Yearly Archives: 2012

Dungeon Defenders Releases Barbarian Class

Dungeon Defenders Releases Barbarian Class

 

 

Dungeon Defenders is getting even more love in the way of Steam DLC with today’s Assault Mission Pack and Barbarian character class! The Assault Mission pack is a steal at $1.99 that includes three assault missions, a new map and a super awesome unicorn familiar to top things off. The new Barabarian character class changes things up at $2.99, boasting the ability to dual-wield and change the game with battle stances, which actually replace his ability to construct towers – he’s a beast in combat!

 

 

Best of all, those who jump on this can get the Assault Mission pack for $.99 and the Barbarian character class for $1.99 on sale for one week only.

 

 

Hailing from the dense jungle lands far to the south, the Barbarian is a masterful fighter who can wield two melee weapons simultaneously and unleash devastating combos! Using five distinct fighting stances instead of towers, the Barbarian is able to adapt to any combat situation. His Battle Leap ability allows him to instantly close the distance to a far-off target, while his Battle Pound ability will decimate any nearby enemies. If massive damage and incredible destruction are what you seek, the Barbarian is the hero for the job.

 

 

The Barbarian Hero Class has the following fighting stances:

 

Tornado Stance – Run faster, attack quicker, jump higher, and push back enemies with a flurry of quick, low damage attacks.

 

Lightning Stance – Use the power of lightning to stun your enemies as your attacks make contact, while taking a small amount of damage for each hit.

 

Siphon Stance – Sacrifice some of your resistances to steal life from your enemies as you damage them.

 

Turtle Stance – Enter this protective stance to greatly increase your resistances, but reduce your movement speed and jump height.

 

Hawk Stance – Summon the powers of the mighty hawk to deal a massive amount of damage in your next attack.

 

 

Discover new ways to dominate the battlefield by combining any two of these fighting stances simultaneously, or using these powerful abilities:

 

Battle Leap Ability – This ability allows the Barbarian to quickly close the distance to far-off enemies with a powerful leap attack.

 

Battle Pound Ability – This is powerful radial ability allows the Barbarian to decimate any nearby enemies.

 

 

Be sure to check out the trailer showcasing the barbarian in action!

APB: Reloaded: Still Running on Empty

APB: Reloaded: Still Running on Empty

By Michael Sagoe (Mikedot), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

 

It’s time to once again visit the mean streets of San Paro for a live and reloaded look at the infamous All Points Bulletin. APB: Reloaded is a GamersFirst re-release of the original APB, originally created by the now defunct developer “Realtime Worlds”. What the original APB promised was a completely online, GTA style action game filled with instance third person shooter and driving mechanics along with fun faction on faction competition with criminals against enforcers.

 

 

Unfortunately, what all players got was laggy driving mechanics, unbalanced gunplay and a truckload of empty promises. Now the game has been revived as a free-to-play title. It’s time to see if all the tweaks to this refurbished machine will finally turn this APB into the high action online game we’ve all been hoping for.

 

 

Customization

Player customization and user created content was one of the crowning features of the original APB, and it’s all still intact for APB: R, as character customization has hundreds of options at your disposal. Even with initial character creation, you can create your criminal or enforcer to be as realistic or as unbelievable as possible. Only downside is that no new customization options have been added since the original APB, as well as the fact that many customizable items need to be unlocked before use.

 

 

Along with character creation, players have the same degree of freedom with pattern creation, car designs and music themes. All these options are available for free and with very small limitations, allowing all players to express themselves and show some truly creative things…

 

 

Gameplay wise: There are a number of different passive skills, equipment and weapon tweaks you can earn or purchase with in-game money from the auction house. Depending on your play style, these small tweaks can make a world of difference.

 

 

Controls

The game uses familiar third person shooter controls for both shooting and driving: WASD keys control character movement and steering, Spacebar performs small jumps and handbraking, F key allows you to interact with various objects around the environment, and several other functions. Controls feel responsive, but can also feel sticky at times when performing actions such as spraying and carjacking.

 

 

The previous APB suffered from laggy driving mechanics and unbalanced gunplay. APB:Reloaded’s driving mechanics are generally lag free, so now you can get a real feel for the handling of each vehicle. The shooting mechanics have been changed, now having proper hitscan detection and tweaked recoil, but weapon balance is still questionable.  Player models do not have any hitboxes, so shooting a player in the head will be the same as shooting them in the foot. Weapons are all tweaked to fit their expected roles, but with most of the action taking place in open environments, mid and close range weapons can feel useless at time.  Those that are expecting shooting mechanics that reward skillful headshots will be disappointed, and every gun-on-gun confrontation will feel like a Mexican standoff.

 

 

Gameplay and Features

APB:Reloaded’s gameplay will give players an experience that can be fun, but for the most part it can be incredibly frustrating. While some core issues of APB’s original gameplay have been tweaked, they’re still fundamentally flawed by design. Most of the missions revolve around typical MMO fetch quests or missions that involve a lot of camping. These missions tend to repeat themselves often, and even though players will have to constantly travel around town to make things more interesting, they can get boring very quickly. Not to mention that the overall progression with unlocking new stuff can be tiresome, even with premium service.

