Yearly Archives: 2012

GDC 2012 Day 2: Tactical Intervention

GDC 2012 Day 2: Tactical Intervention

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-in-Chief

 

 

GDC 2012 was filled with quite a few surprises. One of the most notable ones though came from the OG Planet nestled in the Korea booth towards the back of the main hall. 2012 seems like a popular year for releasing F2P online FPS games so I was a bit skeptical when I heard OG Planet was throwing their hand into the ring as well with Tactical Intervention. I have to say though after watching 20 minutes of gameplay, I think this game might be able to go the distance.

 

 

Maps and Modes

The majority of the maps take place in modern western urban environments. The main idea is the same as Counterstrike; the terrorists are up to no good and the counter terrorist group needs to put them in their place. A simple concept but when combined with the awesome looking game modes OG Planet has in store it really comes together well.

 

 

The first game mode I came across is a crowded mall filled with hostages running around everywhere that you are penalized for killing. Players will be able to hide inside convenience stores and storage closets, or within the shirt racks of major shopping centers to get the jump on their competition.

 

 

The next mode takes a step outside the box and actually has the counter terrorist group escorting a diplomat carrying an important briefcase full of information. The terrorists must eliminate this threat before the time limit is reached in order to succeed. This mode takes place on a crowded freeway and players will be forced to drive the diplomat to safety as terrorists and counter terrorists alike hijack cars and do all they can to prevent each other from reaching their goal. It gets really wild when you bring in the helicopter and start raining bullets from the sky as cars explode left and right.

 

 

The third game mode they had on display was still in the very earliest stages of design but looked like a hell of a lot of fun. The terrorists have a car bomb that they must drive under a moving airplane taking off from a runway while the counter terrorists attempt to stop them. Players will have to drive their vehicles maneuvering around fast moving aircraft while having a high speed shoot out with each other. It’s really something you have to see to believe.

 

 

The Environment and Realism

While the game modes might seem new and refreshing, the high production value of the game carries over well into the detail they put into designing the game’s environments. If you shoot into a line of shirts hanging on a wall, you’ll actually see the fabric get torn up by bullets. If you shoot the windows of a moving car they will explode glass everywhere. If you shoot out the tires, the car will lose control, and players will have to get out and change the tire before the car is operational again. Heck if you’re a crack shot and can deliver a series of shots to the gas tank, the entire vehicle will explode.

 

 

The environment isn’t just there to react to the player but also as a tool to help you through certain situations. For instance, one of the weapons shown during the demo was a fire flash grenade that can set a part of the map ablaze with intense high reaching flames for a few moments. This is ideal for cutting off an opponent’s escape or buying time for your team to regroup. But a crafty player with a sharp eye can grab a fire extinguisher off the wall and put out the flames early!

 

 

Players will also be able to use other environment props like riot police shields to tank heavy fire while providing cover for the rest of their team to infiltrate a room. And when you no longer need to provide  cover you can throw the shield as a projectile at an enemy combatant to disorient them while you open fire. Another way to use the environment is as a weapon! Say your foes are hunkered down inside a room camping your team and it’s suicide to merely open the door and walk into their hold out? Simply place an explosive on the door and watch as the door is blown off its hinges, damaging any unfortunate soul unlucky enough to get hit by the flying scrap metal as it soars across the room!

 

 

Miscellaneous Perks

There was a lot of information to take in during the short demo but two unique features really stuck out to me. The first of which was the fact that you can actually have a pet in an FPS game! The demo explained the various uses and commands you can give your police dog such as guard duty. Have no one to watch your back? Simply station your hound on your flank and he will start barking if any enemies start sneaking up behind you. The dogs are also useful for causing mayhem by sending them in to attack in opponent just before your team starts opening fire. The controls seemed simple and intuitive and should be easily accessible without taking players too far out of the normal FPS frame of mind.

