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

Loadout

Loadout is a new free-to-play, over-the-top, third-person action shooter. In addition to being a magnet for compound adjectives, Loadout is being touted on the virtues of its in-game customizablity. The game's developers, a company called Edge of Reality, have been in the game industry for over a decade, but this game isn't like most of the work they have done in the past.

Gameplay: Loadout doesn't innovate. You've played it's gametypes, you've fired it's weapons, and you've traversed it's maps. If I was going to forgive that, I'd say so about now, but I'm not. The biggest problem with Loadout is that it fails to stand out and try new ideas. When I think about the gameplay I'm reminded of another F2P game from last year called Renaissance Heroes that closed down last December. The games had a lot in common in terms of how they feel to play, and that was enough to keep me entertained for at least a few weeks. What sank Renaissance Heroes, in my opinion, was the exorbitant costs of the "micro" transactions. Loadout shouldn't have this same problem, but the fact remains that the gameplay has been tried and has failed.

If the customization options were truly deep, or if there was really much of an option at all, there would be more to say for this game. While the options are there for higher level or premium players, for most the game doesn't live up to its promise. Between a tech tree for new weapon options and experience points to spend upgrading and customizing your loadouts, the game has a capacity for depth that isn't realized until days and hours have already been sunk into playing it. The customization options should bemore readily accessible to new players if that's what this game is going to seel itself on. Without something special, without something to tell your friends about, Loadout doesn't stand a chance against the superior gameplay of its competitors. 7/10

Graphics: The graphical style of the game (reminiscent of Borderlands' "concept art style") is supposed contribute to that "over-the-top" sensation. Effectively, I've seen few players with the premium items and so much of the game looks repetitive. The maps are nice, but nothing special, and, while the projectiles are okay, the explosions don't make much of a visual impact. The animations are good and the way that damage shows on your character is downright admirable--easily one of the best parts of the game. 7/10

Sound: Loadout doesn't fail to utilize sound, but it does fall short of gaining anything form it. The clips of music and the beeping response you hear when you get a hit are effective at giving feedback, but they fail to add much to the experience. Sound hasn't been ignored in this game, but it has again failed to innovate in any way. 7/10

Value: As a free-to-play game, value is usually an easy win. Something for nothing is always worth it, and in Loadout you won't be overwhelmed by pay-to-win players (there just aren't very many of them). The premium currency reasonably priced, unlike it was in Renaissance Heroes, the F2P game I mentioned above, where a new weapon cost around $20. Moreover, daily rewards offer a chance at unlocking some of those premium items for free which is great. 8/10

Playing Time: Daily rewards area  great way to get players into a game day after day, but once you've gotten it there is little reason to stick around. For me, Loadout is a game I'll play for two or three matches (fifteen or twenty minutes) before I move on to something I enjoy more. I play a couple of matches, spend my experience, and move on. This is a game I'll play for a few weeks, and when I find something else I'll move on. While a game like SolForge has kept me playing with it's dailies, Loadout doesn't lend itself to quick sessions quite as well. All in all, I'll be done with this game before I really get a chance to enjoy it's customization options. 5/10

Overall: I'm not impressed with Loadout. The game is fun, but lacks anything to keep me hooked or to tell my friends about. There are no cool gimmicks or refined systems. It is too easily put down and too easily forgotten. I'm disappointed that I didn't have more customization options available to me at the start, and I feel that to be the first and foremost failure of the game. 68/100 F

SolForge, Again.

Since my last post was a repeat, I thought I'd make a thing of it. SolForge is another game that I've kept on playing since I posted about it. That's where the similarities end.

My last post praised Smite for its updates and innovations, but I can't say the same for SolForge. Still, I will begin with the positives. SolForge has had two things going for it after their most recent update. First, they added a few new cards and changed both the art and abilities of a few existing ones. Stuff like that makes me feel like the game is getting worked on, getting polished, and getting ready for a full release. Second, Stoneblade Entertainment's latest e-mail blast informed me that the game has been released on iOS. I have an iPhone, so this was great news for me, but my brother (who plays the game with me) is not so lucky. I was pleased to find that the game is nearly identical on an iDevice, but that left everything feeling a little cramped. I'd think that on a bigger screen that wouldn't be much of a problem, and considering that I think it would be great to play on an iPad. Games can be played between iDevices and PCs which is convenient, as your ongoing games and saved decks are available anywhere.

But the game is stagnating. The new cards are few and the balancing they tried to do did not even touch Grimgaunt Predators, which is one of the strongest creatures in the game. Still, new art and new cards are what the game needs right now, and I'll take anything over nothing. I feel like I've run out of things to do in the game, and that's a huge no-no. Sure, I can play a few games every few days and earn a few chances for the rare new cards, but I have no reason to desire those cards. I can keep using the same deck I've been using for weeks now to win game after game, or try something new only to be faced with a variation on my last deck. In short, the game is not yet balanced. There isn't enough of a "come back and win" feel to most of the matches. They end up feeling tedious. Like reading short sentence after short sentence. There's too much punctuation--not enough flow. Nothing to excite me. Nothing to entice me.

