MMO News |
- SMITE’s New God, Tyr The Lawgiver, is Unleashed
- World of Warplanes Pre-Launch Preview
- Lost Saga – Updated Review
| SMITE’s New God, Tyr The Lawgiver, is Unleashed Posted: 07 Aug 2013 01:02 PM PDT Today we have another new addition to Hi-Rez Studio's SMITE roster with the release of Tyr, the Lawgiver. Tyr is the embodiment of courage, honour and justice, worshipped as the pinnacle of righteousness. He is a physical melee bruiser who looks to crush his opponents with his series of powerful abilities and two stances. Using either the Assault or Guard stance, Tyr can alter what effect his abilities have on him and his opponents.
For example, with his Power Cleaveability, Tyr can choose to push enemies back and into the air in Assault stance, or heal himself for each enemy hit when in his Guard stance. Tyr's ultimate ability is Lawbringer, which rains down big damage on all opponents within radius. Leaping high into the air, he brings down damage and slows all enemies within the target area.
Also included in this latest SMITE update are new golden skins, three new voice packs and some major changes to the games front-end user interface. |
| World of Warplanes Pre-Launch Preview Posted: 07 Aug 2013 12:24 PM PDT By Mohammad Abubakr While the focus of the majority of the online gaming community has been around the Action RTS/MOBA genre, other genres have continued to expand, improve and introduce new games. World of Warplanes is the latest project by Wargaming who has also brought us World of Tanks. The game is still in its open beta stage but has changed a lot over time. This past week when Wargaming invited press from around the world to Minsk, Belarus, for Wargaming HQ’s 15th anniversary party, we assumed it would be to announce the official launch of Warplanes. While that might not be the case, we learned there is plenty more on the way (catch our second article later today for more info) that will make this game even more “Legendary” when launch finally arrives. I have always been a fan of flying. I’ve played with planes and helicopters since I was a child and still continue to do so. When Dizzy posted the opportunity to give the game a fresh look, I immediately took on the project. The idea of fighting other players using warplanes built around the specs of the actual real world models sounded very appealing. Similar to World of Tanks putting the player in the shoes of a tank driver, World of Warplanes launches you into the sky to pilot various warplanes alongside allies working to defeat enemy players. Due to its controls, World of Warplanes plays very similar to a third person shooter although it does feel a lot slower paced. Rather than bunny hopping and run and gunning circles around foes, you’ll find yourself in methodical games of chess as you each alter speed and elevation in an attempt to shake the other. The controls are very easy to get used to and allow easy maneuverability of your plane through the skies. With simple WASD maneuvering combined with mouse controls that function as your trigger, camera, and aiming, all gamers familiar with any shooters will catch-on after a game or two. At no point during my battles did I feel limited by the controls or ever think, “Why did it just do that?” With the very easy to use and natural controls, you are always in control of your warplane. The HUD (heads up display) displays just the right amount of information to players without cluttering the screen. Only important information such as distance from targets, HP, engine + gun health, and so on are displayed. Little indicators such as highlighting areas where your warplane excels against the target’s strengths allows even those of us that know little about warplanes to enjoy the game. The HUD is very well done, is visually appealing, and does not distract players from their battles. Only warplanes of similar tiers will be queued to enter matches with you. The battles look amazing. As noted by Remko in his previous article during the closed beta, the graphics have evolved and drastically improved over time. If your computer has the specifications to back it up, you will be blown away by the graphics. They are truly amazing for a free to play game. It is important to keep in mind that you will need a high end system to max out the game. To attain such beautiful graphics, WoWP works your system to its fullest. Don’t be surprised if your game hangs from time to time unless you have a high end system. Graphics are not everything to a game; there are plenty of games that look amazing but are still very boring. World of Warplanes is not a victim of this problem as alongside looking great it is still a ton of fun. The most important requirement for a game to be enjoyable is that it must be smooth and responsive. WoWP does not disappoint in this department. Keeping the player focused on decision making with wonderful dynamic explosions and the crisp sounds of gunfire ripping through sheet metal will suck you in and have you believing you’re in a real war environment in no time. It may be just a game but it tries its best to deliver realistic dog fights without over complicating the situation. Even in the open beta, WoWP offers a plethora of customization items when it comes to your warplane. Players may purchase various types of aircraft from USA, U.S.S.R, Germany and Japan. All of these countries offer different aircraft types with well tested pros and cons to make them deserving of being labeled as one of then tiers of planes. Depending on your play style, you may come to like one country’s aircraft over another’s. Unfortunately at this time the Japanese only offer one plane per tier and the British vehicles have not yet been implemented at all. WoWP allows players to further improve their aircraft. There are four types of aircraft in WoWP. The first type is