game can be played makes for a very interesting match each time one plays. I highly recommend League of Legends for anyone who wants to play a MOBA game as an introduction to the genre as it's one of the easiest to learn and get into. Click on the top link and click play for free on the upper right hand corner to begin downloading and playing. This concludes this week's GameOn event, I hope everyone enjoyed it.
Monday, July 9, 2012
GameLight - SMITE
Official Site: https://account.hirezstudios.com/smitegame/
Source: Youtube Channel smitegame
I finally got my hands on a beta key to try out Hi-Rez's highly anticipated MOBA game SMITE over this weekend. SMITE is a 3rd-Person Action Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) that's structured much like familiar MOBA games such as Defense of the Ancients, League of Legends, and Heroes of Newerth but plays and controls much like an Action game. The world and its characters are based off of Mythology all over the world with players taking the role of a god in aims of defeating the enemy Minotaur. The game currently have gods from Greek, Norse, Hindu, and Chinese Mythology with the possibility of more in the future. SMITE isn't the first MOBA to be played in the 3rd-Person perspective with Action game elements to them as games like Dungeon Defenders, Orcs Must Die!, and Land of Chaos Online (LOCO) have tested the water in that department; however, the game plays much more closely to traditional MOBAs rather than having it play more like a straight up action game. The way spells have an image projection of where skills will end up is akin to what League of Legends changed from DotA and makes for a more certain and strategic use of skills during a team fight. My first experience with the game was actually an odd glitch. I entered the game without the ability to attack or use skills, but I could still level up by being near defeated enemies and buy items. After that, the game has been running normally. So some of the first impressions are:
-Controls and map layout is what I expected it to be
-Third-Person Action style is tougher as most attacks are skill shot reliant
-A little disappointing to be limited to 5 Gods in the beginning, but it helps learning the game faster
-The game is rather polished and has a balanced gameplay (LOCO was extremely broken in beta)
-Coordinating ganks and team fights is a little difficult since it's hard to see everything that happens
-Won my first match with 4/2/8 (Kills/Deaths/Assists) using Artemis, it was fun using a ranged character
-There were times where the game skips or lag, I'm not sure if it affected everyone
-Jungling is tough to do in SMITE
-I can't tell if the game has any lasting power in it as it stands (one map, 18 available characters)
Overall, it's looking to be a fun game; however, I'm not sure if it can hold the community's interest. I have faith in Hi-Rez studios though as I've been a fan of theirs ever since the launch of Global Agenda and know of their belief in quality games. SMITE is currently still in beta and is bound to have problems and have players who aren't familiar with the game yet (please go easy on each other). SMITE doesn't have an official launch date yet, but it will be Free-to-play with the ability to buy Gods if players do not want to earn them through game time.
Source: Youtube Channel smitegame
I finally got my hands on a beta key to try out Hi-Rez's highly anticipated MOBA game SMITE over this weekend. SMITE is a 3rd-Person Action Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) that's structured much like familiar MOBA games such as Defense of the Ancients, League of Legends, and Heroes of Newerth but plays and controls much like an Action game. The world and its characters are based off of Mythology all over the world with players taking the role of a god in aims of defeating the enemy Minotaur. The game currently have gods from Greek, Norse, Hindu, and Chinese Mythology with the possibility of more in the future. SMITE isn't the first MOBA to be played in the 3rd-Person perspective with Action game elements to them as games like Dungeon Defenders, Orcs Must Die!, and Land of Chaos Online (LOCO) have tested the water in that department; however, the game plays much more closely to traditional MOBAs rather than having it play more like a straight up action game. The way spells have an image projection of where skills will end up is akin to what League of Legends changed from DotA and makes for a more certain and strategic use of skills during a team fight. My first experience with the game was actually an odd glitch. I entered the game without the ability to attack or use skills, but I could still level up by being near defeated enemies and buy items. After that, the game has been running normally. So some of the first impressions are:
-Controls and map layout is what I expected it to be
-Third-Person Action style is tougher as most attacks are skill shot reliant
-A little disappointing to be limited to 5 Gods in the beginning, but it helps learning the game faster
-The game is rather polished and has a balanced gameplay (LOCO was extremely broken in beta)
-Coordinating ganks and team fights is a little difficult since it's hard to see everything that happens
-Won my first match with 4/2/8 (Kills/Deaths/Assists) using Artemis, it was fun using a ranged character
-There were times where the game skips or lag, I'm not sure if it affected everyone
-Jungling is tough to do in SMITE
-I can't tell if the game has any lasting power in it as it stands (one map, 18 available characters)
Overall, it's looking to be a fun game; however, I'm not sure if it can hold the community's interest. I have faith in Hi-Rez studios though as I've been a fan of theirs ever since the launch of Global Agenda and know of their belief in quality games. SMITE is currently still in beta and is bound to have problems and have players who aren't familiar with the game yet (please go easy on each other). SMITE doesn't have an official launch date yet, but it will be Free-to-play with the ability to buy Gods if players do not want to earn them through game time.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
GameLight - LoL Dominion is Live!
Official Site: http://dominion.leagueoflegends.com/
Source: Youtube Channel RiotGamesInc
League of Legends is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) based game inspired and developed by the creators of the ever popular Warcraft 3 custom campaign "Defense of the Ancients" (DotA). Riot Games have been working hard to deliver the best MOBA experience to the world by releasing their game as a Free-To-Play game with Pay2play quality. New characters are added every month, the game is constantly being improved, and the game always seem to bring something fresh. Just today, Riot Games released Dominion officially after a very very short beta of only one day (yesterday) and is allowing the general public to play the new map and mode. Traditionally in MOBA games, a team of 5 players on each side fights against each other to push their army of minions into the enemy's base to destroy the main point. It's like an Action-RPG mixed with an RTS style Tower Defense map between two teams. In Dominion, the goal is to capture more points (5 in all) than the enemies to lower their team's health bar. It's much more fast-paced and is nearly always player vs. player. Think Company of Heroes or Call of Duty's Domination mode where players capture a point and gradually decreases the enemy's points until it reaches zero. A lot of new items have been added, new rules are put into play, and characters that might have been useful in the regular mode might not necessarily be useful in Domination. I play a lot of tanks and captured a lot of points (or defended one) because of my ability to take more hits. Having one less player can really harm a team (which has happened when players get disconnected). Since it just came out today, I noticed that the mode isn't 100% bug free yet. Lag was persistent, character skills might glitch, and some of the map items seem to have some hit-box issues. The mode isn't perfect yet, but it's incredibly fun. To be able to fight so many players consistently and finish in 15-20 minutes is a mode competitive players will love. If you still haven't tried out League of Legends yet, you gotta check it out (It's free!!!).
Source: Youtube Channel RiotGamesInc
League of Legends is a Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) based game inspired and developed by the creators of the ever popular Warcraft 3 custom campaign "Defense of the Ancients" (DotA). Riot Games have been working hard to deliver the best MOBA experience to the world by releasing their game as a Free-To-Play game with Pay2play quality. New characters are added every month, the game is constantly being improved, and the game always seem to bring something fresh. Just today, Riot Games released Dominion officially after a very very short beta of only one day (yesterday) and is allowing the general public to play the new map and mode. Traditionally in MOBA games, a team of 5 players on each side fights against each other to push their army of minions into the enemy's base to destroy the main point. It's like an Action-RPG mixed with an RTS style Tower Defense map between two teams. In Dominion, the goal is to capture more points (5 in all) than the enemies to lower their team's health bar. It's much more fast-paced and is nearly always player vs. player. Think Company of Heroes or Call of Duty's Domination mode where players capture a point and gradually decreases the enemy's points until it reaches zero. A lot of new items have been added, new rules are put into play, and characters that might have been useful in the regular mode might not necessarily be useful in Domination. I play a lot of tanks and captured a lot of points (or defended one) because of my ability to take more hits. Having one less player can really harm a team (which has happened when players get disconnected). Since it just came out today, I noticed that the mode isn't 100% bug free yet. Lag was persistent, character skills might glitch, and some of the map items seem to have some hit-box issues. The mode isn't perfect yet, but it's incredibly fun. To be able to fight so many players consistently and finish in 15-20 minutes is a mode competitive players will love. If you still haven't tried out League of Legends yet, you gotta check it out (It's free!!!).
Friday, December 17, 2010
GameLight - Land of Chaos Online (LOCO)
Last night, I talked a bit about how interesting it was it combine genres in games such as in "Monday Night Combat" having the action of a TPS (like TF2) and the gameplay structure of a MOBA (like DotA). I have yet to try out the Beta since I've been busy with other work, but I also forgot to mention another game that was similar to "Monday Night Combat." "Land of Chaos Online" or LOCO is an action MOBA Online game that does a similar fusion of MOBA and Hack n' Slash Action (like Dynasty Warriors).
Source: Youtube Channel GamexOnline
Graphics: Many free online games have incredible graphics now, and LOCO is no exception. The environment has a nice atmosphere that really sets the mood to each level. The characters are drawn/modeled distinctively though named oddly (Foxlady? Really?). The animations are fluid, the effects are a bit on the cheap side sometimes with flat textures in some of them rather than using particle effects, and great lighting effects.
Audio: I can't express how incredible the soundtrack is to the game. It's memorable, powerful, exciting, and is worth listening outside of the game. I am a bit sad on the quality of the sound recording for the initial music, but the new ones are in higher quality with a clear tone (the initial music for the game is muddled). Voice acting is okay I guess, there isn't much to criticize on that topic.
Gameplay: I participated in the beta and loved the idea and enjoyed the gameplay...until I started to go against other players. In the beta, characters were ridiculously broken and overpowered other characters if they had an early lead. That might be different now. The games were also fill with a lot of trolling. Players would constantly harass their team mates, flame on the lobby chat, and cause all sorts of problems for the other players and moderators. It was infuriating playing with other people and I pretty much gave up hope on the game because of the bad community. It might have changed now. The action aspect is very refreshing after playing so many years of DotA from a top-down view and having to only click on enemies. The RPG-leveling system was interesting, but a bit difficult when trying to find the best item builds. The controls were okay, but it gets tricky with ranged characters. The game is played like Dynasty Warriors, but in the format of like DotA. So the goal is to destroy the main building of the opposing team. The twist is that after the building is destroyed, a huge boss comes out and you have to fight it while fending off the opposing team's players. Just like DotA, there are lanes (sometimes open areas) and NPC enemies come out to destroy each other's base while players can defeat them to earn experience points and currency to buy items. The battle modes are pretty challenging if you play with players who don't cooperate or don't know what they're doing. I lost almost all my matches against other people. I think I've had 1-2 wins out of the 10+ matches I had. I always had people die a lot on my team and blame everyone else on the team or having to go against really smart players. A new Co-Op mode was added and I tried it out. It's seems impossible, everything takes forever to kill and your character dies rather quickly. The game is great in many ways, but it also has various aspects that discourage me from playing it.
