GameLight - Torchlight 2

Low Bandwidth Page: http://torchlight2game.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/200710/
Source: Youtube Channel runicgames

Torchlight 2 has finally released yesterday.  The long awaited sequel to the dungeon crawler is finally here with new classes, more skills, tons of weapons, and the ability to play with people online.  The game is looking pretty good so far and is well received by critics and players alike.  Some minor complaints are mostly due to the confusing storyline, but in terms of aesthetics, content, and gameplay, the game seems to satisfy most players.  I have yet to try the game out myself yet and I doubt I will soon as I'm just swamped with other games and work right now; however, I plan to get the game eventually as I enjoyed the first game.  Torchlight 2 is available for digital download from their official site or Steam for $19.99 and is exclusively for PC.

GameLight - Rusty Hearts: Reborn

Official Site: http://rustyhearts.perfectworld.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/36630/
Source: Youtube Channel RustyHeartsVideos

If anyone remembers the game review of Rusty Hearts I posted last year, then you'd remember that I really enjoyed the game.  And if you don't know about it, Rusty Hearts is a well developed Action Beat-em-up MMORPG that's free-to-play published by Perfect World and available on Steam.  Ever since then, a lot of content has been added in for those who wanted to pay for the items.  Just yesterday, a huge patch was released and the new expansion called Rusty Hearts: Reborn welcomed both new players and veteran players into the game with a lot of new content.  Avatars that once required real money is now part of the free content for all players.  A 3rd weapon of choice has been added for each class.  New dungeons, dialogues, and items have been added as well.  Here's a run down of what to expect:
-Meilin, Roselle, Edgar, and Leila are now selectable characters in character creation
-New Dungeon for the extra characters (alternate beginning story)
-New weapon focus and skill manager breaks classes into 3 paths
-Third weapon choice and focus for all classes: Glaive, Twin Swords, Demon Hands, Weapon Bag
-New Character selection User-interface (a lot more organized now)

I already had a Leila for one of the events not too long ago, but I was happy to see all the other classes available too.  The new forest area for the extra characters feels very unpolished with glitchy animations, bad translation dialogues (which really bugs me because the core game's dialogue is great), repetitive music for the first two dungeons (which also bugs me since Rusty Hearts is filled with incredible tracks), and boring enemies.  Still, the core game is there and continues for those extra characters level 7 onwards.  I'm really excited about the new weapons and am on my way on choosing a focus for one of them.  All-in-all, this was a great update for all veteran players to come back to and one that new comers would enjoy.

NewNews - Rusty Hearts Update Delayed

Official Site: http://rustyhearts.perfectworld.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/36630/?snr=1_4_4__13

While everyone was waiting for Battlefield 3's release on October 25, I was waiting for the release of Beat-em-up MMO Rusty Heart's 4th character Natasha.

Source: Youtube Channel SintSuke

Natasha is unique in being the only character out of the four to use a non-melee weapon and abilities that don't fall into a combo (such as deploying a turret).  So the problem right now is that it's the afternoon of October 26 and Natasha is still not playable.  I checked the official page and found out that there was a problem in trying to update the game last night to implement her in.  It is now set to update sometime today in the evening, and the anticipation is driving everyone nuts!  I know for sure that when I log in there will be Natashas everywhere, but that's what usually happens when a new character is introduced to a game.

To those who haven't come across this magnificent game: Rusty Hearts is a Free-to-Play Online Beat-em-up where players journey through sewers and a castle to put down the evil Vlad from his reign of terror.  Players can party up to 4 players and fight countless monsters.  There's also the option for competitive PvP if you like fighting other players.  If you're still in the dark as to what Rusty Hearts is, read my review.  Or better yet, click either on the official site or steam page on top to play as it is a free online game!

My main interest in Natasha is the faster attack speed compared to the other characters (well, maybe except Tude) as well as her flashy combos that has a similar resemblance to Dante from Devil May Cry when choosing "Gunslinger" style.  Also, it might be easier to stay out of harms way as Natasha is the only ranged character in the game.  The only thing I'm worried about is damage output and input.  It doesn't matter how flashy her combos are if she can't deal that much damage and loses half her hp bar from one hit.  I guess I'll find out when the update finally launches.