the fighter class which is a low health warplane with high maneuverability. These warplanes work to eliminate other aircraft in the air making use of their mobility to avoid incoming fire and loop around slower aircraft. However, they are weak when it comes to fighting stationary ground targets. This is the recommended type for those looking for the most fast paced gameplay. The second type is the attack aircraft. These aircraft are the opposite of fighters as they have low maneuverability while possessing high durability. For this reason, these aircraft should focus on destroying stationary ground targets and should avoid dog fights. Attack aircraft can destroy fighters that make the mistake of playing a game of chicken. Instead, fighters hoping to destroy attack aircraft should aim to out maneuver these aircraft to come out on top. The next type is the heavy fighter. These have higher durability, firepower, and speed than the regular light fighters. However, these heavy fighters are not as maneuverable and can be taken down by skilled light fighter pilots. Once again, these aircraft will come out on top if light fighters make the mistake of fighting head on. These aircraft can be seen as similar to a sniper as they pick a target and take them out with a quick burst of automatic machine gun death. The final type is the carrier based fighter. These aircraft are all different based on the country they were manufactured in. Some might be similar to light fighters while others may be similar to heavy fighters. The main advantage of carrier based fighters is the ability to change your gameplay style. This is due to the option to add in additional weapons such as bombs and rockets instead of the typical machine guns found in other planes, making them great when customized for a given team composition. Even with so many choices between various aircraft, WoWP allows players to further customize their planes and crew by purchasing parts and gaining experience. New parts such as more powerful engines and stronger guns may be attached to improve all aircraft. Crews can be trained to provide additional skills such as increased vision. This is primarily done through a tech tree with some planes having some pretty advanced and diverse options that may require quite a bit of dedication in order to unlock their full potential. It is important to not get taken out as you cannot respawn. Your plane will be out of commission until the match ends, even though you can begin a new round with a different aircraft. WoWP provides many options for customizing your warplane and crew to fit your play style. Unfortunately there is not as many variants on battle objectives. At the moment you are only able to queue for one game mode which requires players to seek out and destroy enemy stationary ground targets or eliminate the enemy team’s warplanes. This mode is by no means boring but one does expect shooter type games to offer additional game modes. The game is still in open beta and additional game modes are bound to pop up as development progresses. Though I wouldn’t get my hopes too high as World of Tanks already seems to indicate Wargaming’s priority of polished gameplay and improved physics over new game modes. While the game is very well made and easy to play, it has a much slower pace than other shooter games. The limitations of your vehicle are quite real as you may find yourself receiving stall warnings if you climb in elevation too fast in an older fighter. Dog fights occassionally amount to minute long turning competition as you slowly gain and lose distance on your foe before having to take evasive maneuvers when one of the many sneaky mountains juts into your path. Other objects including surface to air turrets and stationary boats make add tactical flair to help veteran players set themselves apart from a green rookie. Plenty of other control types like joysticks and gamepads also exist to ensure the most familiar playstyle one could ask for. In conclusion, WoWP is definitely a game to be checked out if you are even remotely interested in air planes. It may not be as fast paced as other shooter games but the customization options and tactical team gameplay rival anything on the market. The warplane combat is very well done and is bound to impress and please any fans of the air shooter genre. If you are comfortable with a slightly slower paced methodical shooter, WoWP should not be overlooked. |
| Posted: 07 Aug 2013 10:31 AM PDT Lost Saga – Updated Review By Taylor Lux Have you ever wondered how a battle between an archer, Indiana Jones, a ninja, a pirate, Star Wars' Storm Troopers, a fireball wielding mage, and a world champion boxer all at an abandoned construction site would turn out? WeMade Entertainment's Lost Saga is your chance to do exactly that! This player versus player centric 3d brawler is rather unique due to the sheer number of different heroes you can play. Although it ends up rather complex, the number of actual keys you use is quite small. You have very minimal use of the mouse, usually only getting you into a room to brawl, and then arrow keys, A, S, and D are your only keys you need to fight with your hero. In one room, up to 16 players can play against each other at once. Generously Giving General Genres I must say that I was impressed with the expansive amount of different genres that encompassed the ranks of Lost Saga. It has everything from Paladins and Mages from high fantasy, to Infantry Men and Quarterbacks from a modern setting, to even a Cyber medic and a Storm Trooper from Sci-Fi genre, and even Pirates, Ninjas, and Treasure Hunters. Each has their own special abilities, tactics, and combos that they can utilize to make diverse characters while still only utilizing the same 3 buttons and movement keys. They do have a "training area" that you can try