I'm going to try out "Monday Night Combat" this weekend and see how it fares. I'm hoping it doesn't give me as bad a experience as LOCO has in terms of community. I do recommend at least trying out LOCO since it's free and they constantly update it with more maps, more characters, and more events.
Source: Youtube Channel GamexOnline
Graphics: Many free online games have incredible graphics now, and LOCO is no exception. The environment has a nice atmosphere that really sets the mood to each level. The characters are drawn/modeled distinctively though named oddly (Foxlady? Really?). The animations are fluid, the effects are a bit on the cheap side sometimes with flat textures in some of them rather than using particle effects, and great lighting effects.
Audio: I can't express how incredible the soundtrack is to the game. It's memorable, powerful, exciting, and is worth listening outside of the game. I am a bit sad on the quality of the sound recording for the initial music, but the new ones are in higher quality with a clear tone (the initial music for the game is muddled). Voice acting is okay I guess, there isn't much to criticize on that topic.
Gameplay: I participated in the beta and loved the idea and enjoyed the gameplay...until I started to go against other players. In the beta, characters were ridiculously broken and overpowered other characters if they had an early lead. That might be different now. The games were also fill with a lot of trolling. Players would constantly harass their team mates, flame on the lobby chat, and cause all sorts of problems for the other players and moderators. It was infuriating playing with other people and I pretty much gave up hope on the game because of the bad community. It might have changed now. The action aspect is very refreshing after playing so many years of DotA from a top-down view and having to only click on enemies. The RPG-leveling system was interesting, but a bit difficult when trying to find the best item builds. The controls were okay, but it gets tricky with ranged characters. The game is played like Dynasty Warriors, but in the format of like DotA. So the goal is to destroy the main building of the opposing team. The twist is that after the building is destroyed, a huge boss comes out and you have to fight it while fending off the opposing team's players. Just like DotA, there are lanes (sometimes open areas) and NPC enemies come out to destroy each other's base while players can defeat them to earn experience points and currency to buy items. The battle modes are pretty challenging if you play with players who don't cooperate or don't know what they're doing. I lost almost all my matches against other people. I think I've had 1-2 wins out of the 10+ matches I had. I always had people die a lot on my team and blame everyone else on the team or having to go against really smart players. A new Co-Op mode was added and I tried it out. It's seems impossible, everything takes forever to kill and your character dies rather quickly. The game is great in many ways, but it also has various aspects that discourage me from playing it.
I'm going to try out "Monday Night Combat" this weekend and see how it fares. I'm hoping it doesn't give me as bad a experience as LOCO has in terms of community. I do recommend at least trying out LOCO since it's free and they constantly update it with more maps, more characters, and more events.
Friday, July 29, 2011
NewNews - Heroes of Newerth goes Free to Play
Official Site: http://www.heroesofnewerth.com/
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
Hey MOBA players! If you haven't heard yet, Heroes of Newerth is now free! It now follows a very similar business structure to League of Legends. Every week, there is a 15 character rotation for free2play users. In-game currency can be accumulated and spent on buying characters to use permanently. If you had previously bought the game, you will automatically receive a special status that allows the use of all characters like you always have had and will gain access to new characters after a short duration. If you haven't heard of HoN at all before, it is a Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game that's highly influenced by the popular custom campaign mod on Warcraft 3 called Defense of the Ancients (DotA). It's a unique Action RPG Tower Defense game where two teams of 5 players battle it out on the field with AI controlled minions pushing into each side's base until their main structure is destroyed. Players choose a champion/hero/character to play as. Each of these characters have something they excel in such as being a Tank (taking a lot of damage), an agility type character (damage per second characters) or intelligence characters (lots of damage in each skill, nuking) and play that important role in their team. Players kill minions and enemy players to gain currency to buy stat altering items and to level up and gain new skills while trying not to get killed themselves while defending their towers and bases. The ultimate goal is to destroy the enemy's main structure to end the game. The game is frequently updated and adds new characters and balances to the game regularly to keep the experience fresh. This goes for all MOBA games: Defense of the Ancients, League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, etc. If you're interested in these types of games, you can also check out "Rise of Immortals" and "Realm of the Titans".
Source:
-Gamasutra - S2 Games Taking Heroes Of Newerth Free-To-Play
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
Hey MOBA players! If you haven't heard yet, Heroes of Newerth is now free! It now follows a very similar business structure to League of Legends. Every week, there is a 15 character rotation for free2play users. In-game currency can be accumulated and spent on buying characters to use permanently. If you had previously bought the game, you will automatically receive a special status that allows the use of all characters like you always have had and will gain access to new characters after a short duration. If you haven't heard of HoN at all before, it is a Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game that's highly influenced by the popular custom campaign mod on Warcraft 3 called Defense of the Ancients (DotA). It's a unique Action RPG Tower Defense game where two teams of 5 players battle it out on the field with AI controlled minions pushing into each side's base until their main structure is destroyed. Players choose a champion/hero/character to play as. Each of these characters have something they excel in such as being a Tank (taking a lot of damage), an agility type character (damage per second characters) or intelligence characters (lots of damage in each skill, nuking) and play that important role in their team. Players kill minions and enemy players to gain currency to buy stat altering items and to level up and gain new skills while trying not to get killed themselves while defending their towers and bases. The ultimate goal is to destroy the enemy's main structure to end the game. The game is frequently updated and adds new characters and balances to the game regularly to keep the experience fresh. This goes for all MOBA games: Defense of the Ancients, League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, etc. If you're interested in these types of games, you can also check out "Rise of Immortals" and "Realm of the Titans".
Source:
-Gamasutra - S2 Games Taking Heroes Of Newerth Free-To-Play
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
GameLight Review - Awesomenauts
Official Site: http://www.awesomenauts.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/204300/ Source: Youtube Channel MachinimaTrailer
Developer: Ronimo Games
Publisher: Ronimo Games
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, [PC]
Release Date: Apr 10, 2012
Genre: 2D-Action Tower Defense (Action, Platformer, Strategy, RPG)
Pros:
+ Cute and charming characters in a cartoon-ish world
+ Fairly easy to learn how to play compared to most MOBA-like games
+ Fast-paced and lots of action going on right from the start
+ Player drop-in/drop-out makes it easier to find a game to play
+ Continually unlock more characters, features, and items, even if you lose
+ New characters being added without having to pay more for them
+ Can play 3-player co-op locally and host private games up to 6 players online
+ Controller compatibility as well as keyboard/mouse combo controls
Cons:
- Limited customization in character builds
- Online community is fairly weak with very few players playing online (PC)
- Even with 3 distinct maps, they can wear out in interest very quickly
- Other than practice mode, there isn't much for solo play when no one's online
Recommended: Yes, if you can get 3-6 friends together, this game can be very fun
If we were to mix a 2D Multi-player shooter like "Soldat" with popular Warcraft 3 Mod "Defense of the Ancients" (DotA), masking it with our favorite 80's cartoons, we'd end up with something like Awesomenauts. Players choose from a variety of characters in a 3 versus 3 battle royale to push their robot army into the enemies towers, base, and eventually destroy the drill. Throughout the battle, players will gather "solar" from enemy droids, enemy players, and scattered around the field which will allow the player to buy more items to become more powerful. Unlike most MOBA-like games, a character's strength and abilities come from purchasing them at the store rather than gaining experience points. The game was really easy to learn and very enjoyable once the mechanics of the game was grasped. It did bother me a little that the amount of customization to item builds were so limited. This doesn't allow for much variation. Still, for a regular price of $9.99 provides a decent amount of game play time.
Aesthetics
Art Style: 80's Cartoon style
+ Distinct and charming characters
+ A really "awesome" opening
+ Maps are colorful and easy on the eyes
+ Objects are easy to distinguish
+ User-interface is shiny and clean/organized
+ Each character has their own theme song and killing spree verison
+ Voice acting is great and embodies the characters
- Frame-rate drops drastically and erratically during split-screen multiplayer
- Lag issues from one side can be seen by others and affects hit-boxes
- Songs can be annoying and repetitive at times
Aesthetics: 9/10
Buttons
Controller: Any gamepad with directional keys and 4 buttons; keyboard/mouse
+ Compatible with a lot of different gamepads for PC
+ Keyboard and mouse provides the best controls for multi-directional aiming
+ Controls are easy to grasp and feels great in game
+ User-interface for the shop is easy to navigate and figure out
Buttons: 9/10
Concept & Content
Core Concept: Push droids into enemy base while getting more powerful
+ Smart approach for a 2D-Platformer MOBA with simplified game mechanics
+ The whole 80's theme is realized with the theme songs, graphics, and characters
+ Story is simple, but gets its point across on why these characters fight each other
+ 3 distinct levels thus far, each with their unique gimmick
+ Characters are gradually being added to the game for free
+ All extra paid content is solely aesthetics: alternate character outfits
+ Being able to bring certain items vary the playstyle of the player each time
- Item build variety is very limited
- The maps and gameplay can grow weary on a player after a while
- Some characters feel overpowered while others feel very useless
- Can't browse through available games, all match-made
Concept and Content: 8/10
Duration
+ Matches generally don't last that long, so lots of matches can be played
+ The level/unlocks system is a good incentive to keep playing
+ The game's a lot of fun, and time will burn through quite quickly
+ New characters come out slowly, but players will revisit the game for each one
+ It takes around 5 hours to unlock all the characters, so there's no grind for them
- The novelty of the game can wear out rather quickly, best to take breaks from it
- Can be hard to continue playing if no one's online or friends aren't on
Duration: 8/10
Fun
+ The title opening is what really got me, reminds me of Battlefield Heroes teaser
+ I really liked the idea of each character getting their own killing spree song
+ All the characters are lovable, especially Clunk, I love to hate him so much...