GameLight Review - Torchlight

Official Site: http://www.torchlightgame.com/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/41500/

Source: Youtube Channel runicgames

Developer: Runic Games
Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment
Platforms: PC (Available on Steam), Xbox 360 (Available on XBLA)
Release Date: October 27, 2009
Genre: Action-RPG

Pros:
-Very easy to pick up and play
-Bright and colorful art style makes it easy to navigate around the game
-Intense action for beginners and veteran players (inclusion of hardcore mode)
-High replay-value

Cons:
-No multiplayer
-Can get repetitive
-Some dungeons are confusing

For a game I paid $5 for, it was quite an entertaining experience playing the game.  The pet system allowed me to continue venturing through dungeons while my pet goes back to town to sell items for me.  The simple gameplay made it very easy to follow along and learn how to play.  The bright and color art style is charming and also made it easy to distinguish objects within the game such as characters, enemies, items, traps, and environments.  It was a very good game to play when I wanted a break from all the others games as the game focuses a lot on exploring, spamming a lot of flashy skills, and killing a ton of baddies while taking their loot.  If you're one of the people waiting for Diablo 3 or Torchlight 2 or have played similar games in the past, I recommend giving Torchlight a try.

Graphics
I was a bit surprised with how the game looked the first time I started it up.  It has a cartoon-ish type look to it with an almost cel-shaded type of style.  I learned along the way that this was possibly a design choice as I had a easy time distinguishing the many objects around me.  I was also shocked that the game's art was done within the Ogre engine (look it up).  The character designs, vivid color effects from the skills and amazing dungeon environments are quite impressive using an art program I find very rigid and limiting.  But because of this, some models look blocky and some of them can look archaic.  I really like the colorful environment in the game as it stands out.  Some of the areas do feel sort of repetitive and boring at times though.  Some dungeons can be dark as well, and the many path breaks can make for a confusing journey.  After fighting for 2-3 hours in one type of dungeon, you'll want nothing more than a change of scenery.  Besides the environment, I really liked the effects and animations for the character skills.  They're bright, flashy, and dynamic.  And for a game that focuses a lot on the usage of character skills, it makes a big difference.  It's quite satisfying seeing all those lights and powers mow down hundreds of enemies as the screen shakes from the sheer power your character unleashes.  For character creation, there isn't a lot the player can customize and there are only two choices for pets.  In lacking a in-depth character customization, equipment does have a change in appearance for the character.  So armor and weapons will be more than just mere point progression but will also show the differences each particular item has on the character.  Graphics: 8/10

Audio
The composer for Diablo 1 and 2 joined Runic Games in creating an awesome soundtrack for Torchlight.  The music is more melodic than the compositions he did for the Diablo series, and so they're actually pretty enjoyable to listen to even out of the game.  It has the similar fantasy/mysterious atmosphere in the delayed/reverb guitar strumming with the low drums and synth tones playing.  The music is subtle and is between thematic and ambiance.  One of the reasons I enjoyed playing through Torchlight was listening to the music, especially in the one in town, the mines, and the lava kingdom (which is the one playing in the trailer above).  The sound effects were important in many of the gameplay aspects.  Certain items such as gems and rings made a distinct sound when dropped by a enemy.  Certain enemies can be heard from a distance and prepare the player on how to react.  Voice cues notifies the player of particular situations such as running low on mana, health is low, pet is fleeing, backpack is full, etc.  And the usual things such as getting a critical hit makes it so satisfying.  Overall, a superb job in the audio department.  Audio: 9/10

Gameplay
The game is developed behind veterans who worked on Diablo 1+2, Fate, and the original Mythos (done to test out the servers for Hellgate: London originally) and has a strong background in creating Action RPGs.  The game started out how I imagined it.  Something is wrong, you go into town, talk to the NPCs, get a quest, and then you start killing stuff in the dungeon.  The story, while not incredibly enticing, moves the game along.  Syl, one of the main NPCs, is summoned by her mentor Alrich to see him; however, she arrives at the town of Torchlight with her friend Brink only to find a swarm of monsters at the entrance of the mines.  The player finds out that Alrich is corrupted by the power of the embers below and attempts to awaken Ordrak, a powerful being deep below Torchlight.  The game consists of a lot of clicking (on items, enemies, objects, and paths) and a whole lot of spamming of character skills on the number row.  I've always hated how so many RPGs use the number row since it stretches so far from each other.  Luckily, I have a programmable speedpad (which has made my experience with a ton of RPGs much more enjoyable) so that all my skills are withing reach.  I didn't get the game at first and just used my regular attacks a lot.  After realizing how many potions I kept picking up, I started using my skills a lot more often and I saw the strategies I could use in large hordes of enemies by utilizing all my skill abilities rather than having them be a small complimentary attack damage to my regular attacks.  It's fun when there's a lot of fighting, but traversing through some of the dungeons can be bothersome if not repetitive.  After a while, it feels like you're just mashing a lot of buttons.  I got the most fun out of fighting bosses (though most all of them were easy except for the final boss Ordrak) and swarms of enemies.  Whenever I missed a quest because I didn't go to one of the forked paths, it's a bother to run all the way back to get it.  The gameplay will be much slower to those who are used to Diablo 2, but I suppose it was made that way so that it's easier for even beginners to gaming in general to cope with the game and be able to reaction to situations.  After beating Ordrak, the player can continue playing the game in a new dungeon.  They can also retire their character and pass down an item with improved stats for a new character.  After beating Ordrak, I wasn't very compelled to continue playing other than trying out the other two classes (I played through as a marksman vanquisher).  I'll probably jump on it once in a while to play through the new area and my newly created Alchemist, but I think I'm mostly ready for Torchlight 2.  Gameplay 7/10

