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.