 

 

Another side note I found cool is that players can heal each other. Teamwork is extremely important in this game so going rambo and getting cut off from the rest of your squad is the fastest way to lose a match in Tactical Intervention. Although they aren’t really dedicated classes in the game, you can choose to pimp out a few weapon types to carry an advantage in what you’re proficient with into battle. Silencers, scopes, and faster reloading are all among the possibilities of upgrades.

 

 

By far the part of the game that looks the most entertaining though is the vehicles. One player is responsible for driving their vehicle while other players can call shotgun or hop in the backseat (max 4 players to one car). Players that aren’t driving can actually duck in and out of the windows to take pop shots at opposing vehicles. The same control mechanics are in operation with helicopters! Players can sit in the open back end of the chopper shooting down at opponents. When the right time strikes, they can even grab onto bungee ropes and drop down to the surface to join the fight.

 

 

It’s hard to name off all the little nuances that make this game so interesting so I’ll conclude with this last one. Players can choose to lean their character to peak around corners without exposing their whole body. This helps prevent the typical instant death associated with campers. But if you’re sure there is a camper down a hallway and you absolutely have to get through, you can activate something called blind firing. In this mode you reach around the corner or over a ledge with only your arms and open fire. It comes at a heavy price to your accuracy but the safety it provides makes this feature very valuable in the right situation. Also combined with the third person view you can get a pretty good look at what’s down the hallway without much risk.

 

 

Unlike many of the games shown at GDC, Tactical Intervention is right around the corner so expect closed beta as soon as the end of March! In fact if you hurry before Wednesday the 14th you can get in this weekend! Just visit our forums here and follow the instructions to enter!

GDC 2012 Day 2: Game of Thrones Online

GDC 2012 Day 2: Game of Thrones Online

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-in-Chief

 

 

 

One of the more surprising visits in my time at GDC came from my visit to Big Point’s booth. Now I won’t pretend to be some major Game of Thrones fan or expert so let’s put that out there right from the start. In my eyes all I saw going into Big Point’s demo was a fantasy browser title cashing in on a major HBO IP that is also a relatively popular novel. And like most veteran gamers, the term fantasy browser MMO leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Nonetheless I agreed to the meeting and went into the back room of their booth with notebook in hand to see what they had to tell me. Ten minutes later my mind was blown at just how far they’ve pushed the Unity Engine to create this monumental game.

 

 

The biggest selling point from an unbiased observer is the sandbox elements Game of Thrones Online brings to the table. You have player controlled castles that can be fitted to have siege engines, oil drums, and all kinds of fancy things set up inside to show the grandeur of your house. These houses also provided unique resources vital for setting up specific defenses for your properties. But maintaining said grandeur comes at a heavy price. Let’s break this down from the start.

 

 

Players will start out with no real stake in the political dealings that dictate all major factions in the Game of Thrones Online. Instead you just choose some basic customization options like hair, hair color, skin color, facial hair, and family lineage and get thrown into the north, south, or western part of a medieval setting best described as Sopranos meets the Roman Empire. So begins your long journey to reach level 100 in a classless system.

 

 

You read that right. It wouldn’t be a proper sandbox with classes now would it? Players can choose to specialize in a number of skills including ranged, melee, and commander type actions totaling in 20 skills at launch. You will have to know your skill set by heart as combat in this game is incredibly action oriented for a browser game. Players will be able to strike their foes with low, medium, and high swings as defending players will have the option to defend these strikes with little to no ping issues involved!

 

 

Once you get your feet wet in the system you’ll learn of the death of King Robert and the ensuing chaos as various political factions attempt to assume his throne. The major three houses, Baratheon, Stark, and Lannister have an oligopoly on power in the region and if you want to become anybody in this world it’s in your best interest to form and join a lesser house that is allied to one of these three great powers. Each house offers varying buffs to their allied lesser factions and will be your primary vehicle for what really matters in Game of Thrones Online… the pvp.

