FreeStyle Street Basketball – A simple game of B-ball

by Michael Sagoe (Mikedot), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Back in 2007, South Korean developer JC Entertainment and US publisher Sierra Entertainment released a new kind of MMO that mixed RPG elements with old school b-ball, and they called it “FreeStyle – Street Basketball” (or FSSB for short.) Despite some strong publishing support back then, the US version of FSSB was shut down with very little signs of a revival.

 

The game was then resurrected for the global market and published directly by JC Entertainment under their GameKiss portal. Since then, the game has been given several updates and additions to keep it afloat. But with such an old game out in today’s market, does FSSB have enough going for you get in the game or should you stay on the sidelines for this one? Let’s find out.

 

Customization

 

First off:  You must pick a general position class for you character. You can play as a Guard, Forward or Center, and each position has different strengths and weaknesses.

 

 

There’s a huge lack of initial character customization options for both male and female appearances, so you will have to look like some average joe for a while before you can look stylish and fly on the court. One aspect that I found interesting regarding initial character creation, however, was that your selected character’s height has an overall effect on your character’s starting stats, so deciding how tall or short your baller is has to go into consideration.

 

Features

 

Hopping straight into the tutorial: The game explains the basics of basketball at a snail’s pace, but if you have ever played a basketball video game before this, you should already know exactly what to do, so you can just skip the tutorial altogether.

 

The amounts of modes available in FSSB are fairly moderate. You can play quick 1-on-1 or 2-on-2 pickup matches, or assemble a full 3-man team with friends and strangers.  If you’re not confident enough to go against players in a live match, FSSB gives you options to hone your skills with practice modes, mission modes, NPC battles and a free court feature that lets up to six players shoot some hoops with no ranks on the line.

 

FSSB also features an open court lobby that lets you walk around in a murky urban town, allowing you to chat with other players, but this town is pretty much empty and holds almost no real purpose since the features available from the lobby can be accessed from the main menu. But hey, there is a few amusing things you get to see around here, like a bunch of crazy disco dancers and a freaky looking dog.

 

 

Hey look is that Spuds Mackenzie?!

 

The overall themes with FSSB are all about urban culture and youth, but it’s a hit-and-miss thanks to the game’s somewhat lackluster presentation.

 

The thing about FSSB’s urban theme is that it feels too forced, too marketed and too tacked on. All of the character voices (especially the in-game announcer) come off as cheesy and may get tiresome after hearing their voices over and over again. FSSB’s visuals are simply dated and have not aged well at all. Even with the game’s nicely cell-shaded character models, textures for the environments are muddy and low-res. Plus: The max resolution available is only a mere 1024×768, which looks awful on newer PC monitors.

 

The only real upside with FSSB’s presentation is that it comes with a really stealer original soundtrack. Well… that is if you’re into Rap, Hip-hop and Jazz like I am.

 

Controls

 

Getting down to the actual meat of game, FSSB plays just like… well… a basketball video game. Controls are handled with the arrow keys for movement and the WSAD keys before both offense and defense. All the general commands that you would expect to find in a basketball video game are here: You can pass, shoot, dunk, screen, steal, etc. All the mechanics here are done pretty well, but not well enough to stand out in comparison to other basketball video games out there.

 

 

After playing several rounds, your character will earn a few levels, RPG style, allowing you to increase your stats and play your role more efficiently. Once you hit LV15, you can advance your character with a sub-class like Shooting Guard or Power Forward, but these sub-classes only increase your stats further and do not involve any changes to core gameplay.

 

 

Using different skills on the court is all a matter of having them unlocked after meeting certain requirements such as having enough points earned from games or achieving a high enough level. These skills are separated as basic skills and freestyle skills. All of the basic skills you can earn are useful, but not so much with the freestyle ones. Freestyle moves are just flashier versions of basic skills that are performed at random. Besides from some crossover moves, there’s very little point to having freestyle moves for anything but showing off.

 

 

Community

 

The community you’ll be playing with here is a mix between sweet and sour. The players here seem to be really serious about their b-ballin’. Once you hit the later levels, everyone expects you to know your role by now, and if you don’t , they WILL nag on you about it… not that there’s anything wrong with that, since it’s a team game and having synergy among your team to make up for weakness is important. When you are doing your part to help out your team, players will mostly be enjoying themselves regardless if it’s a win or lose situation. Just make sure you are aware of everything that’s going on and yell out a few commands here and there by pressing the 1-6 keys.

 

Overall

 

FreeStyle Street Basketball plays a pretty decent game of B-Ball, but it simply doesn’t try to push any envelopes for both basketball video games and with MMOs in general. It may be enjoyable to play every now and then, but if you’re looking for a deeper, richer basketball game experience, you can do far better than FSSB.

 

Pros:

 

*Simple controls

 

*Great OST for Rap, Hip-Hop and Jazz lovers

 

Cons:

 

*Dated visuals

 

*“Marketed” urban style

 

*Gameplay mechanics are basic and uninteresting

Empire & State: One to Rule Them All

by Chris Mcgraw, OnRPG Guest Writer

 

 

 

Empire and State is an ambitious java-based browser MMO that takes the free-to-play Mafia Wars format and throws in a dash of Risk (or Axis & Allies, if you know your board games).  While it’s still in early beta and many features and bug fixes are forthcoming, the promise of an addictive and engrossing strategy game is already evident.