Overall
I had fun with it, and I got my $5 out of it.  And if I really wanted to continue playing, I could.  One of the main reasons I'd go back to Torchlight, were I to play it again, would be to try out different builds and skills for the characters.  I mostly enjoyed the game, but at times I felt like I wasn't getting very much out of playing it.  Still, I'm glad I got the game and played through it.  It's a simple and fun distraction to play once in a while between my other games.  But because of Torchlight, I have very high hopes for Torchlight 2.  I'll probably play Torchlight a little more before the 2nd one comes out.  Overall: 8/10

GameLight - War of the Immortals

Official Site: http://woi.perfectworld.com/

Source: Youtube Channel PerfectWorldVideos

War of the Immortals will be a sequel of sorts (I suppose, not sure) to Battle of the Immortals.  It plays similarly but with extra content such as new classes, more items, and new dungeons to explore.  It'll be a top-down MMORPG with all the usual stuff such as PvP, questing, and instances.  I finally tried out Battle of the Immortals last night and got up to level 21 in 2 hours.  The gameplay is much faster than most MMORPGs nowadays, though it feels like an old school MMORPG as Online RPGs have that top-down isometic type of view.  War of the Immortals will be getting three additional classes from Battle of the Immortals: Ranger, Duelist, and Enchantress.  The game utilizes the auto-path function that most all Chinese MMORPGs have which makes it really easy to progress from one point to the next without having to guess where everything is.  Just a word of warning: the game looks a lot like Diablo, but it's not Diablo.  The game plays more closely to games such as Twelve Sky 2, Mir 2, and Ultima Online (if anyone even remembers that).  I'm liking Battle of the Immortals so far, so I'm anxious to see what sorts of improvements will be brought in War of the Immortals.

GameLight Review – Rusty Hearts

Official Site: http://rustyhearts.perfectworld.com/

Source: Youtube Channel steparu

Developer: Stairway Games

Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment

Platforms: PC (Available on Steam)

Release Date: July 27, 2011 (Close Beta Start)

Genre: Beat-Em-Up, RPG

Pros:

-Satisfying, arcade-style beat-em-up mixed with RPG elements

-Interesting characters, humorous dialogue, and captivating combat

-Unique animé-style, cel-shaded 3D graphics makes it easier to distinguish surroundings

-Fast-paced and easy to learn, but still challenging and engrossing to the advanced player

Cons:

-A lot of items are exclusive to those who pay with real money

-Going through the same dungeons multiple times can get repetitive

-Some of transitioning in attacks feels sluggish and clunky

I’ve been waiting for the global release of Rusty Hearts for quite some time now (1-2 years) and was very happy to hear that Perfect World Entertainment was going to publish and host the game.  The game is what I hoped it to be: fast-paced, instant gratification, challenging, and reminiscence of great beat-em-ups of the past.  With classic style beat-em-ups becoming a dying trend in the game industry, it was exciting to see Rusty Hearts bring some of it back while breathing new life into the genre with MMORPG elements such as questing, party gathering, looting, and equipment acquiring.  Since it’s an online game, it’s not as straight forward as retro beat-em-ups where the player just keeps moving on to the next level and beats the game in half an hour.  But the different objectives given to players by the in-town NPCs, different skills learned, and varying difficulty levels keep the game fresh, even when running through the same dungeon 5-10 times.  If you’re looking for a game you can instantly enjoy or a good cooperative game to play with friends, I would definitely recommend checking Rusty Hearts out.

