Smashmuck Champions

If you've played Monday Night Combat, Team Fortress 2 and League of Legends, then I can describe this game to you rather easily: Smashmuck Champions is to LoL as MNC is to TF2.

But that's oversimplified and, anyway, I don't think many folks have played MNC. So here are the basics of what Smashmuck Champions is: Isometric camera angle, Character "Champions", minion waves, and a few game modes across fewer arenas.

Nothing stands out in this game, and there isn't anything that brings you back to it day after day. I played it three times and, although I enjoyed it, I think I'll be uninstalling it soon. I just don't have any desire to go back.

I think about SolForge, which had a rocky start to say the least, but has a daily reward system that keeps me interested. Daily rewards are common in games these days, (particularly with F2P games) but they need to offer something you want in order to be effective. In SolForge, the prospect of getting lucky with a big pack of cards in my daily reward is enough to keep me earning them day after day.

Smashmuck Champions is altogether too forgettable. To be fair, I haven't tried all the champs, but I don't really care to, either, and in all fairness that's a bigger problem. It's not that the game doesn't have it's quirks, it's idiosyncrasies, and it's not that those aren't a nice change from the games I play every day, but there isn't enough there that's pulling my attention back.

All in all the game has two major problems: the gameplay, which doesn't stray far from the usual and fails to excite, and the relative obscurity of the title. The latter is a disadvantage not to be critical of the game itself for, but in the realm of free-to-play multiplayer games it's a hurdle that has to either be jumped or worked around. Smashmuck Champions does neither, and as a result the game is all too forgettable.

Gaming Playlists: Game On, Game Hard

I've been assembling and refining a few gaming playlists on YouTube over the last few weeks. Having dual monitors is great for this; I fullscreen the playlist on the smaller monitor and game on the larger one. I do the same thing with Netflix sometimes, but splitting my attention isn't always a good idea. Many of these songs are music videos, others are lyrics videos, but in either case you can stay focused on fragging. 

Don't forget to shuffle.

Here are the links:

This playlist is for fast-paced gaming. The songs tend to be louder and have a faster tempo. I use it when I play competitive game because they are the kinds of songs I'd set montages to.

Play it loud. Game Hard.




This playlist is for longer gaming sessions. The songs are generally longer and are better for playing in the background. I use this playlist for MMOs and casual games like SolForge.

 Play it long. Game On.




This playlist combines the previous two. As a result, the music is of a wider variety and there are about twice as many songs as the other two playlists. This playlist is best if you don't want to hear the same thing twice.




Finally, here is a link to a Pandora station I've used for a few years. If Pandora is more your thing, Castlevania Radio is a personal favorite.

Edit: Here's another Pandora link that a friend of mine suggested. It's based on Pretty Lights, but brings in rockier stuff as well. I like it for longer, chiller sessions.