 

 

PvP in Game of Thrones Online occurs in three major ways. The first is by wandering into the territory owned by a rival faction. In doing so any players allied with the faction will be able to attack you on sight with no penalties so expect a constant battle so long as you reside in their lands. The second route is through official arena battles consisting of 5v5. Players will be able to go in as a group or solo queue to fight alongside randoms, and individual elo ratings will be rewarded to keep matches as even as possible. The third and most meaningful PvP though is fought over the control of castles, forts, and keeps.

 

 

When I first heard this I expected some kind of watered down series of mini-games deciding the outcome of battle. But much like the show, Game of Thrones Online is full of unexpected twists. They’ve actually managed to implement full-on massive siege instances in real time that will include as many as 100 players going at it at once with siege weaponry and capture points. The idea here is that controlling a castle gives you a lot of power in the political system to collect taxes and hoard resources vital for dominating in PvP. Those ruling a lesser house that claims one of the game’s 8 castles may even rise to the level of Hand of the King through a voting system. But like all good things in life, claiming one of these castles is no easy feat.

 

 

Outside of the 8 castles are 16 forts and numerous keeps that stands as the first lines of defense for ruling parties. Lesser houses seeking to conquer a castle must first engage in many 20 versus 20 siege battles over keeps to gain a foot hold to launch an assault on a fort. Fort battles are on a much larger scale and will allow up to 30v30 player battles. Beyond this is the grand daddy of them all, the castle siege. Castles can be equipped with boiling oil vats, NPC guards, and tons of other traps and goodies to keep unwanted guests out. In order to claim a castle the invading party must break through the outer walls and seize control of a number of control points within the castle.

 

 

As I mentioned earlier, the castles offer rare resources vital to setting up the best defenses. Having the right resources to properly defend your castle will be vital to political success so I imagine quite a bit of trading between castle lords will occur so the rich can stay in power indefinitely. However a king without trustworthy vassals is nothing at all. Players will need to find ways to cement the loyalty of the rest of their lesser house factions to stay in power. This is because the penalties for switching your house’s loyalty to one of the other two major houses are extremely low. Thankfully lesser houses can’t vie for control of a castle until leveling up their guild quite a bit through various guild questing endeavors so not everyone will be in a position to make a claim for a castle. Still I would expect to see plenty of bribery and scheming going on as alliances rise and fall in true sandbox fashion.

 

 

So beyond the political and pvp systems you might be wondering what else this game did to catch me so off guard. For one it has an awesome dynamic weather system in-game that provides for low, medium, and dense amounts of fog, clouds, rain, sleet, and snow to fall as players adventure through the realm of Westeros. Mounts will also reside in-game and be one of the primary routes that players can customize themselves to stand out in a crowd. Big Point was pleased to point out that authentic sounds and music used directly on the show would be present in-game to help build immersion. Also as the game expands they plan to include as many as 9 total major houses with unique buffs belong to each to add just a touch more of chaos to this political sandbox.

 

 

We’ve got a bit of a wait before the Game arrives, but you can expect to get into game sometime this fall. I’ve seen some interesting browser games in the past, but if Game of Thrones delivers on its promises this could be a turning point in the way we all look at the fantasy browser genre as a whole.

Game of Thrones Online

Game of Thrones Online throws you straight into the action of Westeros. Build a house, align yourself with potential kings, and fight to claim castles in the name of glory and political power.

 

Features

 

Epic Siege Warfare: Fight in 20v20 battles for keeps, 30v30 battles for forts, and 50v50 battles for Castles including siege machinery and capturable points within the castle.

 

Action Combat: Use the 1, 2, and 3 buttons to launch low, medium, and high attacks along with 20 skills you can master. All characters are classless so you can build yourself up any way you’d like.

 

House System: Align yourself with a major house and vie for political control of Westeros. There can be only Hand of the King per week and only the top clan leaders will be able to maneuver the chips on the board to claim this lofty title.