+ Battles are really exciting and fairly constant in action, less passive action
+ I like Leon and Raelynn the most, they're challenging to play but so satisfying
+ A few of my friends got the game as well and made it extra fun to play
- Not having that many people online makes it hard to enjoy playing multiplayer
- The game can get boring playing long durations in a short amount of time
Fun: 9/10
Overall
Awesomenauts is a solid multiplayer game. I can't see it being a highly competitive e-sport tournament game, but it can provide a decent amount of entertainment for casual players among friends. With the ability to play 3-player local, 6-player online, and against bots, the game can be a really fun distraction from other games or one that can be played during short breaks in the day. It's not too complicated, so it's easy to jump in and out whenever one feels like playing it. I'm not too certain with PS3 and Xbox 360, but PC players should try to grab a few friends who they know they can join playing together or against each other as the Online community is scarce. Also for PC players, Steam occasionally has some good discounts for the game so be sure to look out for the game as cheap as $2.49-$4.99 from its usual $9.99. Overall: 8.6/10
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/204300/ Source: Youtube Channel MachinimaTrailer
Developer: Ronimo Games
Publisher: Ronimo Games
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, [PC]
Release Date: Apr 10, 2012
Genre: 2D-Action Tower Defense (Action, Platformer, Strategy, RPG)
Pros:
+ Cute and charming characters in a cartoon-ish world
+ Fairly easy to learn how to play compared to most MOBA-like games
+ Fast-paced and lots of action going on right from the start
+ Player drop-in/drop-out makes it easier to find a game to play
+ Continually unlock more characters, features, and items, even if you lose
+ New characters being added without having to pay more for them
+ Can play 3-player co-op locally and host private games up to 6 players online
+ Controller compatibility as well as keyboard/mouse combo controls
Cons:
- Limited customization in character builds
- Online community is fairly weak with very few players playing online (PC)
- Even with 3 distinct maps, they can wear out in interest very quickly
- Other than practice mode, there isn't much for solo play when no one's online
Recommended: Yes, if you can get 3-6 friends together, this game can be very fun
If we were to mix a 2D Multi-player shooter like "Soldat" with popular Warcraft 3 Mod "Defense of the Ancients" (DotA), masking it with our favorite 80's cartoons, we'd end up with something like Awesomenauts. Players choose from a variety of characters in a 3 versus 3 battle royale to push their robot army into the enemies towers, base, and eventually destroy the drill. Throughout the battle, players will gather "solar" from enemy droids, enemy players, and scattered around the field which will allow the player to buy more items to become more powerful. Unlike most MOBA-like games, a character's strength and abilities come from purchasing them at the store rather than gaining experience points. The game was really easy to learn and very enjoyable once the mechanics of the game was grasped. It did bother me a little that the amount of customization to item builds were so limited. This doesn't allow for much variation. Still, for a regular price of $9.99 provides a decent amount of game play time.
Aesthetics
Art Style: 80's Cartoon style
+ Distinct and charming characters
+ A really "awesome" opening
+ Maps are colorful and easy on the eyes
+ Objects are easy to distinguish
+ User-interface is shiny and clean/organized
+ Each character has their own theme song and killing spree verison
+ Voice acting is great and embodies the characters
- Frame-rate drops drastically and erratically during split-screen multiplayer
- Lag issues from one side can be seen by others and affects hit-boxes
- Songs can be annoying and repetitive at times
Aesthetics: 9/10
Buttons
Controller: Any gamepad with directional keys and 4 buttons; keyboard/mouse
+ Compatible with a lot of different gamepads for PC
+ Keyboard and mouse provides the best controls for multi-directional aiming
+ Controls are easy to grasp and feels great in game
+ User-interface for the shop is easy to navigate and figure out
Buttons: 9/10
Concept & Content
Core Concept: Push droids into enemy base while getting more powerful
+ Smart approach for a 2D-Platformer MOBA with simplified game mechanics
+ The whole 80's theme is realized with the theme songs, graphics, and characters
+ Story is simple, but gets its point across on why these characters fight each other
+ 3 distinct levels thus far, each with their unique gimmick
+ Characters are gradually being added to the game for free
+ All extra paid content is solely aesthetics: alternate character outfits
+ Being able to bring certain items vary the playstyle of the player each time
- Item build variety is very limited
- The maps and gameplay can grow weary on a player after a while
- Some characters feel overpowered while others feel very useless
- Can't browse through available games, all match-made
Concept and Content: 8/10
Duration
+ Matches generally don't last that long, so lots of matches can be played
+ The level/unlocks system is a good incentive to keep playing
+ The game's a lot of fun, and time will burn through quite quickly
+ New characters come out slowly, but players will revisit the game for each one
+ It takes around 5 hours to unlock all the characters, so there's no grind for them
- The novelty of the game can wear out rather quickly, best to take breaks from it
- Can be hard to continue playing if no one's online or friends aren't on
Duration: 8/10
Fun
+ The title opening is what really got me, reminds me of Battlefield Heroes teaser
+ I really liked the idea of each character getting their own killing spree song
+ All the characters are lovable, especially Clunk, I love to hate him so much...
+ Battles are really exciting and fairly constant in action, less passive action
+ I like Leon and Raelynn the most, they're challenging to play but so satisfying
+ A few of my friends got the game as well and made it extra fun to play
- Not having that many people online makes it hard to enjoy playing multiplayer
- The game can get boring playing long durations in a short amount of time
Fun: 9/10
Overall
Awesomenauts is a solid multiplayer game. I can't see it being a highly competitive e-sport tournament game, but it can provide a decent amount of entertainment for casual players among friends. With the ability to play 3-player local, 6-player online, and against bots, the game can be a really fun distraction from other games or one that can be played during short breaks in the day. It's not too complicated, so it's easy to jump in and out whenever one feels like playing it. I'm not too certain with PS3 and Xbox 360, but PC players should try to grab a few friends who they know they can join playing together or against each other as the Online community is scarce. Also for PC players, Steam occasionally has some good discounts for the game so be sure to look out for the game as cheap as $2.49-$4.99 from its usual $9.99. Overall: 8.6/10
Monday, May 6, 2013
GameLight - Solstice Arena
Official Site: http://www.solsticearena.com/
It is evident that Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBA) or DotA-like games have become a popular genre in the market of games, and thus many developers try their shot at making the next successful MOBA. One particular game that's in the works is Solstice Arena. The "A Bit Lucky" team joined Zynga in the project in hopes of delivering and exciting mobile experience to the masses. Many problems arises with this project. Lots of MOBAs are available for PC, consoles, and mobile devices, so what exactly do they have to offer over others? (Hopefully something better, right?) Zynga has proven themselves to be successful in the past, but much of their revenue comes from casual players. Considering on how complex and steep the learning curve is for most MOBAs, can they really attract casual players to the game? They also claim that the game is both for casual players and hardcore players. For hardcore players of MOBAs, communication is key to good teamwork. Will they be able to provide that for hardcore players? I'm not saying that this will be a bad game or that they should give up, but they are valid points to address when they're developing the game. I wish them the best of luck and look forward to testing it out when it releases.
It is evident that Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (MOBA) or DotA-like games have become a popular genre in the market of games, and thus many developers try their shot at making the next successful MOBA. One particular game that's in the works is Solstice Arena. The "A Bit Lucky" team joined Zynga in the project in hopes of delivering and exciting mobile experience to the masses. Many problems arises with this project. Lots of MOBAs are available for PC, consoles, and mobile devices, so what exactly do they have to offer over others? (Hopefully something better, right?) Zynga has proven themselves to be successful in the past, but much of their revenue comes from casual players. Considering on how complex and steep the learning curve is for most MOBAs, can they really attract casual players to the game? They also claim that the game is both for casual players and hardcore players. For hardcore players of MOBAs, communication is key to good teamwork. Will they be able to provide that for hardcore players? I'm not saying that this will be a bad game or that they should give up, but they are valid points to address when they're developing the game. I wish them the best of luck and look forward to testing it out when it releases.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
NewNews - MNC Beta goes live and new Contra game talk
I couldn't decide which of two topics to talk about today so I'm going to talk a little about both:
-http://kotaku.com/5714402/a-new-look-at-the-cartoon-contra-hard-corps-uprising/gallery/
-http://www.joystiq.com/2010/12/16/monday-night-combats-steam-beta-live/
Both of these were just posted on their respective pages about 15 minutes ago.
So Konami and Arc System Works are developing/recreating "Contra: Hard Corps" as "Hard Corps: Uprising" in a more animé-ish art style. Knowing and loving both companies, I can expect fast-action challenges with flashy and stylish gameplay. If any of you have played "Contra: Hard Corps" on the Sega Genesis, you'd remember that it was a monster of a game and that it was very VERY easy to die resulting in a continue or game over. From the looks of the picture, it seems as though they added a health bar that looks similar to the one in "Castle of Shikigami 3". More than likely, it's going to be digitally sold. I haven't bought anything digital other than on Steam for PC. It makes me feel uneasy buying a game that isn't tangible and relies on accounts and the services of the developers/publisher (especially online exclusive games). I sunk into using Steam religiously now because of the Christmas gift my friend got me last year (Team Fortress 2). I now have 128 hours on that game, which is a LOT for me. Maybe I'll eventually go to a GameStop and buy one of those prepaid card points and start playing these digi-downloads. There are quite a few I want to play other than "Hard Corps: Uprising".
Source: Youtube Channel UberEntChannel
I was kinda sad to see that I couldn't play the beta when I pre-purchased it 2 days ago, but behold! It's now available for beta testing and I'm going to download it right now. I find the concept of a 3rd person action shooter mixed with a MOBA gameplay structure to be an interesting one to experiment. If it was popular enough on Xbox Live Arcade for the developers to create a port for the PC, then it must hold some merit of genuine entertainment. So as far as I can tell, it's a mix between Team Fortress 2 and DotA (or League of Legends/Heroes of Newerth) in a 3rd person perspective. It's a 6 on 6 versus battle with class based characters and MOBA leveling system. I've played all 4 games referenced and have enjoyed each one for their unique aspects (TF2, DotA, LoL and HoN are all hybrid genre games too!) and am glad that developers of the gaming industry continues to further that experiment by mixing and matching. It's only $13.49, so log onto steam and pre-purchase it now so that you can participate in the beta!
-http://kotaku.com/5714402/a-new-look-at-the-cartoon-contra-hard-corps-uprising/gallery/
-http://www.joystiq.com/2010/12/16/monday-night-combats-steam-beta-live/
Both of these were just posted on their respective pages about 15 minutes ago.
 |
| Source: http://kotaku.com/5714402/a-new-look-at-the-cartoon-contra-hard-corps-uprising/gallery/ |
Source: Youtube Channel UberEntChannel
I was kinda sad to see that I couldn't play the beta when I pre-purchased it 2 days ago, but behold! It's now available for beta testing and I'm going to download it right now. I find the concept of a 3rd person action shooter mixed with a MOBA gameplay structure to be an interesting one to experiment. If it was popular enough on Xbox Live Arcade for the developers to create a port for the PC, then it must hold some merit of genuine entertainment. So as far as I can tell, it's a mix between Team Fortress 2 and DotA (or League of Legends/Heroes of Newerth) in a 3rd person perspective. It's a 6 on 6 versus battle with class based characters and MOBA leveling system. I've played all 4 games referenced and have enjoyed each one for their unique aspects (TF2, DotA, LoL and HoN are all hybrid genre games too!) and am glad that developers of the gaming industry continues to further that experiment by mixing and matching. It's only $13.49, so log onto steam and pre-purchase it now so that you can participate in the beta!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
GameOn - MOBA Games - Avalon Heroes
Official Site: http://avalonheroes.en.alaplaya.net/
Source: Youtube Channel alaplayaMovies
One MOBA that is rarely talked about or even known to many is Avalon Heroes. Little background information can be found on the development of the game, so I'm unsure if the game was Korean developed or when it was first launched, etc. Avalon Heroes is also one that follows DotA quite closely from the 25 level cap, to the various shop merchants, and Warcraft 3 engine feel. What's unique about Avalon Heroes is that other than the usual battle mode, there's an adventure mode where up to 8 players can traverse a dungeon and fight a boss, a scenario mode where it tells a story, an arena mode where the goal is to eliminate the enemy hero, and a lobby where players can hang around to socialize and trade. It's pretty evident that the quality in development is a bit low. The graphics are outdated and blocky, the user-interface is convoluted and incredibly difficult to navigate through (the shop organization is atrocious), and descriptions of skills and items are much too wordy. The game does take quite a bit of getting used to, even for DotA veterans and it's possibly why the game isn't very populated. Still, there's quite a variety of heroes to choose (still a lot more than Rise of Immortals) and the various modes make for a different experience. I think it'd be a fun game if one can find a group of friends to play adventure mode.