 

 

Other elements of the game remained unbalanced such as faction interactions. Criminals have a handful of ways to make in-game money fast and easy such as mugging pedestrians, ramming down stores and warehouses for items and delivering stolen vehicles to chop shops, while  enforcers can only make money by witnessing criminals that perform crimes (which can be by a longshot unless you’re constantly on patrol) or by completing missions.

 

“To the owner of a blue security van: You’re parked onto of an old lady.”

 

APB:R suffers from one other issue that F2P shooters tend to have… You know what I’m talking about: Rental items. The game punishes players than do not play regularly in order to earn back the time and money spent on them. This includes both weapons and cars that can be bought with in-game money or real money. While there are permanent weapons and cars that you can buy, most of the good or even semi-decent ones are insanely overpriced.

 

 

The biggest issue with APB lies within its matchmaking system. As a matter for fact, it becomes the major source of all the game’s shortcomings.  The game’s matchmaking system tries to look for opponents that have the same threat level as you, and sometimes you will, but most of the time you’ll end up with any and all opponents that are ready to answer dispatches, meaning you may have higher or lower level teammates and opponents to deal with. Issue with this is that new players are still learning the ropes on how to properly approach missions, and with expert players that know every camping spot, every hiding place, every choke point along with having supped up weapons and equipment… the expected slaughtering commences.

 

 

Despite the game’s glaring issues, APB:R’s gameplay isn’t all doom and gloom. When the matchmaking works out well enough, and latency connections are solid, the game can create intense moments that you would never quite experience in any other multiplayer game out there.

 

 

Graphics and Presentation

The world of APB is a sight to behold, offering up realistic urban environments to run and drive through.  The character models all look great, including the NPCs. The sounds of death and destruction from gun shots and car explosions will become music to your ears, and speaking of music: The game’s original soundtrack is not so bad, either.

 

 

The soundtrack is filled with licensed tracks from popular and upcoming artists, and with a genre selection of rock, hip-hop, electronic, easy listening you can be sure they have something for everyone. Even if you don’t like the game’s original soundtrack, you can create your own playlist with your own imported.mp3 files.

 

 

Community

APB:Reloaded comes complete with all the standard community features such as friends list, clan support, etc. All of these elements work out the way they should and you are highly encouraged to make use of. Because of the open-ended structure of each district, enemies can come at you from high places, low places and just about every other direction at any given time. Coordination with teammates is very important for successfully completing missions. As expected, trying to communicate and coordinate with random players is like trying to coach a preschool baseball team, even with the game’s well designed VoIP function. As the game itself will suggest, having a dedicated group of friends to play with is recommended, but it’s actually more of a necessity than usual. This game isn’t for lone wolves at all.

 

 

Since APB:R is an M-rated game, this won’t be for the kiddies or for the faint of heart, and there’s no chat filter that will censor foul language, so expect to see a lot of colorful language from fellow players, as well as grim attitudes.

 

“Flipping the bird is how you show good sportsmanship in San Paro”

 

 

Overall

APB: Reloaded can be fun at times, but these golden moments can be few and far between. Even if you manage to put up with the game’s issues and shortcomings, you may be turned off by the fact that there’s not much to do once you’ve maxed out every contract. Players will be doing the same repetitive missions at the start of the game and at the “end-game”, just with more clothing options. The original APB was left as an unfinished mess and GamersFirst has only begun to screw around with it, but just like rebuilding a broken down house:  You have to break it down before you can properly build it back up again.

 

 

One thing is for sure: APB:Reloaded still has a long way to go before it reaches its true potential.


Customization – 5

Controls – 3

Gameplay – 1

Graphics and Presentation – 4

Community -2

RiotZone Announces Open Beta Testing

RiotZone Announces Open Beta Testing

 

 

Mail.Ru Games has opened its doors to the upcoming tactical MMO “RiotZone“. The story is set in a tropical jungle where players battle for control of the future of the civil war torn state of Merania. Semi-automatic rounds show which of the two playable factions will emerge victorious from the war. Tactical decisions, the strategic outfit of mercenaries and clever handling of the special abilities available determine victory or defeat. A good dose of black humor, unique game characters and addictive gameplay attract fans to the monitor.

 

 

Hot battle for cool heads

Anti-malaria’s? Check. Food? Check. Adequate equipment? Check. Good preparation is essential in “RiotZone”. Gamers will not only fight for one of the two factions – The Red Alliance or the Coalition of the Crown – but also train their soldiers, upgrade weapons and expand their base. These role-playing elements turn out to be authoritative in later gameplay. Only the coolest strategic thinkers will prevail in numerous missions and PvP battles. “RiotZone” scores with many PvP modes: 1on1, 2on2 and 3on3 are just the beginning. Raids on enemy territory, conquest of resource-rich areas and large-scale battlefields require you to surpass just being a gamer, and ascend to the level of a commander. Semi-automatic fights allow dynamic and spontaneous quick battles where players can bring in a lot of extra firepower in the form of various special abilities.