 

Experience SWTOR for free with the Weekend Pass

Experience Star Wars: The Old Republic for free with the Weekend Pass

 

Star Wars The Old Republic

 

Now, even more gamers can experience the massively multiplayer online game that is taking the world by storm! Starting this Thursday, players around the world will be able to jump in and experience Star Wars: The Old Republic in the first Weekend Pass Free* Trial. This limited time opportunity will give individuals who don’t already have a previously-active Star Wars: The Old Republic account a chance to experience the groundbreaking, story-driven MMO from EA, BioWare and LucasArts for up to four days for free, with no payment method required.

 

 
Individuals who take part in the Weekend Pass will be able to experience the opening adventures of each of the eight character classes in the game, exploring both their Origin World and may even have the opportunity to visit their faction’s Capital World. Additionally, Weekend Pass players will have the chance to face off against other players in PvP Warzones, or join up with friends and play through a couple of early faction-specific Flashpoints in the game, The Esseles and The Black Talon.

 

 

The Weekend Pass Free Trial opens Thursday, March 15th, 12:01AM CDT and ends on Monday, March 19th at 2:00AM CDT. To learn more, visit the weekend pass gateway. Players can begin registering and creating their accounts on March 15.

Heroes of Newerth: The 100th Hero is Here!

Heroes of Newerth: The 100th Hero is Here!

By Mohammad Abubakr, OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Last week Heroes of Newerth released its 100th hero, Kinesis! After reading over the hero preview I was very excited to try out Kinesis because of his unique skill set. I really love how S2 is not afraid to implement new game mechanics. Playing with heroes that only offer stun and damage abilities can make the game quite bland.

 

 

Kinesis is an intelligence hero that relies on the manipulation of nearby objects and minions. He is able to lift and throw these objects from afar. This is because Kinesis has learned to control the energy which flows through everything in the universe. Just imagine a Jedi lifting objects in Newerth.

 

 

Kinesis’ abilities


His first ability Stasis Smash allows Kinesis to lift an ally or enemy and stun them. While they are floating in the air they take 50% damage but upon landing they will stun nearby enemies in a small area.

 

 

I mostly use this skill offensively but it can also be used defensively. Since the floating target takes less damage it can be used to save yourself or a teammate in situations where stunning the enemy would not do so. However, the ally targeting can be annoying at times. Just like Behemoth’s fissure ability, if it is used incorrectly it can cause the enemies to get away.

 

 

Telekinetic Control is his second ability and allows Kinesis to lift nearby objects and creeps. It utilizes a charge system with increasing maximum charges depending on the level of the ability. At max level you are able to lift up to four objects.

 

 

Telekinetic Control can help control the lane. Simply lift creeps to change the lane’s position.


This abilities’ second part allows Kinesis to throw these objects at an enemy to inflict damage and add a slow effect. All of the lifted objects are thrown at once so it is wise to lift up the maximum number of objects before throwing them. Each cost does not take up a lot of mana so it is recommended to use this ability to harass, but if you are constantly lifting four objects the mana costs can add up.

 

 

His third ability, Inherent Defense, is a passive shield that charges up based on the amount of magic damage dealt. No explanation is needed for this ability as it is quite simple; it helps you stay alive.

 

 

I was a little bit disappointed with his ultimate ability; Mass Control. While the skill itself is creative and fun to use, it is almost identical to his second ability. The differences are that this ability lifts more objects in one use and does AoE damage when thrown. I was hoping for another unique ability to go alongside his unique skill set.

 

 

This ability works with Telekinetic Control and throws all objects lifted into the air. This means that you can lift up to 11 objects (seven with the ultimate and four with his W ability) and throw them all at once for massive burst damage. Support heroes will hate you for this combo.

 

 

While playing Kinesis, my skill build for the first six levels is as follows: W,Q,W,Q,W,R. Afterwards you want to get one level in your E ability after maxing W. For the rest of the game your skill priority should be as follows: R > Q > E. Stasis Smash can also be leveled at level one if you feel you will need it early on.

 

 

The EA exclusive avatar looks great!