out new heroes and get to know each character with a tutorial. Each character can be unlocked for a certain amount of time, only 2 and 10 hours in game are for free unless you happen to be rather lucky with the random chance to get one permanent which is usually only reserved for those who use the micro transactions. There are small usually rather easy quests you can do to unlock heroes or get a bit of extra cash. Sadly, you have an overall rank that dictates which characters you can purchase on your own, unlocking a new character each rank that is furthered so you get rather familiar with the first ones quickly as it starts to drag how long it takes to advance in rank. However, if you are good at luck, the same chance of getting a character can give you various amount of time on a character that you do not have access to due to your rank, though typically only for 2 hours and it's a random draw on which one you get. On top of having an overall rank that dictates your purchasable characters, each hero has their own level. When your character levels up, you can spend 2 points, 1 point to lower the cool down of a special power or 2 points to raise your attack, defense, movement speed, or reduce the amount of damage you take while falling. It takes a certain amount of time even after selecting what you raise for the upgrade to take place. This adds some customization to your characters so not every pirate is the same as another one. Yoink! Your Hat Looks So Good on Me! One interesting mechanic that Lost Saga has going for it is that the 4 abilities are linked to their equipment: Weapon, Armor, Headgear, and Accessory. If your Treasure Hunter is in a battle and deals significant damage to his Quarterback, your opponent slowly loses his equipment which you can pick up to gain his abilities. This means you can have your Lancer have a Ninja Mask in a football uniform and have a jetpack just in case. It gets more intriguing because either through quest rewards or the in game currency or micro transaction stores (though it seems somewhat expensive) you can equip your Cybermedic with a Fire Mage's hat and teleport without needing to go against a Fire Mage and have him drop his hat. Game Modes Lost Saga started off with very few gaming modes to offer when it was launched; however, that has since expanded to a decent array of different modes that have since been added. Modes like one player becoming the "Boss" and all the other characters must fight together to defeat him, and once the Boss is defeated, the highest contributor in defeating the last boss becomes the new one and this continues until a timer runs out. Other modes include a one on one fighting area where spectators can bet on who's going to win the battle, a destroy the other team's object where attacking your own object heals it, keep possession of a crown for as long as you can and the first team to keep it on for a certain period wins. Naturally, they have very classic modes like one for all and regular team battles where the players attempt to reach a score of 100, but the amount of players on the opposing team dictates how much each kill is worth, the more players on a team the lower each scores. They also have an optional rule that I enjoyed, switch up teams. Every time you start a new round, your teams get switched up so you are never going against the same people twice. Your ally this round could be your opponent in the following round. It kept things fun for me because one team might dominate this round, but with the teams constantly switching, the next round was nearly a clean slate for both sides. Gone Fishin' A note that Lost Saga is about 95% pvp oriented, but there is a cooperative opportunity and a bit of social opportunities offered as well in the game. They have one cooperative mode, Crusader Mode, which pits players versus skeleton versions of the various heroes. Once the players have climbed 20 stories and defeated a major boss, they complete the mode. There are three different difficulties that correspond to how many players can be on the team. They also have some two social modes that can be used to gain some extra money without jumping into combat. These two are fishing (which is rather passive) and relic hunting where you take something akin to a metal detector and scan for objects that can be sold for cash. These both are passive enough that one can easily hold conversations and be social; however, the pvp focused nature of the game does not allow for much socialization in my experience. Any conversations in the pvp ends up being people complaining about various players spamming or teams being uneven and people loling at opponents falling off the side of the map. Verdict: Great! (if you enjoy pvp) The only two major issues I had with Lost Saga was the lack of social ties with the community and locking out heroes when it takes so long for them to be able to unlock them. The amount of heroes available and the amount of different modes that you can use your heroes with were outstanding. There's a pvp mode for everyone, and being someone who generally dislikes pvp in pve centric games, I found a few modes that were enjoyable. I believe the main thing that made me enjoy it as someone who generally stays away from pvp is all the different modes it has. Some people enjoy the very basic team versus team bash, which was sometimes fun, but can get old rather fast. With all the different modes, if I wanted more of a cooperative day, I could play Boss mode or Crusade. If I feel confident about my abilities, Champion mode is there for me. If every game had as much selection of various pvp options, I would probably enjoy them more; however, this is a page that pve games should take a look into incorporating into their games to expand their pvp side. |
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