Simply put, I wish there was more I could say about SolForge at this point. In the weeks since my first post on the game nothing has gotten me excited to keep playing. New cards, I feel, are something that the game needs and so the most recent update is a step in the right direction, but it's like giving a starving man a cracker. There has also been a "campaign" button grayed-out on the main menu since release that I would like to hear more about. There does seem to be some backstory to the game (some explanation of just what a "SolForge" is will be nice) and I would hope the campaign aims to explore that, but obviously at this point it is impossible to know. Maybe Stoneblade is planning to wait for an official release before bringing out the campaign mode, which would seem to make sense, but why sacrifice the opportunity to get feedback on it? Furthermore, as the game is starving for attention at the moment, it seems like it would be a better idea to make what they have available sooner than later.

I hope that SolForge will make some improvements and expansions soon, because my interest is waning. It's the kind of game I want to like, but I don't see the developers making the effort for me right now.

Dragon's Prophet

I've been meaning to post about Dragon's Prophet for a while now. I think that alone says something about the game. It's another one of those that's getting left behind.

So let's not waste any time getting to the review. The game is aesthetically pleasant, not gorgeous but still nice to look at. There are dragons and creatures in wide varieties that add color and life to the world. The character models are nice and are very customizable. The combo-style of the combat is engaging and the objectives are very clear from just the mini-map, but here's where things start to go downhill.

The gameplay overall is familiar--you pick up quests, kill the things, return to questgiver. Nothing about the gameplay is better or worse than you can find elsewhere and this contributes to the biggest problem with the game. A clever and entertaining premise loses its shine as it doesn't continue to impress. the quests themselves aren't anything special. You won't encounter new mechanics as you level and things become repetitive all too quickly. The combo-combat is a nice variation from the norm, but when I use the same combo the same number of times over and over to kill each enemy it doesn't feel special anymore.

I must qualify my opinion, however, in saying that I didn't play the game all that far. I finished the first two zones and wasn't finding anything new, so I was ready to move on. What I could have missed later on in the game was something I didn't feel compelled to discover. I would have liked an early taste of what excitement was still to come (if there was any) because I found the game very easy to put down.

If wrangling dragons is something you've always dreamed of, hop in Dragon's Prophet and get your kicks. If it's not, though, I'd say this is a game you can pass on. It's not going to be discussed in future gaming conversations and, while I think the premise could be revised and re-done by another game, Dragon's Prophet isn't really worth the time an MMO asks for.

Ridge Racer: Driftopia

Let's get one thing straight right away: I like racing games; racing games don't like me.

That in mind, I downloaded Ridge Racer: Driftopia because it was free to play and available on Steam. I can forgive a lot of frustration if I'm not paying for a game with real dollars, and that's a good thing with this game because it quickly had me spouting curses.

If you crash, you spend repair kits to fix your car. The better your car, the more kits it will take to repair it and if you can't afford it you'll lose the car permanently. Now, that doesn't bother me outright, but it is very easy to crash either by your own hand or due to the ruthless "spirits" of other players which race against you. I've had to close the game and come back the next day with more repair kits just to save my best car more than once.

Were this a more impressive game, I would feel more compelled to discuss the rest of the notes I made while playing the game, but the simple fact it that the game isn't special. There's nothing glaringly wrong with it, either, so if you're someone looking for a game to waste a little time with, this is as good a candidate as any. You get a car, you drive the car, you get boosts, you get a new car, you drive the new car, ad infinitum.

This is a game you can play for a few weeks, and then forget about forever.

SolForge

I've been playing a bit of SolForge recently. It is free-to-play, and an open beta is available on Steam, so I can recommend it without any qualms.

When I first started playing, the interface was heart-breakingly slow. You would wait three times as long for the game to load as it took to assess and play your hand. It's better now, though still not exactly quick.

I say "heart-breakingly" because the game has been enjoyable since I started playing it. The gripe most new players seem to have is that a starter deck isn't very strong, leaving the player helpless against the CPU's much stronger cards. In my case, I've played enough to have one good deck and one mediocre deck, so the problem isn't one which can't be overcome. You'll need to collect a few stronger cards before taking on "hard" CPUs and online players, so it's not well suited for an immediate binge.

But that plays into the game's charm. It's the kind of game you can play for a few minutes to an hour (at most), and then you'll be more than ready to go do something else. You can come back tomorrow for a daily log in reward and a chance at strengthening your deck, play until you win three games for another daily reward, and then move on.

If you want to play multiple games at once (if you're going to play online, you do), you'll be back and forth between games and the main menu constantly. It would be better if you could have a window open up for each game so that you could keep an eye on all of them at once. I'd love to see that happen in the future.

New cards are coming out and surely some changes are coming to old cards (grimgaunt predators are way OP). The game is still in its early stages and all the problems are certainly not ironed out just yet, but it's free-to-play and games are quick enough that you won't have much trouble keeping the daily rewards coming. The game is easy enough to play that it can appeal to a casual gamer with enough strategy to appeal to old-school tabletoppers. I'd say this game is definitely worth a try, and if you like it you can recommend it to gamer and non-gamer friends alike.