Source: Youtube Channel alaplayaMovies
One MOBA that is rarely talked about or even known to many is Avalon Heroes. Little background information can be found on the development of the game, so I'm unsure if the game was Korean developed or when it was first launched, etc. Avalon Heroes is also one that follows DotA quite closely from the 25 level cap, to the various shop merchants, and Warcraft 3 engine feel. What's unique about Avalon Heroes is that other than the usual battle mode, there's an adventure mode where up to 8 players can traverse a dungeon and fight a boss, a scenario mode where it tells a story, an arena mode where the goal is to eliminate the enemy hero, and a lobby where players can hang around to socialize and trade. It's pretty evident that the quality in development is a bit low. The graphics are outdated and blocky, the user-interface is convoluted and incredibly difficult to navigate through (the shop organization is atrocious), and descriptions of skills and items are much too wordy. The game does take quite a bit of getting used to, even for DotA veterans and it's possibly why the game isn't very populated. Still, there's quite a variety of heroes to choose (still a lot more than Rise of Immortals) and the various modes make for a different experience. I think it'd be a fun game if one can find a group of friends to play adventure mode.
Friday, August 31, 2012
VGCulture - GW2, TL2, and MOBA Tourneys, oh my
Guild Wars 2: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/
It's been a week since I've started playing Guild Wars 2 and it has gone far beyond my expectations for the game. I didn't see myself enjoying PvP and WvW as much as I do now. The fluidity of the game makes the progression of PvE feel seamless. I don't pay too much attention to levels as it's not as important. I'm able to enjoy each aspect of the game with its spontaneity. I'm not sure how long the replay value will last, but so far it's pretty good.
Torchlight 2: http://www.torchlight2game.com/
Source: Youtube Channel TotalHalibut
Runic games finally stated a release date for Torchlight 2. On September 20th, players will be able to download it from their choice of distributor. To be honest, it would've been better if they had came out last year or early this year to avoid the competition from Diablo 3 and Guild Wars 2. At least then, they'd have players willing to try their game out who aren't already Torchlight fans. It seems some mechanics have been changed from the first one, and the addition of multiplayer and mod capabilities is a plus. For me, I'll probably wait a while before getting it as I'm already full on my play list and don't have a reason to get it right away.
League of Legends: https://tournaments.leagueoflegends.com/s2-na-regionals
DotA 2: http://www.own3d.tv/TheInternational
I haven't been keeping up with the tournament matches, but both MOBA games are holding them right now and streaming live. Some pretty crazy stuff. That's all for now, have a great weekend everyone!
 |
| Source: http://www.nerfnow.com/comic/829 |
Torchlight 2: http://www.torchlight2game.com/
Source: Youtube Channel TotalHalibut
Runic games finally stated a release date for Torchlight 2. On September 20th, players will be able to download it from their choice of distributor. To be honest, it would've been better if they had came out last year or early this year to avoid the competition from Diablo 3 and Guild Wars 2. At least then, they'd have players willing to try their game out who aren't already Torchlight fans. It seems some mechanics have been changed from the first one, and the addition of multiplayer and mod capabilities is a plus. For me, I'll probably wait a while before getting it as I'm already full on my play list and don't have a reason to get it right away.
League of Legends: https://tournaments.leagueoflegends.com/s2-na-regionals
DotA 2: http://www.own3d.tv/TheInternational
I haven't been keeping up with the tournament matches, but both MOBA games are holding them right now and streaming live. Some pretty crazy stuff. That's all for now, have a great weekend everyone!
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
GameOn - MOBA Games - Realm of the Titans
Official Site: http://realmofthetitans.aeriagames.com/
Source: Youtube Channel MachinimaRealm
Realm of the Titans was lead and designed by two DotA professional players who entered in various tournaments around the world and saw potential in the genre. After the two returned to China from studying in Australia, the now CEO and Lead Designer of Realm of the Titans got a team together and started development. Realm of the Titans was still in development when League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth was announced and eventually released and so it was dealt with much negativity from the fanbase of LoL and HoN. Unfortunately for me, I never got to try Realm of the Titans yet and have been waiting for it to go out of beta for who knows how long. So far, those who have tried the game thoroughly have praised it for its large cast of characters (more than twice as much as Rise of Immortals), its balance in competitive play, and its polish. I can't back those claims just yet as I have not tried the game, even though I've been meaning to for an entire year now (Alpha Testing started back last year April 7, 2011). In terms of gameplay, map design, and core concept, the game is closer to DotA than most MOBA games (aside from Heroes of Newerth). For a Chinese developed game, it sure looks impressive. I'm very willing to try out this game.
Source: Youtube Channel MachinimaRealm
Realm of the Titans was lead and designed by two DotA professional players who entered in various tournaments around the world and saw potential in the genre. After the two returned to China from studying in Australia, the now CEO and Lead Designer of Realm of the Titans got a team together and started development. Realm of the Titans was still in development when League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth was announced and eventually released and so it was dealt with much negativity from the fanbase of LoL and HoN. Unfortunately for me, I never got to try Realm of the Titans yet and have been waiting for it to go out of beta for who knows how long. So far, those who have tried the game thoroughly have praised it for its large cast of characters (more than twice as much as Rise of Immortals), its balance in competitive play, and its polish. I can't back those claims just yet as I have not tried the game, even though I've been meaning to for an entire year now (Alpha Testing started back last year April 7, 2011). In terms of gameplay, map design, and core concept, the game is closer to DotA than most MOBA games (aside from Heroes of Newerth). For a Chinese developed game, it sure looks impressive. I'm very willing to try out this game.
Wednesday, October 16, 2013
GameLight - Solstice Arena (Steam)
Official Site: http://www.solsticearena.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/240380/
Source: Youtube Channel SolsticeArena
Five months ago, I mentioned a new MOBA in the making that was releasing on mobile devices such as iPhone and iPad. It was a bit of a surprise to see it on Steam yesterday and I decided to try it out. I was a bit hesitant about the decision since it's published and seemingly developed by Zynga who are known for questionable practices in the Videogame industry. What gave me some hope was that the game was being developed by "A Bit Lucky" studios before they joined Zynga in finishing the product before putting it out in the market. Solstice Arena boasts itself for being the first Speed-MOBA in the market which delivers fast and exciting PvP matches. It takes out minions to farm, lanes to gank and focuses on positioning and utilizing the abilities of all the characters in the team. What's left is a bare-bones PvP action that, surprisingly, was a lot of fun.
Some Pros:
+ Eased into the game: tutorial isn't long and the game has the player play at least one bot match and one co-op match before they're thrust into a real match between players so that they can familiarize themselves with the characters, items, mechanics and map.
+ Matches are short: You don't have to invest a lot of time to get the excitement and action of player vs. player. Even if you lose, it was a short duration and you can jump right back in for another match.
+ Various characters and skills: The characters are rather distinguished and fun, though missing a bit of personality with the lack of story. Each match is dynamic and different as each player will have their own playstyle and different composition of characters brings something new to the game.
+ Intense PvP: A lot of abilities are skill shots which requires aiming and timing
+ Super easy account creation: I've played dozens of Online games and it's quite frustrating when creating an account is a hassle. The account can be created in-game with a display name, email, username, and password. The game can also be played as a guest before you decide you want to stick with the game and create an account to carry over what you progressed.
+ No chat: Why is this a plus? Because if you've played enough online games, you might be familiar with people who consistently argue, yell, and rage throughout a match and ruin the experience for everyone else. There are in-game pings which is more than enough to communicate with the team and a button to say "GG" (Good Game" to everyone at the end of the match.
+ Fast loading: Get into the game quicker. The game isn't very big and loading is very short. Shorter load times = more play time.
Some Cons:
- Imbalanced characters: Some matches can work against you and you won't be able to do a thing when characters leap towards you, slow, stun, knock up, and burst you down perhaps across the map. It can be a bit depressing, but it reminds me of DotA where characters are balanced by fighting broken with broken. It's not a very balanced game, but it sure makes it fun (so it can be seen as a plus).
- Terrible interface: The game is essentially a straight port of the iPad version. Buttons will even have the words "Tap here" on it. It works well for touch screen, but the interface isn't designed very well or elegantly for PC.
- Graphics aren't very good: The game is a straight port of the iOS version which has a lot of blocky lookin' characters. I actually think the graphics are pretty nice for a game that originated from a mobile device, but there will be players that will be turned off by its presentation.
- No chat: Some people want to yell or maybe playfully jeer at the enemy, and not having any form of communication with the enemy other than saying "GG" at the end of the match might not be what some players want. I have met those who enjoy bullying other players in online games and play those games to feel superior. It's rather depressing...
- The meta-game: Players can level up a character that they play often to make their abilities even stronger. This is an interesting meta-game that's a nice incentive to keep playing a single character and have an advantage over players, but players of all levels are matched up against each other which puts lower solstice level players at an immediate disadvantage.
- Everything is incredibly expensive: If you play League of Legends, 6300 IP already sounds like a lot just to earn enough to buy a new character. Characters can get up to 30,000 points before you can get them unless you use real money to purchase them which might be the whole point. This is Zynga we're talking about, the business portion won't be handled by the developers and you can expect some shenanigans coming from Zynga here.
- Cross-Platform Multiplayer: If I understand this correctly, players on Steam/PC will be playing with players on iPads and iPhones. The controls do look pretty good on iPad, but the fact that the player's hand gets in the way of the display already puts a disadvantage on them. Players on PC will be able to kite, react and cycle through their skills much faster than those on touch screen in general. This isn't much a con for PC players, but I find this really unfair to iPad users who have been supporting them for the past 5 months.
To put it simply, the game isn't perfect but is a whole lot of fun. The action is pretty consistent and the experience isn't ruined by other player's complaints and whining. I'm actually very impressed that the developers found a way to give the player the means to communicate within the game without having to add text/voice chat. The game isn't too hard to learn compared to most MOBAs, but has enough customization and depth to keep it interesting. If anything, it's a fun game to mess around in. Solstice Arena can be downloaded through Steam up on the link above.
