Smite Gameplay

It's been too long since my last post, so here's a gameplay video I made last night.


I didn't talk much during this game in spite of being in chat with a few friends. It all seemed to work out pretty well, though. My team was able to find my heals and I was assisted well enough to escape from many tough situations. Maybe that was a bit of luck, but I think the other team was having some communication problems as well.

My favorite part of this game was actually the music that played. It's always nice to have a playlist you've made seem to work, but in this match it seemed to match the frenetic pace of some parts and the quiet lulls in others.

I seem to have good games when I play Ra. His MP5 is strong enough that you don't need much more than a rank 1 mana heal and some cooldown reduction. He makes for a very fun god and a great choice for beginners--just remember, your #3 is a heal, not a damage move, so use it like one!

In other Smite-related news, Hi-Rez have announced the game for Xbox One. My hope is that the added publicity and (hopefully) marketing budgets can bring the game to a wider audience.

I'll be back with another post soon.

Smite's Official Release!

Today, Smite is officially out of its beta testing phase! This game is one which I have posted about multiple times in the past, and a game which I play almost every day. Most of the changes the game has seen over the last few months have brought it closer to a League of Legends clone, and yet, while that's not typically a compliment, I believe it has helped guide this game. Even their new cinematic teaser (below) is reminiscent of LoL's trailers in style and mood.

Recent changes to the item store in particular have made this game feel even more like League of Legends. LoL's popularity has been growing and the realm of e-sports has been growing around it, so hitching their wagon to LoL's train isn't a bad strategy. Still, it is becoming more difficult to describe Smite in its own terms. If the abilities become known by their LoL counterpart, and gods which should feel unique become amalgamations of LoL's champions (who are themselves amalgamations of DotA characters), then it becomes difficult to bring new players into the game--something I dearly hope for.

They're newest addition to their roster of gods, Ullr, doesn't add much to the game creatively. While I'm interested to explore his strengths and weaknesses, I would hope that future god releases include characters with a little more imagination in their abilities. It does compensate, somewhat, that his skin, "Strider", makes reference to  J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings", but I would prefer that the skin itself was more than just a change of color. The other skin they added recently, Dark Lord Sun Wukong, is clearly "inspired" by Star Wars, and if they're willing to run the risk of copyright infringement, why not an Assassin's Creed "inspired" skin for Ullr?

Now, before Hi-Rez has a chance to make major changes to their game again, I would like to share a quick gameplay video I recorded a few days ago. This match was over after only about 10 minutes, but most matches are between 15 and 25. The gametype is Assault (ARAM) and I play as Ra, a relatively basic god and one of the several available to new players for free. More than anything, though, my goal here was to give you some idea of what this game is like and, at the very least, this video can accomplish that.

If you haven't heard of Smite before or would like to give the game a try, check out it's page here

Smite is (still) the best game you aren't playing

Back in August, I wrote my first post about Smite. Lately, I've been playing the game again quite a bit. A few friends of mine are playing it with me regularly and I find myself wanting to post about it again.

Since August, the game has received updates and new gods. The interfaces have undergone numerous face-lifts and the game modes have been expanded and refined. The new mode, Assault, is a copy of League of Legend's ARAM (All Random All Middle) and works very well in Smite. Randomly assigned gods push players to learn new characters and play-styles while making teamwork essential to victory. Not only does this make the mode exciting, it also encourages players to branch out in other gametypes. Several older gods have gotten new looks along with brand new gods from Central American and Chinese mythologies. Unlike new characters in LoL, they don't come out overpowered to garner interest and instead require the player to learn a new combination of abilities.

The game does a great job of just being fun to play. Since I've been learning to play with more gods, I've grown more enamored with the variety of play and importance of teamwork. Over the course of just a single game, as a team learns to play with one another, you can witness huge swings of momentum that turn a blowout into an exciting comeback. Too few games offer that kind of emotion.Smite is a game where even when things seem lost you can come back and win with a little luck and the right items.

And speaking of items, it's one of the things I still don't love about the game. There are a few that are essential, and a number that simply aren't. It would be nice if there was a greater variety in what items were good for each character, but as it is there are a few that are simply too good. It's not a huge problem; there are some items obviously geared toward certain styles of play while others offer better all-around stats. That said, it makes the game a little easier to learn, and that's good for helping out new players a bit.