As with most heroes in HoN, items depend a lot on the matchup. However, I start almost every game with 3 runes, a potion, two minor totems and two Mark of the Novices. This setup gives me some extra stats early on which makes last hitting a lot easier. The Mark of the Novices can also be turned into a grave locket later on for additional stats for a very cheap price.

 

 

On Kinesis I find myself going Steamboots every game. After learning about the stat swapping trick I have come to love Steamboots. The stat swapping trick is simply changing the Steamboots’ stats to a stat which favors your current position.

 

 

If you are going to be nuking a lane or enemy, swap to Intelligence before doing so to have more mana. Strength is used when you want to survive longer and agility can be used to farm on agility heroes.

 

 

The only thing to keep in mind for tread swapping is that swapping to a stat such as intelligence or strength will not speed up your regeneration. Surely the amount regenerated each second will rise but when you switch back to another stat, the MP and HP values get changed depending on their percentage. What this means is that even if you switch to strength to gain more health, the current 1000 health you have will just change to 900 health when switching to intelligence or agility.

 

 

For your core items you should look to build a Tablet of Command and a Nullstone. The Tablet is not too expensive but provides a lot of utility. You can easily catch up to enemies or save yourself. Just do not forget to use its active!

 

 

Most of the time the Tablet is purchased before the Nullstone but if you are getting good farm the Nullstone’s regeneration can help a lot during the laning phase. The health regeneration allows you to stay in your lane for a long time while the mana regeneration gives you the ability to spam your spells. There are some games where the Nullstone is not the best choice but more often than not it will be a core item. Optionally you can pick up the health tube early on for laning power and then continue to build the Tablet of Command.

 

 

I have seen Kinesis players build Spellshards to add to their damage but I am not a big fan of the item. I really love items that have active effects to provide utility and items that provide many stats. After your core items, items such as Sheepstick, Frostfield Plate and Shrunken Head are wise options. Since caster’s abilities do not scale in the late game, building items to help your team are the best options. I can only see myself building Spellshards if I am ahead of my opponents. Adding to your damage early on while the enemy is behind can make it very difficult for the enemy to catch up.

 

 

During the laning phase you want to be using your W ability a lot to harass your opponents. Do not focus too much on harassing as you will need to farm up some items. In team fights having a large mana pool is essential to landing kills.

 

 

During team fights, stun the enemy carry and focus on killing their squishiest hero first. To do so cast your ultimate and W abilities to lift up a maximum number of objects. Launching them all at once should almost always guarantee a kill on the support character. With the Nullstone and Frostfield Plate alongside your passive shield you should be able to absorb a lot of damage but do not get too greedy. Always keep moving around locating more objects to pick up and toss. Since trees can be lifted you need to stay near them.

 

 

To conclude, I highly recommend checking out Kinesis. He is very fun to play because of his unique skill set. His ultimate is a bit disappointing because of its similarity to his W ability but I believe S2 did a great job designing this hero. Looking forward to more unique heroes!

GDC 2012 Day 2: World of Warplanes

GDC 2012 Day 2: World of Warplanes

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-in-Chief

 

 

 

I had high expectations dragging myself out of bed on March 8th as I was finally going to have time to step onto the main showroom floor of the convention! And I have to say for a convention dedicated mostly to talent recruitment, some of the companies at the show spared no expense to outshine the competition. Wargaming of course spared no expense (at their after party or at their booth) to prove that close to a year after the launch of their flagship title, World of Tanks, they were now one of the top dogs in the industry.

 

 

PR Manager Arthur Pratapopau led me through their wonderland of WWII props and explosion sound effects to a private room where I was grilled on all the wonderful details of World of Warplanes as well as my first look at actual alpha gameplay. One of their team members was actually playing the game on the test server in front of me and it looked beautiful yet intense. The maps seemed designed to be just the right size where you’d rarely feel you were alone on the battlefield and yet still large enough for sprawling dog fights and epic dodges to occur.