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/240380/
Source: Youtube Channel SolsticeArena
Five months ago, I mentioned a new MOBA in the making that was releasing on mobile devices such as iPhone and iPad. It was a bit of a surprise to see it on Steam yesterday and I decided to try it out. I was a bit hesitant about the decision since it's published and seemingly developed by Zynga who are known for questionable practices in the Videogame industry. What gave me some hope was that the game was being developed by "A Bit Lucky" studios before they joined Zynga in finishing the product before putting it out in the market. Solstice Arena boasts itself for being the first Speed-MOBA in the market which delivers fast and exciting PvP matches. It takes out minions to farm, lanes to gank and focuses on positioning and utilizing the abilities of all the characters in the team. What's left is a bare-bones PvP action that, surprisingly, was a lot of fun.
Some Pros:
+ Eased into the game: tutorial isn't long and the game has the player play at least one bot match and one co-op match before they're thrust into a real match between players so that they can familiarize themselves with the characters, items, mechanics and map.
+ Matches are short: You don't have to invest a lot of time to get the excitement and action of player vs. player. Even if you lose, it was a short duration and you can jump right back in for another match.
+ Various characters and skills: The characters are rather distinguished and fun, though missing a bit of personality with the lack of story. Each match is dynamic and different as each player will have their own playstyle and different composition of characters brings something new to the game.
+ Intense PvP: A lot of abilities are skill shots which requires aiming and timing
+ Super easy account creation: I've played dozens of Online games and it's quite frustrating when creating an account is a hassle. The account can be created in-game with a display name, email, username, and password. The game can also be played as a guest before you decide you want to stick with the game and create an account to carry over what you progressed.
+ No chat: Why is this a plus? Because if you've played enough online games, you might be familiar with people who consistently argue, yell, and rage throughout a match and ruin the experience for everyone else. There are in-game pings which is more than enough to communicate with the team and a button to say "GG" (Good Game" to everyone at the end of the match.
+ Fast loading: Get into the game quicker. The game isn't very big and loading is very short. Shorter load times = more play time.
Some Cons:
- Imbalanced characters: Some matches can work against you and you won't be able to do a thing when characters leap towards you, slow, stun, knock up, and burst you down perhaps across the map. It can be a bit depressing, but it reminds me of DotA where characters are balanced by fighting broken with broken. It's not a very balanced game, but it sure makes it fun (so it can be seen as a plus).
- Terrible interface: The game is essentially a straight port of the iPad version. Buttons will even have the words "Tap here" on it. It works well for touch screen, but the interface isn't designed very well or elegantly for PC.
- Graphics aren't very good: The game is a straight port of the iOS version which has a lot of blocky lookin' characters. I actually think the graphics are pretty nice for a game that originated from a mobile device, but there will be players that will be turned off by its presentation.
- No chat: Some people want to yell or maybe playfully jeer at the enemy, and not having any form of communication with the enemy other than saying "GG" at the end of the match might not be what some players want. I have met those who enjoy bullying other players in online games and play those games to feel superior. It's rather depressing...
- The meta-game: Players can level up a character that they play often to make their abilities even stronger. This is an interesting meta-game that's a nice incentive to keep playing a single character and have an advantage over players, but players of all levels are matched up against each other which puts lower solstice level players at an immediate disadvantage.
- Everything is incredibly expensive: If you play League of Legends, 6300 IP already sounds like a lot just to earn enough to buy a new character. Characters can get up to 30,000 points before you can get them unless you use real money to purchase them which might be the whole point. This is Zynga we're talking about, the business portion won't be handled by the developers and you can expect some shenanigans coming from Zynga here.
- Cross-Platform Multiplayer: If I understand this correctly, players on Steam/PC will be playing with players on iPads and iPhones. The controls do look pretty good on iPad, but the fact that the player's hand gets in the way of the display already puts a disadvantage on them. Players on PC will be able to kite, react and cycle through their skills much faster than those on touch screen in general. This isn't much a con for PC players, but I find this really unfair to iPad users who have been supporting them for the past 5 months.
To put it simply, the game isn't perfect but is a whole lot of fun. The action is pretty consistent and the experience isn't ruined by other player's complaints and whining. I'm actually very impressed that the developers found a way to give the player the means to communicate within the game without having to add text/voice chat. The game isn't too hard to learn compared to most MOBAs, but has enough customization and depth to keep it interesting. If anything, it's a fun game to mess around in. Solstice Arena can be downloaded through Steam up on the link above.
Monday, October 21, 2013
Retroview - Demigod
Official Site: http://www.demigodthegame.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/202710/
Source: Youtube Channel IGN
Before League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, DotA 2, and many other Massive Online Battle Arena games (MOBA), Gas Powered Games (Dungeon Siege 1&2, Supreme Commander 2) tried their hand at an original game inspired by the Warcraft 3 Custom game map "Defense of the Ancients" (DotA 1). During the time Demigod was announced, I had already played DotA for several years and was excited to see that a developer was going to take on the mechanics and concept of the game and make an original one without the limitations of the Warcraft 3 engine. So why is it that such a good looking game is so unknown/forgotten to the gaming community? To put it simply, there were a lot of problems with the game and I see them even more clearly now than before since the release of so many other successful MOBAs. You could say that the lack of experience Gas Powered Games had with such a new genre of gaming could be blamed as LoL, HoN and DotA 2 all have members with close ties, experience and work to the original DotA 1 game. I might miss out on mentioning certain aspects as I delve back into analyzing the game, but I'll try my best to explain what developers have learned about making a "DotA-like" game since the release of Demigod.
Things Demigod did well:
+ Obviously not having to be limited to the models of Warcraft 3 models, the developers were able to craft and create unique and original characters. DotA 1's characters had many references to other videogames, animé characters and such. A lot of LoL character's also reference videogame characters and animé characters pretty closely. HoN are nearly direct emulations of DotA characters with different names and looks while DotA 2 recreates and refines the characters of DotA 1. So it really was nice seeing very different characters in Demigod.
+ Skills, items, gold, Health and Mana are neatly organized into a clean bar on the bottom that doesn't take up a large portion of the screen.
+ All the skills and items are lined up into one row of keys instead of being all over the place. Obviously, all other MOBAs did this because it made sense.
+ Games are highly customizable. DotA 2 has a fair amount of customization, which is cool. In Demigod, there are 4 different modes, the ability to change spawn rate, death penalty, experience rate, starting gold, and such. With such diverse rule changes, lots of different custom games can be played with friends.
Things Demigod got wrong:
- First and foremost, online multiplayer connections had lots of problems when the game first came out. It was a tough challenge for the developers to resolve them all. DotA 1 also had problems with connection. Most MOBAs now allow the ability to re-establish connection or re-join if their game/computer crashes.
- A team-orientated game requires lots of intense coordination and movement, so it's a big problem when characters in the game react 1-2 seconds after your command. A lot happens in 1-2 seconds during a team-fight.
- Lifebars on both Demigods and minions look the same. In a sea of enemies and allies, the inability to distinguish the two impedes on the competitive gameplay in an online match.
- You can't see the health of your team mates unless you're near them or hover your mouse over them. A mod was made just so the player could see the condition of their team's health.
Great ideas that weren't executed very well:
* The background graphics are beautiful. They're amazing! But the problem is that they also take up resources, slows down the fps, and makes the game lag. This leads up to another idea that doesn't work too well.
* Full camera control. Aesthetically, it's nice to be able to zoom in and all the way out, change the angle and rotate the camera to see the background. But in terms of cohesive usage in gameplay coordination, problems arise. For one, it's hard to find that balance to how you want the camera to be facing when in battle and any position you put may not feel right. This also affects team-play coordination when calling out positions of the map and the orientation of each player's camera will change how they see the battlefield. Pings can help only so much.
* All items within one shop at base and one secret shop in the battlefield. One of the hardest things I had to learn playing DotA 1 was where each item was found in one of the 10-14 shop keepers around the map. Demigod did a pretty good job of categorizing the items by types: Helmets for Mana, gloves for attack, armor for defense, etc. The problem was that items had vast stat differences which causes an imbalance in gameplay as those that get ahead stays ahead with the items that they get. For this reason, many MOBAs still have items in pieces before it becomes one strong item rather than having lots of strong items as a stand alone.
* Skill builds. Demigod provides different passive and actives for the player to acquire which leads the player to having different builds depending on the situation and playstyle. The problem is that it's one mess of a wall during an intensely paced multiplayer game. The window covers up the entire screen and obscures the view of the battlefield. Most MOBAs have stuck with the usual formula of having 3-5 upgradeable skills that shows up on their skill palette.
* Lots of Maps (8 in total). Having a variety in maps was really nice considering DotA 1 only had that one map. But the problem was the way the maps were designed. A lot of them had open pathways which made it easy to see who was coming and going. Towers are almost right next together, and some Demigod can attack them at very safe distances from their own tower's protection. It was difficult to make plays with team mates to gank, assist and distract because of how the maps were orientated.
* 10 unique characters with different builds. Despite the different builds each character can go for, the small roster of 10 characters made it rather boring for a lot of players. By the time Demigod came out, DotA 1 already had over 70+ characters are so. MOBAs such as LoL has over 100 characters now.
*Lots of ideas put into a mess. There are a lot of ideas behind Demigod: deep character skill builds, a neater shop, lots of different maps, various game modes, etc. But the lack of character variety, item imbalance, undynamic maps, delayed character reactions to player commands, a skill chart that covers the whole screen, and the many other flaws pointed out makes it difficult to enjoy for various reasons (bored with the same characters, imbalanced for competitive play, lack of team involvement because of map orientation, etc.).
I'm pretty sure I missed out a lot of points, but I want to show just how much effort and progress developers have made towards the new MOBA genre to get to the point we have reached in LoL, HoN, and DotA 2 as well as other MOBAs (I've recently played Solstice Arena and am very impressed with it). Don't get me wrong, Demigod is actually a pretty fun game (at least playing against computer AI in single-player is), but the various problems with the competitive and online multiplayer side of the game kills the longevity of the community and their interest in the game. I bought Demigod over the Steam weekend sale for nostalgic purpose ever since the first time I tried it back 4 years ago and had a bit of fun with it. But it also showed me just how far this genre has gone since then and what the industry has learned from it.