Graphics

The majority of the game is based on an animé-style character and theme design using Cel-shaded 3D rendered models as its main look.  Because of the simpler graphics, I was able to run the game at full resolution and at the highest quality on my laptop, though the graphics lagged a bit so I switched the resolution down.  I would’ve liked to see graphics a bit more advanced for the game, but I think the developers desire to create an edgy look on the game works with the path of art style they chose.   Character dialogues have 2D versions of themselves next to the text.  Dialogues are usually 1-3 sentences by each character while they exchange quips and witty responses.  It makes reading the quests and character dialogue much more tolerable.  The conversations taken place among the characters in the game are actually quite hilarious considering the darker mood set by the darker color choices.  Despite having a heavy use of black, grey, and maroon, there’s a sense of vibrant contrast and colors throughout the game.  Franz is fitted with an extravagant coat, Angela has a bright red spiky hair, Tude has light blond hair, and upcoming character Natasha has a pastel violet hair which makes all the main characters stand out from the rest of the environment.  This makes is easier for players to keep track of where their characters are in dungeons as most of them are dark and in a very somber tone.  The graphics aren’t the best, but they work really well for the game.  It’s unique and distinguishable as its own game when compared to other online games.  Graphics: 8/10

Audio

I want to start off by saying that I really like the music.  It sounds similar to the style in music for Land of Chaos Online, and I’m wondering if it’s the same composer.  The compositions are subtle, but alluring.  In dungeons and boss battles, the music is exciting and in-your-face.  There are parts in the game where the characters have voiced-over dialogues, and they’re rather decent.  I generally cringe at English voice-acting when an Asian made game is brought over, but the voice-actors gave a sense of life in the characters through their dialogues and quips with each other.  I can’t really tell what the characters are saying when using their skills, and it’s possible that they’re spouting words from the original Korean version of the game (which I don’t mind).  The sound effects and flashy animations make all the attacks looks powerful, stylish, and devastating.  I’m not sure why, but some of the voice-over parts have problems where they skip over each other and off-sync from the texts.  This happened in the Steam version of the game and not the Open beta version from the official host.  I think the team that worked with the audio did a superb job for the game. Audio: 9/10

Gameplay

The easiest way for me to describe the game is to say that it’s like a 3D version of Nexon’s Dungeon Fighters Online.  The character walks around an open town to collect quests, purchase equipment, gather their party members and then instance into a dungeon together.  It may be that I’m not that far into Rusty Hearts yet, but the dungeons are a linear path (though it may not be later on, I’m not sure).  So it’s very much like retro beat-em-ups of going from one part of the screen to the next.  The combat is very basic with attacks being able to chain up to a certain amount of times while character skills can further continue the chain.  Each character starts with two special attacks and can later acquire more as they level up.  Players can block by holding down the Z key, but they can only execute it when they’re not moving or attacking.  A portion of the action bar can be spent to dash out of an attack in the middle of a combo.  The gameplay is very straight-forward in that the player must defeat all the enemies to advance forward, but the combat can be tricky as each enemy has their own special ability and attack to prevent the player from progressing further.  A lot of the attacks feel sluggish and clunky, but I suppose it’s to emphasize the amount of strength that each attack has when connecting each hit to the enemy.  It’s quite annoying in the beginning, but you’ll get used to the timing and be able to play more tactically that way.  It can be considered rather repetitive as many quests require the player to go into the same dungeons over and over again, and when the player isn’t advancing towards new skills.  One must understand that the game is a beat-em-up and that it mostly involves a lot of combat.  To some, the game might be more of a button masher than anything.  Players can easily jump into a party by using the party finder in town and gather up 4 players to get through each dungeon.  For the paying items in the game, some of them do give paying players an advantage; however, a majority of the items are for aesthetic purposes with outfits and accessories to dress the character up.  I am so keen on playing games such as Rusty Hearts now since they don’t require too much time to fully enjoy the game and the core game is playable right from the start (I do love my MMORPGs, but too many of them require that you hit a certain level before you start instancing or PvP).  There hasn’t been a free online game recently that has made quite a good impression as Rusty Hearts has.  Gameplay: 9/10

Overall

The game has high quality development in aesthetics (graphics/audio) and concept (gameplay).  I was really excited to be able to play it after waiting for it for so long.  Even better, Perfect World has added Rusty Hearts to the Steam program which makes downloading and updating much easier.  The game isn’t complicated and a ton of fun.  I also must commend the localization team for the translations, dialogue, and voice over dubbing.  The texts for quests are interesting and humorous, the dialogues between the characters give more personality to them, and the translation seems to be holding up very well so far.  I hope that more online game publishers AND developers learn from Rusty Hearts in creating dialogue that players care about.  I love the lore in a lot of games, but I don’t need to read 5 pages worth of dialogue to know that I’m supposed to kill 10 rabbits and bring them back.  I wish Perfect World Entertainment the very best in running Rusty Hearts and hope that more people will try out this magnificent game.  Overall: 8.7/10