 

 

A Philosophy of Fun

They made it very clear that their design philosophy for the game favored fun to play as a higher weighted factor than capturing real world physics. In addition they would stick to their policy in World of Tanks and allow planes of different nationalities to be able to compete on the same teams. This made perfect sense as I bit my lip watching daring maneuvers where jets would skim through narrow valleys a mere 20 meters off the ground to lose the boggies on their tail.

 

 

Of course this philosphy carries through all parts of the game as each match is set to be rapid fire 5-7 minute occurences in which both sides start in the air ready to do battle rather than dealing with a dull take-off and landing experience. Instead you will be in a race with your foes to either destroy all of their planes in the sky or take out their land based objective points to gain a point advantage for when time runs out. Of course when destroying planes you’ll have ground based defenses targeting you, and when destroying ground based targets you will have planes chasing you so the objective is really one and the same.

 

 

If you’ve been following our coverage you will already be familiar with the three types of planes available in-game. To summarize them basically you have speedy fighters specialized in dog fighting, slow fighters specialized in concentrated fire in front of them, and anti-ground bombers that are slow and tanky but deliver an exceptionally devastating blast to any ground targets they can get close enough to attack. The developers claimed that their testing so far has been too limited to establish an official meta of how many of each ship is ideal, but they claimed that different ratios are more valuable depending on the map objectives.

 

 

In terms of balancing each match, they do this based on player experience as well as tier of airship they are flying. Airships are broken down into ten tiers starting at basic World War I bi-planes and concluding with Korea War era generation 1 fighter jets. Ideally this elo system will prevent biplanes from having to dog fight with jet fighters because it’s just unfair no matter how you look at it.

 

 

Controls and Customization

I was assured that one of the founding principles that made World of Tanks a grand success was the accessibility of the game. World of Warplanes is trying to offer the same kind of complex simplicity that made WoT so easy to pick up but difficult to master. Your warplane is controlled with just the touch of your mouse along with 7 to 8 keyboard commands for special weapons and other tricks. Of course you can also expect joystick compatibility for that awesome dog fighting experience.

 

 

If you’ve played World of Tanks you will be familiar with the between mission routine of repairing your plane, spending points to buy new parts, and purchasing new more advanced planes as you gain experience. This part gets interesting though when we start talking about mixing together WoT with WoWP! Although not all features will be available during the summer beta, Wargaming is set on uniting WoT and WoWP together by the end of the year. This will mean that experience gained on your account will be spendable in either game! Now players will have to decide if they want to upgrade their tanks and planes together or specialize their efforts towards excelling in one or the other.

 

 

Clans and PvP

If you’re wondering why someone would choose to specialize, look no further than the combined clan war system. Currently territories on the world map are controlled and fought over by various tank clans. World of Warplanes intends to join the fray by allowing you to fight for your clan in both the sky and land! The future of clan wars will begin with an aerial dog fight rather than a tank brawl and the winning side with have NPC controlled air superiority that could impact the outcome of the tank battle that decides control of the territory.

 

 

I’m excited to see the clan dynamics involved as casual players will likely need to focus on one game or the other to be able to bring their A-game to clan wars while more hardcore players can split their earnings between both games to be able to support their clan by both air and land. Of course a little cash shopping could help, but Wargaming promises to not sell anything that you won’t be able to earn with playtime.

 

 

With over 100,000 potential players signing up to play beta on day 1 of sign-ups, I expect a bright future for the Wargaming franchise. World of Warplanes is set to be only the second in a trio of MMOs once they release World of Battleships. Clan warfare will then become even more complicated with all three game types joining together to decide the outcome of a battle. OnRPG will keep plugging away and try to get into an early beta test to bring you a closer look at how Warplanes handles itself later this year.