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/202710/
Source: Youtube Channel IGN
Before League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, DotA 2, and many other Massive Online Battle Arena games (MOBA), Gas Powered Games (Dungeon Siege 1&2, Supreme Commander 2) tried their hand at an original game inspired by the Warcraft 3 Custom game map "Defense of the Ancients" (DotA 1). During the time Demigod was announced, I had already played DotA for several years and was excited to see that a developer was going to take on the mechanics and concept of the game and make an original one without the limitations of the Warcraft 3 engine. So why is it that such a good looking game is so unknown/forgotten to the gaming community? To put it simply, there were a lot of problems with the game and I see them even more clearly now than before since the release of so many other successful MOBAs. You could say that the lack of experience Gas Powered Games had with such a new genre of gaming could be blamed as LoL, HoN and DotA 2 all have members with close ties, experience and work to the original DotA 1 game. I might miss out on mentioning certain aspects as I delve back into analyzing the game, but I'll try my best to explain what developers have learned about making a "DotA-like" game since the release of Demigod.
Things Demigod did well:
+ Obviously not having to be limited to the models of Warcraft 3 models, the developers were able to craft and create unique and original characters. DotA 1's characters had many references to other videogames, animé characters and such. A lot of LoL character's also reference videogame characters and animé characters pretty closely. HoN are nearly direct emulations of DotA characters with different names and looks while DotA 2 recreates and refines the characters of DotA 1. So it really was nice seeing very different characters in Demigod.
+ Skills, items, gold, Health and Mana are neatly organized into a clean bar on the bottom that doesn't take up a large portion of the screen.
+ All the skills and items are lined up into one row of keys instead of being all over the place. Obviously, all other MOBAs did this because it made sense.
+ Games are highly customizable. DotA 2 has a fair amount of customization, which is cool. In Demigod, there are 4 different modes, the ability to change spawn rate, death penalty, experience rate, starting gold, and such. With such diverse rule changes, lots of different custom games can be played with friends.
Things Demigod got wrong:
- First and foremost, online multiplayer connections had lots of problems when the game first came out. It was a tough challenge for the developers to resolve them all. DotA 1 also had problems with connection. Most MOBAs now allow the ability to re-establish connection or re-join if their game/computer crashes.
- A team-orientated game requires lots of intense coordination and movement, so it's a big problem when characters in the game react 1-2 seconds after your command. A lot happens in 1-2 seconds during a team-fight.
- Lifebars on both Demigods and minions look the same. In a sea of enemies and allies, the inability to distinguish the two impedes on the competitive gameplay in an online match.
- You can't see the health of your team mates unless you're near them or hover your mouse over them. A mod was made just so the player could see the condition of their team's health.
Great ideas that weren't executed very well:
* The background graphics are beautiful. They're amazing! But the problem is that they also take up resources, slows down the fps, and makes the game lag. This leads up to another idea that doesn't work too well.
* Full camera control. Aesthetically, it's nice to be able to zoom in and all the way out, change the angle and rotate the camera to see the background. But in terms of cohesive usage in gameplay coordination, problems arise. For one, it's hard to find that balance to how you want the camera to be facing when in battle and any position you put may not feel right. This also affects team-play coordination when calling out positions of the map and the orientation of each player's camera will change how they see the battlefield. Pings can help only so much.
* All items within one shop at base and one secret shop in the battlefield. One of the hardest things I had to learn playing DotA 1 was where each item was found in one of the 10-14 shop keepers around the map. Demigod did a pretty good job of categorizing the items by types: Helmets for Mana, gloves for attack, armor for defense, etc. The problem was that items had vast stat differences which causes an imbalance in gameplay as those that get ahead stays ahead with the items that they get. For this reason, many MOBAs still have items in pieces before it becomes one strong item rather than having lots of strong items as a stand alone.
* Skill builds. Demigod provides different passive and actives for the player to acquire which leads the player to having different builds depending on the situation and playstyle. The problem is that it's one mess of a wall during an intensely paced multiplayer game. The window covers up the entire screen and obscures the view of the battlefield. Most MOBAs have stuck with the usual formula of having 3-5 upgradeable skills that shows up on their skill palette.
* Lots of Maps (8 in total). Having a variety in maps was really nice considering DotA 1 only had that one map. But the problem was the way the maps were designed. A lot of them had open pathways which made it easy to see who was coming and going. Towers are almost right next together, and some Demigod can attack them at very safe distances from their own tower's protection. It was difficult to make plays with team mates to gank, assist and distract because of how the maps were orientated.
* 10 unique characters with different builds. Despite the different builds each character can go for, the small roster of 10 characters made it rather boring for a lot of players. By the time Demigod came out, DotA 1 already had over 70+ characters are so. MOBAs such as LoL has over 100 characters now.
*Lots of ideas put into a mess. There are a lot of ideas behind Demigod: deep character skill builds, a neater shop, lots of different maps, various game modes, etc. But the lack of character variety, item imbalance, undynamic maps, delayed character reactions to player commands, a skill chart that covers the whole screen, and the many other flaws pointed out makes it difficult to enjoy for various reasons (bored with the same characters, imbalanced for competitive play, lack of team involvement because of map orientation, etc.).
I'm pretty sure I missed out a lot of points, but I want to show just how much effort and progress developers have made towards the new MOBA genre to get to the point we have reached in LoL, HoN, and DotA 2 as well as other MOBAs (I've recently played Solstice Arena and am very impressed with it). Don't get me wrong, Demigod is actually a pretty fun game (at least playing against computer AI in single-player is), but the various problems with the competitive and online multiplayer side of the game kills the longevity of the community and their interest in the game. I bought Demigod over the Steam weekend sale for nostalgic purpose ever since the first time I tried it back 4 years ago and had a bit of fun with it. But it also showed me just how far this genre has gone since then and what the industry has learned from it.
Friday, February 11, 2011
GameOn - Free Games - Massive Multiplayer Online Games
This is my favorite topic for free games. Full blown online games that sometime reach up to 5GB worth of content put out into the free games pot. Free online games with absolutely no charge for the game or services was something for gamers of all ages to rejoice and a concept the (western) game industry just couldn't get (at first). These free Massive Multiplayer Online Games (MMOs) range from Action, RPG, Sports, Fighters to First-Person Shooters (FPS), Air Combat, and Racing. There's something for everyone and with over several hundred free online games available, you'll never have to go bored again!
Source: Youtube Channel CurseNetwork
The word "free" in games has actually become a really bad word for some/a lot of gamers. With a huge over saturation of cookie cutter RPGs and laggy FPSs, avid online gamers have become sick of the word "free" online games and would much prefer to pay for a quality game. Well, that's certainly not 100% true since a lot of pay-to-play online game companies have converted to free-to-play style because of the competition held by free online games. I am still very much in love with the concept of free online games just because I can try out so many different games and explore so much without having the obligation of paying for them. This concept started happening with Korean online game developers working with a free-to-play structure where players can play for free and have the option to use real money to enhance their game characters with items, equipment, and bonuses. This was quickly adapted in the western market and has done well for some companies (Zynga with their billion dollar business). Because of the huge success of the initial companies in the Western market, hundreds of Asian, European, and some American developed games launched all over the internet with similar structures to those that have been successful but ultimately lacks diversity and depth.
Advantages:
-Incredible/Quality games are free to download and play
-Graphics, music, and gameplay can be as good as commercially sold games
-All sorts of genres are available to find and play
-Most of the games are easy for all to learn and still have enough challenge for hardcore gamers
-Games have an immersive environment to them and can (sometimes) have a involving community
-Raises cultural awareness with some games retaining their original native language voice-overs
Disadvantages:
-RPGs all follow the same structure and require players to play for hours, weeks, or months before getting into the real parts of the games "instances, group quests, boss fights, PvP, GvG."
Source: Youtube Channel orihime09
Source: Youtube Channel wongliheng
Source: Youtube Channel viennakim
Source: Youtube Channel RiotGamesInc
Source: Youtube Channel hagbardc3line
Source: Youtube Channel CurseNetwork
The word "free" in games has actually become a really bad word for some/a lot of gamers. With a huge over saturation of cookie cutter RPGs and laggy FPSs, avid online gamers have become sick of the word "free" online games and would much prefer to pay for a quality game. Well, that's certainly not 100% true since a lot of pay-to-play online game companies have converted to free-to-play style because of the competition held by free online games. I am still very much in love with the concept of free online games just because I can try out so many different games and explore so much without having the obligation of paying for them. This concept started happening with Korean online game developers working with a free-to-play structure where players can play for free and have the option to use real money to enhance their game characters with items, equipment, and bonuses. This was quickly adapted in the western market and has done well for some companies (Zynga with their billion dollar business). Because of the huge success of the initial companies in the Western market, hundreds of Asian, European, and some American developed games launched all over the internet with similar structures to those that have been successful but ultimately lacks diversity and depth.
Advantages:
-Incredible/Quality games are free to download and play
-Graphics, music, and gameplay can be as good as commercially sold games
-All sorts of genres are available to find and play
-Most of the games are easy for all to learn and still have enough challenge for hardcore gamers
-Games have an immersive environment to them and can (sometimes) have a involving community
-Raises cultural awareness with some games retaining their original native language voice-overs
Disadvantages:
-RPGs all follow the same structure and require players to play for hours, weeks, or months before getting into the real parts of the games "instances, group quests, boss fights, PvP, GvG."
-Hackers, whiners, and foul-mouthed players frequently ruin competitive online games
-Lots of games lack depth with repetitive gameplay and monotonous activities
-Players who pay for items, equipment and level boosts have a significant advantage over those who don’t, causing imbalance in competitive games
-Lack of players, bugs, lag, and glitches interfere with the experience of the game which eventually kills off the community that played it
-Games that don’t have enough paying players on them will inevitably shut down no matter how great or entertaining it was
I’ve been avoiding MMOs for the past two years because of college and because I went back to playing a lot of console games after I graduated (until Steam pulled me back into PC gaming. Those sales are diabolical, and I love it, haha). Having played over 50+ online games, I started to grow tired of the same type of games that kept releasing one after another with no real difference or hook to them. But at the same time, it is because I have had such a wide range of experience in MMOs that I have a better idea of what games I would recommend.
Source: Youtube Channel orihime09
Ragnarok Online – This game has been around for a long time. It started out as a pay-to-play online game but has recently switched to a free-to-play model in response to the competition from free online games. Ragnarok Online is a top-down 2.5 dimensional MMORPG that emulates 3D using 2D graphics. Though this game came out a long time ago, it has many aspects that are great even by today’s standards. The music is magnificent and really draws the player in. One of the most interesting characteristics of the game mechanics was the amount of classes there were to choose from and the different types of stats build that could be made with each character to fit one’s playing style. The most mind boggling game mechanic was the freedom that the game gave. There isn’t a set story, a linear path one should take, or quests that takes players from one area to the next. This sandbox method of playing is rather intimidating at first since the game’s world is rather large with no direction of where beginners should go. I loved the freedom in the game. I got to set my own goals, played my own story, and let things happen naturally. I would get together with friends and run through a difficult dungeon to see if we can fight off the boss monster. Other times, I get caught up in conversations within a town with other players I’ve never met and we’d talk for long durations (I ended up talking to a group of players in Prontera for 2 hours about politics and global economy and it was pretty entertaining. It’s strange, but true). The game is still very successful and have plenty of players logged on each day.
