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.

GameLight - Tribes Ascend

Official Site: http://tribesascend.com/

Source: Youtube Channel tribesascend

I never played any in the Tribes, but I remember hearing a lot about how great it was.  Instead of close quarter combat modern war shooters that many FPS tend to lean towards nowadays, Tribes Ascend will be much like its predecessors in fighting on large maps with lots of vehicles and requiring strategy along with the quick trigger finger.  For a free-to-play First-Person shooter, it's looking magnificent.  The game is being developed on the Unreal 3 Engine.  The game is being developed by Hi-Rez Studios, the creators of the highly acclaimed Global Agenda MMO, and is set to release sometime this fall or winter.

VGCulture - Free 2 Play n00bs

This is something I should have noticed before, but Free 2 Play games has quite the assortment of people.  It's not a surprise since the game is "free" and anyone can play it.  The big problem is just that: "ANYONE" can download and join everyone else to play, even the most undesirable, idiotic, or uncooperative players are on there.

Source: Youtube Channel Iasonas03

 Over the weekend, I played some Global Agenda with some friends and convinced them to try the game out since it was free now.  It was a little difficult for everyone since it was new to them, but at least we were able to coordinate a little since I've had the game since last July.  Two of my friends left our party and it was my friend and I with two random people.  Usually when I play mission mode, the other players generally know what they're doing.  But when the mission began, I had one team mate rush in by himself with a melee weapon trying to hack at everything he sees.  Naturally he dies.  He responded to the death by saying "Sorry guys, this is my first time!"  I gave the simple advice telling him "don't rush in and you'll be fine."  And throughout the mission, he was always charging in and got killed repeatedly.  Our other team mate stood in the wide open and pretty much ignored the rest of us which eventually got him killed a few times.  I notice the inexperience that some people have in F2P games since they're usually MMORPGs and everyone's doing their own thing or it's an FPS and pretty much run and gun.  I suppose I notice it a bit when I play League of Legends, but sometimes I'm the n00b playing.  Sometimes, n00bs are hardly the problem in the community of F2P online games.  There are ragers, quitters, hackers, spammers, glitchers, griefers, and many other players that join a game and ruin the game experience for everyone else.  With Team Fortress 2 going free, I don't think it's too big of a problem.  Most players before it became F2P didn't care too much about the objective either, so it usually turns into an endless killing game for everyone.  So even if the quality of F2P online games are getting better and better, the community doesn't seem to improve.  This is very debatable since even retail games have its own bad communities.  Most are to point out players of the Call of Duty series being 7-12 year old little boys screaming every known profanity in the English language while some dude in his mid-20's is laughing their butt off at every little rage they get out of the kid.  I love F2P games, but I'm starting to understand why some people are so against it.  This is especially true for those who used to play a game that was retail before it became F2P such as Global Agenda.  What I do like about the transition to a lot of these games is that servers are a lot more populated now.

NewNews - Global Agenda goes Free-to-Play all the way!

Global Agenda is a 3rd-Person Action Shooter Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game that focuses a lot of its gameplay on instances, competitive matches, and a constantly evolving, on-going world with defense raids and open-world quests.

Source: Youtube Channel mmorpgitalia

Later in the month, Global Agenda will switch from its one-time purchase structure to a Free-to-Play structure with the option to have a one time payment to obtain the status of "Elite Agent" which makes leveling, gathering currency and items easier.  Those who have paid for the game already will automatically receive this status when the new patch is applied to the game.  For those who want to play for free, don't worry about the levels, items, and currency too much because the game is heavily skill based with team-work in mind.  Players who are at level 10 will go up against players who are level 50+ and still win if they have a solid team to work with.  Global Agenda is one of those rare MMOs where players of any level can play together (for the most part, some restrictions for instances).  Because of this news, I'm going to get my friends who don't play the game to join.  I haven't played the game as much as I had hoped, but I enjoy it every time I log on.  The graphics are nice, the thematic atmosphere is immersive, the sounds are unique and recognizable as its own, the gameplay is fast-paced and challenging, the various game modes provide a variety of ways to play the game, but I wish there was more music going throughout the game (what is up with all these MMOs with no music?).  The team working at Hi-Rez Studios has worked constantly on improving Global Agenda throughout the year.  I have seen the game go through an entire change in equipment systems, skill tree changes, user interface, adding new items, constant updates in class balance (the nerf on the Recon made me sad, but it made sense), additional game modes, and entire expansion pack was given for free to all the players.  Hopefully this switch to Free-to-Play structure will give players who had doubts about the game an opportunity to truly enjoy this amazing MMO.

Source: Gamasutra - Hi-Rez Makes Full Free-To-Play Switch With Global Agenda