GDC 2012 Day 1: Fighters’ Club

GDC 2012 Day 1: Fighters’ Club

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), OnRPG Editor-in-Chief

 

 

Ever had one of those days where you were considering playing Elsword or Grand Chase but the graphics just turned you off? Or perhaps you miss the old beat-em-up arcade games from the 90s like Battletoads and Final Fight? Well Kill3rCombo seems to have seen this niche and published a game to fill it called Fighters’ Club! And this isn’t just a cheap nostalgia trip game but a well produced action fighter beautifully animated with cutscenes that look to be straight out of a graphic novel and unique boss battles.

Class Introduction

Currently they had three playable characters on display named Remy, Spike, and Jack. Jack is your typical tanky bruiser with a heavy emphasis on wrestling style holds and throws. He’s great for marching into a mob of foes and spinning his fists to level all of them at once. Remy is an agile fighter with a style akin to over the top kick boxing. She can’t absorb as much damage but is often fast enough to dodge any major strikes aimed at her. Her ability to dish out combos is also pretty astounding. Spike rounds out the crew by offering a mix of Remy’s speed with Jack’s survivability. He can dish out some noticeably consistent dps if a player knows when to grab and block his foes.

 

While the game may get its origins from the 90s, it isn’t a simple two button fighting game. As you level up you will acquire many unique abilities that are activated at the cost of your blue bar. You will also gain the ability to add skill points into these skills to power them up in various ways such as increased damage, range, reduced cooldowns and more. However you won’t be able to upgrade all of your skills so this adds to the customization between two players of the same class.

In addition, at level 15 players will be given the ability to evolve into a more advanced version of their class. For instance Jack can go Beast mode, unlocking numerous wrestling moves with impossible physics to give you some satisfying cement crushing finishing blows. To help players decide their fate, they are shown a quick in-game trailer of some of the new moves that will unlock with each class.

 

 

Gameplay and Missions

Currently KillerCombo has about 30 missions available for testing on their in-house servers. Each mission offers various difficulties that players can unlock, with normal mode being simple enough to solo and higher modes for group play or extreme challenges. In these missions you usually fight your way across a map taking on multiple varieties of foes, a couple minibosses, and then the ultimate boss at the end of the map. These bosses were pretty unique and each offered a special mechanic to challenge you in new ways. One particularly cool boss was a slutty biker chick that called her gang in to try to run you over during the fight. This forced players to quickly dodge not only her attacks but random bikers that flew across the map from different angles. These missions are broken up into 4 overworlds, helping tell the story of the fighters. I’m not quite sure what that story is but it seems to involve China, a beachside club town, and the headquarters of an evil corporation.

 

Players will be rated from the first moment they step into a new mission, with reward cards awaiting those who complete missions with the most speed and skill possible. These cards will of course include gear that can be put on to improve your stats as well as appearance. Pushing out huge combos and successfully blocking enemy attacks are the two best ways to reach this point but don’t think it is a simple task. Low and high blocks are considered in Fighters Club so keeping a close eye on your opponent’s tells and attack animations will be key to stopping incoming attacks. Some foes also use ranged projectiles forcing you to use gap closer skills to successfully get in range of them (or throw other melee range foes at them!). A nice added feature is the introduction of finishing moves that are as easy as performing a grab on standard foes but force you to whip out long button combos to pull them off against boss mobs.

 

 

PvP

Your player versus player needs will be played out in 1v1, 2v2, and 3v3 matches. Tons of arenas are available with interactable environments and weapons you can pick up to keep things interesting. A ranking system will be implemented at launch so that those seeking to climb the ladder can prove their greatness. They also promised spectator mode so you can watch your friends in action while waiting for matches to start. After watching a few matches and seeing the publishers in action, I realized just how skill dependent this game’s pvp is. My only gripe is that in a game named Fighters Club, there was no arena in the basement of a bar. Hopefully we’ll see this reference added in by launch.

 

If you’re ready to try out a new side scrolling action title that is more geared towards graphic novel animation style than manga, Fighters Club shouldn’t disappoint. Just be ready to wait a bit because the US beta won’t be arriving until Summer of 2012.