 

 

You begin the game as a newly arrived immigrant to the colony planet Altea, which is represented as a colorfully rendered hex-grid in the tradition of classic war games.  As a broke, lowly wretch with a chip on his shoulder (in my case, looking a bit like Mal Reynolds from Firefly) you set out to look for work in the various cities and slums that populate the otherwise untamed landscape.  Taking on jobs and advancing your character should be familiar to anyone who’s played Mafia Wars or one of its numerous clones, but don’t let the dull introduction turn you away just yet.

 

 

After a few levels and some aimless wandering you will acquire a cargo truck and the ability to pledge allegiance to one of the various factions vying for control of the world.  A quick flight over to your new nation’s capitol city, and the game starts to get interesting.  We have all read in our history books about brave immigrants traveling to American shores with nothing but a penny in their pocket and the shoes on their feet, and by the sweat of their brow forging mighty industrial empires, but they didn’t try it in Altea!  A few mouse clicks later and I was the proud owner of two factories and an iron mine.  How’s that for self-reliance?

 

 

Sadly, you’re initially limited in the number of resources you can control, which includes vehicles and structures.  Expanding your managerial finesse to handling greater than four properties at any given time requires you to purchase points for real world cash.  Game developer Novel sells points for upgrades, in-game credits and stamina refills, which leads to the inevitable frustration many newcomers to F2P games experience: unless you are willing to commit massive amounts of time to playing the game, the players with deeper wallets will always have an edge.

 

 

Nations battle each other for control of resources and cities on the map, and the resources you control can be used to produce vehicles and other items that you and your fellow citizens will use to conquer and dominate adjacent lands.  If you’re lucky you could find yourself elected as leader of your people, after which you can issue executive orders and attempt to subjugate and oppress your citizens like any good dictator would.  If you find yourself consistently out-voted, you can even attempt a rebellion to found your own empire.

 

 

While many features are still being added, the innovative strategic and social aspects of the meta-game already stand out amongst a crowded field of F2P contenders.  This game is one to watch in the coming weeks and months, and if you feel that your megalomaniac tendencies toward global domination aren’t being completely fulfilled in real-life, you should start playing today to achieve decisive advantages over the many other players that are sure to come.

Tribal Wars: Strategy RPG or Bubonic Plague?

by Scott Braquet (SimpleAnatomy), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

History has proven that true power lies in the land a rule keeps and the armies that defend it. The Middle Ages stand testament to that fact: this was an era where small, unknown villages were forged into historic empires by vast amounts of blood and steel. Epic battles raged for months on end, armies vying for the honor of becoming historical legends. Tribal Wars, a 2D browser based strategy RPG, steps on to the battlefield bearing more resemblance to a squire than a knight.

 

 

Presentation:  4

Tribal Wars features a homepage that provides the user with an overview of their village. The overview is surrounded by menus essential to a strategy based RPG; showing the production/limits of each resource, size of your army, and amount of villagers. The overview works well enough, showing the little village busy cultivating resources as it prepares itself for future wars. Tribal Wars also features an in game task bar for easy access to other gaming essentials such as mail and the game forums.

 

 

The overall presentation is bland and unoriginal; the Middle Ages were the birthplace of unique music, language, and artwork that could have been incorporated to enhance the gaming experience. The inability to zoom in on your village takes away from the overview display; the distance keeps the user disconnected from his army. With a lot of unused space on both sides of the screen; integrating the ability to either increase the menu size or provide users the ability to adjust the menus would allow for a much more customized experience and would greatly benefit the user interface.

 

Gameplay:  3

Strategy based RPGs have been around just as long as the material they cover and provide stiff competition against Tribal Wars by offering so much more. Not only do Risk, Warcraft, and Civilization all have much more depth in terms of both units and buildings, but they also provide an easier learning curve. Beginners are at a disadvantage due to inadequate tutorials and the inability to play without making huge mistakes.

 

Establishing seasons would allow players to make mistakes knowing that mistakes made now will be reset in the future, as well as increase the overall speed of the game. In addition, story driven quests would break up the one dimensional gameplay and help users conduct their tribe in a more neutral way. Users who choose to pay will experience a laundry list of upgrades that completely change the way the game can be played.

 

 

If faced with the option to continue playing or meet my doom at the hands of the Black Death I have a feeling I would take my chances with the plague.

 

Community:  5

The games community is built on establishing tribes, forging or breaking alliances with other tribes in an attempt to climb the leaderboards. Tribal Wars earns an accolade for the social interaction within and between tribes.

 

Unfortunately, the forums are dull and boring, as the staff is keen on censorship. Clans are either closed to recruiting new members or require enough gaming experience to prompt an invite. Finally, with most accounts being run by two people to maintain a competitive edge, players are too engaged in their tactics to socialize outside of their respective tribes.

 

Conclusion:  4

Providing a lackluster presentation paired with gaudy gameplay mechanics, Tribal Wars surrounds itself with peasantry. Newcomers beware as the game leaves you with very little to go off of outside of the help section; add to that the fact that most clans disregard the task of teaching new players the ropes. There is a rough road ahead for any new player to attempt to break into the Tribal War’s society. After seeing what Tribal Wars has to offer it is easy to understand where the Dark Ages originated from.