Source: Youtube Channel wongliheng
Maple Story – I’m almost hesitant to even mention Maple Story as a recommendation. Maple Story is possibly my first real MMO that I started playing back in 2005. It was such an innovation for me at the time. It plays like a cross between a plat-former and an RPG a la “Metroidvania” with tons of weapons and classes to choose from. The graphics and music were charming and had a whimsical atmosphere to it. The problem was when it first started, its game mechanics were more geared towards the audience in Asia . Maple Story is one of the first Korean Online games that was brought over to the Western market with the free-to-play, micro-transaction structure and remains today as one of the most successful games of gaining a profit from it. I had created 10 characters when I first started since I was so excited to try out all the possibilities and eventually stuck with my Warrior to level as far as I could with it. After a while, I realized that all I was doing in the game was standing in one area for hours killing the same monsters that spawned until I reached a high enough level to take on enemies in another area to repeat the same monotonous tasks. I eventually decided to quit the game and not go back to it; however, the game has gone through a lot of changes that fit more towards the western audience for those who didn’t want to “grind” as much. Experience points are gained faster, quests are abundant, a combo system has been integrated, and lots of new events happen every now and then. I’m almost tempted to go back to it…
Source: Youtube Channel viennakim
Gunz: The Duel – Gunz has been one of the many MMOs that I played that had such an amazing experience. It’s a third-person action shooter where players try to eliminate each other in a competitive match utilizing various firearms and blades. Within the game, the player can dash in mid-air, scale walls, and deflect in-coming bullets with a sword. The game has a level up system that unlocks weapons and equipment for players to buy, but the game has more of a reliance on skill rather than levels, equipment, and items. The most thrilling part of the game for me was learning K-Style (Korean Style) which utilized all the weapons and techniques so that it’s possible to wall climb indefinitely, block in-coming bullets, shoot, slash, and dodge or recover while repeating when there’s an opening. It was something that really challenged my skill rather than demanding my time to gain experience points and farm for currency to get the next item. Unfortunately, hackers and pros either made people give up on the game or scared them away; therefore, not many people play the game anymore. Fortunately, the game is still being hosted by ijji and still has some players still on as well as having the quest mode where the player goes up against room after room of computer enemies. It’s worth checking out.
Source: Youtube Channel RiotGamesInc
League of Legends – Defense of the Ancients (DotA) was such an amazing game to me. There were so many characters and replay value to it. So it was no surprise that when I heard two of the contributing makers of DotA went on to create a standalone online game based off of DotA, I was ecstatic (meaning I was freaking excited!). League of Legends (LoL) is a Massive Online Battle Arena (MOBA) where two teams push their respective army into the enemy’s base and destroy their main building. The game is played as a top-down action RPG tower-defense hybrid and was first started as a custom campaign on Starcraft before being recreated as DotA on Warcraft 3’s map editor. Players fight and eliminate neutral enemies and player enemies to gain levels and gold in order to gain new skills and buy stat enhancing items to be strong enough to push into enemy territory. LoL addresses many problems that DotA had due to the limitations of the Warcraft 3 editor such as not being able reconnect after being disconnected, having all the skill’s hot keys spread all over the keyboard rather than being aligned, and making it easier to camera focus on the player’s character. The game also features player progression such as the rune system where players can buy stat enhancing items, a summoner level which grants a player more rune space to place runes in, and gaining points to buy characters rather than relying on the week’s random draft list to choose a character. The game runs on a micro-transaction model which allows players to buy characters, skin packs, and experience boosting items. LoL currently holds the most hours played from the games I’ve been playing in the past few years (150+ hours, which is a lot for me). League of Legends is much easier to learn compared to DotA, so this is one game I would recommend all to try.
Source: Youtube Channel hagbardc3line
Battlefield Heroes – Don’t be fooled by the childish demeanor of this game. Battlefield Heroes is a stupidly fun third-person shooter that follows a lot of the mechanics from the other Battlefield games in a cartoon style, mischief making war between the two teams. I had the trailer’s theme song stuck in my head for the longest time and have always heard about the game but never tried it. I downloaded and played it one day when I was still in college and enjoyed it a lot. It’s so satisfying whenever I got backstab kills, headshot snipes, and explosive kills (Commando all the way!) but it was a difficult class to play for sure. After about 1-2 weeks, I had to ban myself from the game since it was affecting my studies. The game can be addicting, but I never allow myself to get addicted to games even if I love them so much. This game also runs on a micro-transaction model where players can buy special weapons, perks, and experience boosting items. I haven’t played the game in a while, but I always feel the need to whenever I heard the main theme song:
I generally don’t play as much free MMOs anymore just because of how busy I get now. If I do find the time to play, these are the ones I log onto:
-Dynasty Warriors Online – Hack ‘n Slash MMORPG
-Vindictus – Mature Action RPG based off the Mabinogi world
-Quake Live – Fast Action First-Person Shooter
-Dungeon Fighters Online – Arcade -like Fighter RPG
-S4 League – Third-Person Action Shooter that’s similar to Gunz
-Mabinogi – Casual Fantasy Life MMORPG, a very relaxing game to play
-Granado Espada: Sword of the New World – MMORPG with the best music I’ve ever heard
-Ragnarok Online – Sandbox MMORPG
-League of Legends – MOBA based off of DotA
-Cabal Online – MMORPG with a twitch based combat system
There are a lot more games to be found and played and most can be found through game portals and publishers. Here are some of the ones I play/played on:
Thanks for dropping by! This has been a very eventful week. Have fun with those free games~
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
NewNews - BF3, DotA 2, ME3 and LPC Videos
Woke up this morning and suddenly saw a bunch of videos to games worth taking a look at:
Source: Youtube Channel eavision
Battlefield 3 is looking more and more incredible as EA slowly brings out their videos. I'm looking forward to all parts of this game and what DICE has to offer. They have impressed me with Battlefield Bad Company 2 and even more with Medal of Honor (2010) in terms of audio, so I'm extra excited about BF3 as DICE and EA will take everything they have done in the past few years and create a masterpiece of a game for the 3rd iteration.
Source: Youtube Channel machinima
Just today, I was wondering "when will valve show anything related to Defense of the Ancients 2?" Sure enough, I saw this video (released yesterday). I'm not too keen on the elitists and fanboys bantering on about DotA, LoL and HoN or any other MOBA game, but I'm still very excited about seeing all my favorite characters in a full fledged game.
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
I REALLY need to play through Mass Effect 1 & 2, especially since I bought both of them close to a year ago now. It's looking pretty great, and it seems to be much more action oriented than from it's first installment.
Source: Youtube Channel gamespot
Before deciding to play this game, I should really check out all the other games Suda51 has worked on. I think it's an interesting contrast between violence and pop-inspired themes. I can't help but think of Dead Rising when I look at this game, except that it's in a school. Oh well, it's Suda51, should be interesting.
Source: Youtube Channel eavision
Battlefield 3 is looking more and more incredible as EA slowly brings out their videos. I'm looking forward to all parts of this game and what DICE has to offer. They have impressed me with Battlefield Bad Company 2 and even more with Medal of Honor (2010) in terms of audio, so I'm extra excited about BF3 as DICE and EA will take everything they have done in the past few years and create a masterpiece of a game for the 3rd iteration.
Source: Youtube Channel machinima
Just today, I was wondering "when will valve show anything related to Defense of the Ancients 2?" Sure enough, I saw this video (released yesterday). I'm not too keen on the elitists and fanboys bantering on about DotA, LoL and HoN or any other MOBA game, but I'm still very excited about seeing all my favorite characters in a full fledged game.
Source: Youtube Channel IGNentertainment
I REALLY need to play through Mass Effect 1 & 2, especially since I bought both of them close to a year ago now. It's looking pretty great, and it seems to be much more action oriented than from it's first installment.
Source: Youtube Channel gamespot
Before deciding to play this game, I should really check out all the other games Suda51 has worked on. I think it's an interesting contrast between violence and pop-inspired themes. I can't help but think of Dead Rising when I look at this game, except that it's in a school. Oh well, it's Suda51, should be interesting.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
VGCulture - The griefing game
A griefer is a player in a multiplayer video game that deliberately irritates and harasses other players. -Wikipedia
So what game are the guys at Penny Arcade trying to show here? League of Legends, the very successful free-to-play MOBA game by Riot Games inspired by DotA. The first panel is of WuKong, and the 2nd is of Leona. Griefing is a sadistic game enjoyed by the person harassing and bugging the other players (usually their own teammates) and can be applied to a number of multiplayer games. Griefers can sometimes be just as bad as hackers because they affect the experience for everyone.
Source: Youtube Channel TEAMROOMBA
Yes, it's funny to laugh at the misfortune of others, but it's not as fun when the griefing is being done to you. I think some of the worst ones I've heard about is people joining servers to games that require a lot of building and time and destroying everything that other people have built. In First-Person shooters and such, players who bug you can either be banned or a player can leave if they want. But games like DotA and League of Legends, you commit 20-60 minutes of playtime in order to finish one round which makes it all the more frustrating when someone is griefing you or the team. People should respect each other in multiplayer online games, because without those people there would be no game to play. Unfortunately, besides griefers, there's spammers, glitchers, hackers, smack-talkers and such to help ruin a game's experience, so that's only hopeful wishing. The griefing game can only be fun for so long until you kill off an entire gaming community and get banned from every server in the world. Anyways, the comic that Penny Arcade made was funny and true. I don't recall getting griefed that much except this one time where a team mate in Modern Warfare 2 trapped me in a corner on purpose and was stuck for a good 10-20 seconds before we were both shot to death.
 |
| Source: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/8/10/ |
Source: Youtube Channel TEAMROOMBA
Yes, it's funny to laugh at the misfortune of others, but it's not as fun when the griefing is being done to you. I think some of the worst ones I've heard about is people joining servers to games that require a lot of building and time and destroying everything that other people have built. In First-Person shooters and such, players who bug you can either be banned or a player can leave if they want. But games like DotA and League of Legends, you commit 20-60 minutes of playtime in order to finish one round which makes it all the more frustrating when someone is griefing you or the team. People should respect each other in multiplayer online games, because without those people there would be no game to play. Unfortunately, besides griefers, there's spammers, glitchers, hackers, smack-talkers and such to help ruin a game's experience, so that's only hopeful wishing. The griefing game can only be fun for so long until you kill off an entire gaming community and get banned from every server in the world. Anyways, the comic that Penny Arcade made was funny and true. I don't recall getting griefed that much except this one time where a team mate in Modern Warfare 2 trapped me in a corner on purpose and was stuck for a good 10-20 seconds before we were both shot to death.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
VGCulture - Problem with Healers
Yesterday, I posted a video by Dorkly on how White Mages are jerks. This is funny to the gaming community mainly because of how we can relate to the many healers in gaming and their problem on doing their jobs.