In certain gametypes, the right items can be game-breaking. Hi-Rez removes some items from certain types, but it's still possible to make certain gods nearly unkillable and others so deadly that, all other things being equal, some games are decided before they start. In the real world, of course, "all other things" are never held equal, and sometimes you can have a lot of fun stealing victory from a match you shouldn't win. But, in any case, it's a problem when the players are being assigned gods (like in the ARAM-style Assault Mode) that can't do the job.

A good game lets you start it up and get playing fast. Smite could do this better. Queues tend to take about a minute and a half, whereas in games like LoL and Starcraft 2, queues can take only a few seconds. Their current queuing system is pretty dedicated to the countdown aspect, with a new round of each game type beginning every 4 minutes, but if I never had to sit in another 3-minute queue I'd like the game more.

All that aside, there is truly just one thing keeping me in this game: I'm playing it with friends. The simple fact is that without a few people who want to play with me I wouldn't still be playing this game. It takes too much teamwork and I haven't found many other amiable players online. I worry that the community in this game is toxic in the same ways as the LoL community. Old players should try to be more understanding of new players and, if they can't be encouraging, should at least offer substantial criticisms that describe what was being done wrong. It doesn't do the team any good to throw insults--if something isn't working, you should fix it, not yell at it.

If this game keeps finding ways to improve itself, and if my friends stay interested in playing it, then I expect this will not be my last post about this game. I really look forward to people finding the game and the community of players growing. It should be coming out of beta in the near future and so I'm hoping to see it make a splash with a little well-placed advertising (Steam sale, anyone?).

Smite's Arena Mode Has Me Hooked!

I've been playing Smite for a few months. I wasn't a big fan when it was a MOBA like League of Legends or DOTA2, but since they've added Arena Mode there is a lot of fun to be had. It feels like PvPing in an MMO, and the characters are all based on gods and goddesses from various mythologies which speaks to the geek inside my heart.

I found out about the game in an e-mail from Hi-Rez Studios inviting me to play the beta. I made an account with them to play Tribes: Ascend but that game has recently gone out of development. I hope this means more time spent on developing Smite.

Playing the game, I can't help but feel that it's not as popular as it should be. I don't know why that is, exactly, because it's not like I'm seeing the same names over and over. Something about it just feels small and indy, which I like, but at the same time it's hard to get my friends to pick up a game like this when they're already accustomed to playing League of Legends.

There's a trend in gaming, I think, to only play the games your friends are playing. Maybe it's a wider trend in sociology, but I spend my social time gaming so that's where I can see it. Games like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, League of Legends, or Starcraft 2 get to be these titans of their genre, and the little guy is stuck trying to collect the scraps. At the same time there's all this attention being given to games and ambitious projects getting made, but the general desire from the gaming public is to flow into these really limited avenues. Starcraft 2 is not the be-all and end-all of RTS gaming, yet I don't have anyone asking me to play something else. From what I can tell, this is the same phenomenon that drove Xbox 360 sales through the RRoD fiasco--I bought one because my friends all bought one.

So I'm recommending Smite, not because I love all the game modes but because I had fun playing it, it's free to play, and I like at least a little variety in my MOBAs.


P.S.
I really like that Smite offers a variety of gametypes:
-Conquest: Your classic DOTA-style game with three-lanes and a jungle.
-Assault: The same as Conquest but without that pesky jungle.
-Joust: Again, largely the same as Conquest, but played 1v1 or 3v3 for a change of pace.
-Domination: A King-of-the-Hill gametype with three turrets as bases that score points for your team.
-Arena: Smite's Arena Mode is the real gem. It is a gaming experience I've missed since the good old days in World of Warcraft's Ring of Trials with jungle buffs on the side. 5v5, this mode is about learning to communicate and team fight. I've found that some of the new Gods added by Hi-Rez seem to be geared towards this gametype while others are definitely not. I recommend downloading Smite for this experience alone.
-Match of the Day: These matches vary from Conquest, to Assault, to Arena etc. and include special rules. Sometimes all players start at max levels, or with a mountain of gold, or with randomly selected gods. New types are added and sometimes they hit, sometimes they miss. The point is they're trying out new things, and this provides a fresh way to play every day.