 

 

 

“RiotZone” is for real adventurers who believe they have what it takes to conquer Merania.

RiotZone

In the small state of Merania, located in Latin America, a Dictator has emerged and holds the country under military rule. In RiotZone, you take the role of a mercenary commander in either the fanatical Scarlet Alliance or the businesslike Crown Coalition, and face off against the forces of Merania’s Dictator. Direct your army into battle as you foray, ambush, intercept, and raid.

A strategy game, combat in RiotZone features a semi-automatic combat system in which each fighter acts independently on the battlefield, while you oversee and call the shots, making sure your mercenaries use their special skills to the best advantage. As commander, you will also be responsible for setting up your army’s camp, training your soldiers, and even managing your supplies and finances.

Face off alone against the enemy, join with friends in raids against opposing camps, or battle in intense player versus player battlefields. The future of Merania’s political landscape is in your hands!

World of Warplanes

Like its sibling, World of Tanks, World of Warplanes is a team-based online action game featuring vehicular combat. Take to the skies in one of dozens of planes developed by military powers around the world, including the United States, the USSR, and Germany. Each plane is developed to be historically accurate, while featuring a complex upgrade system that allows you to customize your fleet to its full potential.

 

 

Features

 

Build a Career: Specialize your pilot into one of three classifications of aircraft as you fight for dominance over your peers. Single Engine Light-Fighters can engage in intense one-on-one dog fights. Heavy Fighters are slow but deliver devastating forward mounted weaponry that can cut down multiple foes in one blast. Strafing Warbirds offer intense dodging capabilities to make you ideal for taking on heavily fortified ground targets.

 

Diverse Aircraft: Fly planes built from the 1930s through the Korean War, with all three major countries represented.

 

Plane Customization: Fix up your favorite warbird with specialized ammo, engines, and mods to make it the perfect fit for your tactical gameplay.

TERA Online Announces Winners of Retweet Sweepstakes

TERA Online Announces Winners of Retweet Sweepstakes

 

 

Earlier this week myself along with many fans were surely surprised to attempt to lurk the En Masse Entertainment forums dedicated to TERA Online and realize they were no longer there. TERA Online launched the first stage of its website redesign over the weekend, revamping the overall look, homepage hotbox, and most importantly, offering detailed descriptions and skills to the races and classes section. If you haven’t done so already, I highly suggest checking out their class section to learn about all your future skills and at what levels you can acquire them.

 

 

In addition, yesterday En Masse revealed the twenty-five lucky winners of the TERA Beta Announcement Retweet Sweepstakes. The following lucky players will be enjoying the North American launch test even before me (sadface.jpg):

 

@brianbks03 @MysteryBox @theonetruejm @TilenProsenjak @CrazyTomcsy @JPorter707 @Happypea1 @aor7893 @Garash2k @Sneakwulf @pugglebuggle @Matt_VoLatile @kasperfm @JK_GaoXi @RobertGuy6 @nth_power @LuciferStar1 @Zerconian @__PIgly @GevJS @Darrenshizzle @agreatwind @dysnex @HilaryGravedoni @aDemands

 

 

However with about four months until launch, there will be plenty of time for beta testing and new contests to get in I’m sure. OnRPG will be watching closely to inform you of any activity as soon as possible! Until then might I subtly suggest checking out MMO-FO’s Facebook Page as it may or may not be your ticket into a future beta test.

Bigpoint Surpasses 250 Million Registered Players

Bigpoint Surpasses 250 Million Registered Players

 

 

Bigpoint today announced that it has surpassed 250 million registered players for its F2P browser-based online games. Bigpoint – which has established a global publishing network of 1,000+ game portals, social networks, and media sites – attracts over 250,000 new players to its key titles every day, such as Battlestar Galactica Online, Drakensang Online, Dark Orbit, and Farmerama.

 

 

“Since 2002, we’ve strived to bring high-quality games and experiences to the widest possible audience,” said Heiko Hubertz, CEO and Founder, Bigpoint. “With players hailing from every corner of the globe, today’s milestone underscores our success – and we’re not done. We’ll continue to challenge the notion of what online games are and can be.”

 

 

Bigpoint introduced the concept of F2P games, a business model that allows players to spend small amounts of money on virtual items and in-game bonuses, to the western world with the launch of IceFighter in 2002, which Hubertz personally developed. Since then, Bigpoint has amassed a portfolio of 60+ casual, core, and hardcore games. In addition to its own internally-developed titles, Bigpoint outsources the development of several projects, and also publishes games from other companies.

 

 

Over the past decade Bigpoint has radically improved the quality of their online games. Beginning with relatively simple Flash-based titles, Bigpoint has released a number of high-quality games built atop the Unity development platform in the past year. The company is planning a series of new launches in 2012, including new titles that leverage world-class Hollywood intellectual property.

 

 

Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, Bigpoint made international expansion a top priority in early 2010 when it established its first North American office in San Francisco. Bigpoint also has offices in Berlin, São Paulo, and Malta – more locations will be established this year.