Source: Youtube Channel triplejx3
I play plenty of class based games now and see the patterns and have experienced many different play styles by various people. Some of these games include: Team Fortress 2, League of Legends, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Resistance 2, and Global Agenda. About 3 years ago, I started playing healer characters in almost EVERYTHING I play now (Shooters, RPGs, Action Games, MOBAs, etc). My decision to do so was my frustration with people I play with online not knowing what to do or completely ignoring their position as the healer. Just because a healer has a weapon doesn't mean it's the best choice for fighting when around a team nor does it make it their primary mission to fight. Having a healer work together with the team is invaluable and is sometimes the reason for winning. Here are some simple rules I follow when I play a Healer.
Healer first, Fighter second
My primary mission when being a healer during a team fight for anything is keeping everyone alive. If someone is less than half health and I'm still shooting at someone who isn't an immediate threat, then I am failing as a healer. It would probably be more beneficial to keep that rifleman, or assassin, or whoever does damage in the game that you're playing alive and have them kill the player pursuing you than trying to kill them yourself with the weaker weapons and attacks that you possess. If everyone is at full health and you don't have any healing to do, help them do some damage. Cover fire, harass, and damage the opponents, but don't ever go in too far because more than likely no one can save you if you're the only healer.
Stay Alive and Survive
Sometimes it's impossible to save your team mates because you get ambushed or they're too brash and run in on their own. If it comes down to that, don't go in for revenge or clean up because usually healers in games are rather squishy and die really quickly. At that point, back up and stay alive. A healer is useless dead and can make it difficult for your team mates. You can still turn a fight around if you happen to fail to save one player but stay alive to keep another alive. If the healer dies, more than likely everyone else will die.
Don't follow stupid people
This isn't a general insult to other players and it might be a "duh" sort of rule, but you wouldn't believe how many healers walk into their deaths because of this (and yes I'll admit it happens to me a lot). Part of being a a healer in a team is trust and partnership. If you find someone that knows what they're doing and protecting you when you're targeted, then follow that person more because your chances of winning a fight increases dramatically. But if you happen to heal and follow those who rush in by themselves and get both of you killed or are too focused on what's in front of them instead of the person attacking you, the healer, then it's time to play more carefully and maybe not follow that player. This rule follows the "Stay Alive and Survive" rule.
Be Alert, ALWAYS!
I'm not gonna lie, being a healer sucks sometimes because there's so much going on. People will blame you if they die and ask "why didn't you save me? Why didn't you heal me?" You, and other players, must accept the fact that healers aren't gods. They can't heal faster than players can die and they are the ones targeted first, if the enemies are smart. Because of this, you must always be aware of your surroundings. You have to have one eye on your team's health bar and the other at your enemies proximity. I think MOBA games such as DotA, League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, and Land of Chaos Online are the ones that are difficult to keep everything in check since group fights can be very messy. Never get tunnel vision as a healer (tunnel vision = focusing on one particular player and ignoring everyone else). The same can be true for Team Fortress 2, Resistance 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Global Agenda when you can only see what's in front of you. For First-Person or 3rd-Person Perspective games, I tend to turn around a lot to check what's behind me (though in Team Fortress 2, you do that for every class in fear of the Spy).
Timing is everything
Being a healer in some games are easier than others, but it always comes down to when you perform your actions. In League of Legends, you would save your ultimate (if it's a healing/invincible) skill for a group fight and your team mates are about to die. In Bad Company 2, you don't want to revive someone right in the middle of a gunfire exchange because both of you will die and the player you revived will get angry at you. If you're playing Team Fortress 2 and you Uber (Invincible) a team mate fighting a single scout, then you'll have wasted it and won't have it when the heavy, soldier, demoman, and pyro comes in. Also, playing a medic is a lot like playing an assassin and knowing when to go in and when to bail out. Going in and giving that little bit of health to a team mate could possible save them and earn them multiple kills while getting the whole team out alive. So if you can survive, heal, save, and keep the team in the front lines, then you'll have given the whole team the advantage that the opposing team couldn't achieve.
Playing a healer is self-gratifying and a very hard class to play. They are unappreciated and are shunned by many when they happen to play poorly (or if the healer really is bad) and pushes players to fight rather than save those who complain. To others, the healer class is the easiest class as they just sit in the back and press a few buttons. But healers who are truly great is synonymous to the fighter who bum rushes with kills AND dies a lot compared to the sneaky player who consistently kills players without dying. Giving some health to a player and working along side with them to push and cover is the major difference in a healer's effectiveness. So the next time you're playing an online game and you see your opponent team has a brave healer who's always fighting, punish them. Punish them so hard that they don't want to be a healer class anymore as you'll be doing your opponent's team a favor and getting rid of someone who can't do their job right.
Source: Youtube Channel triplejx3
I play plenty of class based games now and see the patterns and have experienced many different play styles by various people. Some of these games include: Team Fortress 2, League of Legends, Battlefield Bad Company 2, Resistance 2, and Global Agenda. About 3 years ago, I started playing healer characters in almost EVERYTHING I play now (Shooters, RPGs, Action Games, MOBAs, etc). My decision to do so was my frustration with people I play with online not knowing what to do or completely ignoring their position as the healer. Just because a healer has a weapon doesn't mean it's the best choice for fighting when around a team nor does it make it their primary mission to fight. Having a healer work together with the team is invaluable and is sometimes the reason for winning. Here are some simple rules I follow when I play a Healer.
Healer first, Fighter second
My primary mission when being a healer during a team fight for anything is keeping everyone alive. If someone is less than half health and I'm still shooting at someone who isn't an immediate threat, then I am failing as a healer. It would probably be more beneficial to keep that rifleman, or assassin, or whoever does damage in the game that you're playing alive and have them kill the player pursuing you than trying to kill them yourself with the weaker weapons and attacks that you possess. If everyone is at full health and you don't have any healing to do, help them do some damage. Cover fire, harass, and damage the opponents, but don't ever go in too far because more than likely no one can save you if you're the only healer.
Stay Alive and Survive
Sometimes it's impossible to save your team mates because you get ambushed or they're too brash and run in on their own. If it comes down to that, don't go in for revenge or clean up because usually healers in games are rather squishy and die really quickly. At that point, back up and stay alive. A healer is useless dead and can make it difficult for your team mates. You can still turn a fight around if you happen to fail to save one player but stay alive to keep another alive. If the healer dies, more than likely everyone else will die.
Don't follow stupid people
This isn't a general insult to other players and it might be a "duh" sort of rule, but you wouldn't believe how many healers walk into their deaths because of this (and yes I'll admit it happens to me a lot). Part of being a a healer in a team is trust and partnership. If you find someone that knows what they're doing and protecting you when you're targeted, then follow that person more because your chances of winning a fight increases dramatically. But if you happen to heal and follow those who rush in by themselves and get both of you killed or are too focused on what's in front of them instead of the person attacking you, the healer, then it's time to play more carefully and maybe not follow that player. This rule follows the "Stay Alive and Survive" rule.
Be Alert, ALWAYS!
I'm not gonna lie, being a healer sucks sometimes because there's so much going on. People will blame you if they die and ask "why didn't you save me? Why didn't you heal me?" You, and other players, must accept the fact that healers aren't gods. They can't heal faster than players can die and they are the ones targeted first, if the enemies are smart. Because of this, you must always be aware of your surroundings. You have to have one eye on your team's health bar and the other at your enemies proximity. I think MOBA games such as DotA, League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth, and Land of Chaos Online are the ones that are difficult to keep everything in check since group fights can be very messy. Never get tunnel vision as a healer (tunnel vision = focusing on one particular player and ignoring everyone else). The same can be true for Team Fortress 2, Resistance 2, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Global Agenda when you can only see what's in front of you. For First-Person or 3rd-Person Perspective games, I tend to turn around a lot to check what's behind me (though in Team Fortress 2, you do that for every class in fear of the Spy).
Timing is everything
Being a healer in some games are easier than others, but it always comes down to when you perform your actions. In League of Legends, you would save your ultimate (if it's a healing/invincible) skill for a group fight and your team mates are about to die. In Bad Company 2, you don't want to revive someone right in the middle of a gunfire exchange because both of you will die and the player you revived will get angry at you. If you're playing Team Fortress 2 and you Uber (Invincible) a team mate fighting a single scout, then you'll have wasted it and won't have it when the heavy, soldier, demoman, and pyro comes in. Also, playing a medic is a lot like playing an assassin and knowing when to go in and when to bail out. Going in and giving that little bit of health to a team mate could possible save them and earn them multiple kills while getting the whole team out alive. So if you can survive, heal, save, and keep the team in the front lines, then you'll have given the whole team the advantage that the opposing team couldn't achieve.
Playing a healer is self-gratifying and a very hard class to play. They are unappreciated and are shunned by many when they happen to play poorly (or if the healer really is bad) and pushes players to fight rather than save those who complain. To others, the healer class is the easiest class as they just sit in the back and press a few buttons. But healers who are truly great is synonymous to the fighter who bum rushes with kills AND dies a lot compared to the sneaky player who consistently kills players without dying. Giving some health to a player and working along side with them to push and cover is the major difference in a healer's effectiveness. So the next time you're playing an online game and you see your opponent team has a brave healer who's always fighting, punish them. Punish them so hard that they don't want to be a healer class anymore as you'll be doing your opponent's team a favor and getting rid of someone who can't do their job right.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
GameLight - Filler with video of Rise of Immortals
I'm really busy today and can't get to writing anything descriptive. Take a look at this:
Source: Youtube Channel riseofimmortals
It's a new free Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game following the trend of Champions Online, League of Legends, and Heroes of Newerth from their DotA predecessor. Enjoy and see you tomorrow.
Source: Youtube Channel riseofimmortals
It's a new free Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game following the trend of Champions Online, League of Legends, and Heroes of Newerth from their DotA predecessor. Enjoy and see you tomorrow.
Friday, November 1, 2013
NewNews - 3 Year Anniversary
It's been 3 years as of today since I started this blog, it's crazy! I wasn't sure how persistent I was going to be with writing so much from day to day, but somehow I've been doing this for 3 years! Through these 3 years, we have seen Keiji Inafune leave Capcom and recently start up his campaign for Mighty No. 9 which raised over $4 Million. We have seen the rise in popularity of indie games and MOBA. We experienced the return of Fighting games back into the main stream community of gamers. Tons of MMOs turn Free-to-Play and Valve launches the Steam Greenlight program and lots of games get brought to steam. A lot has happened and it's kind of wonderful to be part of it. I wonder how long I'll be able to keep this up. In any case, thank you for all the support for those who have visited and a Happy third year anniversary to this blog!
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