An interview with Chris Lena, producer of Champions Online, who tells us about the history of the game from the pen and paper game. In this game you can literally do whatever you want!
Go to part two.
Monthly Archives: September 2008
Age of Reckoning Trailer
War is everywhere. Faced with certain doom, elves, men and dwarves have united their forces to form an alliance of Order. Should they fail, the forces of destruction will conquer all! Enter the Age of Reckoning!
Asheron’s Call interview
Onrpg interviews the producer on the Asheron’s Call franchise. This great new game is the first MMO by Turbine, more or less the start of the genre!
Aion Interview
Onrpg interviews Brian Knox, associate producer at Aion about the game, currently in closed beta state but soon to be released!
S4 League Review
S4 League Review
By Michael Justice, OnRPG Journalist
Every now and then, I get sick of playing as a magician who attains several generic spells over the course of fifty levels, and I turn my sights to the casual crowd of MMOs. Of course, there are several out there that give me the urge to start up Download Accelerator Plus and create an account within a span of ten seconds, however, S4 League was one game in particular that caught my eyes.
Having heard about this game during its Korean beta phase, I was extremely anticipated for the release of S4. From my first glance it seemed to be a very fun game which you could simply pick up and play; and it is simply that. I created my character from a mixture of baggy pants, a very questionable T-shirt and the essential short, scruffy hair. The game starts you out in a tutorial that gives you a nice feel of the game before you jump in to a real match and get your head blown off by 3 people bombarding you with SMGs. This game focuses heavily on teamwork simply because there is no “free for all” mode, at all. It’s not like you can be some lone wolf by going in, guns blazing and kill everyone. You need to seriously co-operate with your team if you want to get anything done. This is achieved through various means such as healing team mates or putting up blocks, creating a barrier to prevent the enemy from coming.
Weaponry in S4 League is varying in all types. You start out with a sub machine gun, which is pretty much your standard, basic gun that you will find more than 75% of the S4 community uses. You also start with a plasma sword, which if you use right, can pretty much kill anything in less than 2 seconds. The variant of the plasma sword is the counter sword which can do several combos as well as block other melee attacks. In the weapons shop, there are variants of the SMG (sub machine gun) which are classified as “firing weapons”. These weapons are guns that just have straight means of fire such as the Semi Rifle, which is pretty much a bolstered SMG with a zoom-in feature. There’s also the Gauss rifle, which is a really big gun thing that has horrible aim but dishes plenty of damage when it hits. The Revolver is pretty much a shotgun; it just doesn’t look like one. There are also “sniping weapons” which are guns that do a lot of damage from a far distance, like the Cannonade which does what it says, it shoots grenades which asplode anything that it comes in contact with.
There’s also the rail gun, which fires one single straight beam of energy which hopefully hits the target. “Mind weapons” are probably my favorite, though. The mind shock weapons steals health from the enemy (it works through walls!) and gives it to you. The “mind energy” weapon allows you to heal your team mates, which is good; you need healers on your team just as much as you need people to shoot things for you. There’s also a sentry gun, which kills stuff for you and stuff, I never used it, but some people I have seen use it and kill just as much people as anyone else. All of these weapons combined with skills, create a very diverse play style, so it’s not just people constantly shooting at you and you constantly shooting at them. It adds another level of difficulty to the game and that’s one of the reasons it’s great. Later, when more weapons and skills are added, the game will be even better.
In S4, there is a little yellow bar at the bottom of your screen which indicates your SP. With SP, you can do some pretty amazing stuff. You can dash (no description necessary); you can also jump off of walls to get to places like roofs and such. Skills also use SP. Skills is simply in the game for fun and convenience. There are movement skills like the wings (I shouldn’t need to tell you) and the Anchor (works like the hookshot in the legend of Zelda). There are also some skills which create environmental effects like the block (creates a big wall in front of you so you can shield yourself or block enemies from coming) and the shield (adds a moveable shield that blocks all bullets that should hit you). And of course there are your basic, stat-boosting skills like +30HP (you start with this one) and +30SP.
The game currently has 2 modes. The classic “shoot everyone till someone gets more points”; i.e.: Death Match, which focuses on, well, killing everyone on the opposite team. The other mode is called “Touch Down” (which I am pretty sure everyone thought it meant “Team Death Match” in the beginning). Touch Down focuses on grabbing a cute little one-eyed alien ball thing and running to the other team’s goalpost without getting impaled by people charging you down with counter swords. It is extremely hard to score a Touch Down by yourself (you’re walking around the enemy’s base, you think it’s that easy?) so I stress yet again how much you need your team to do things in this game. Of course, this is simply a preview, more mode(s) will be implemented later (hopefully).
One thing I really do like about S4 is how it focuses a lot of its theme. Supposedly, all of the battles and stuff is online, in virtual reality… I didn’t really think about it too much because it made my head hurt, but the entire thing is put together quite nicely. From the electronic frames when you break boxes to the 1s and 0s in your death sequence, this game has a real feeling of being involved in cyberspace.
In the store, you can also buy clothes. The wide array of poofy-shoes and zipper-coats will make any Kingdom Hearts fanboy shout with glee as they can dress up their character from head to toe. You can also customize your clothes (as well as your weapons, for that matter) to give stat-boosting bonuses like +10% EXP or +4 of your favorite weapon category. As a forewarning: clothes can be majorly expensive, especially if you purchase stats with them. When you die in any match with a permanent weapon equipped, that weapon loses durability. If the weapon breaks, you have to buy an entirely new one; that being said, if you have a full set of clothes on plus 3 permanent weapons, you just probably lost 100 PEN(the currency in S4, don’t ask me). S4 has such a perfect game system that I wish its server system wasn’t as bad. You see, S4 uses a very notorious networking system named “peer 2 peer” which makes users connect to other users. This creates sever networking issues from people who live in far distances. I can’t play with any of my friends who live in the UK or Australia simply because of the extreme distance there is. You don’t even have to be very far away to generate lag, all you have to do is start up a system process that creates a lot of networking traffic on your computer and you’ll be pretty much invincible. You’d think there would be some kind of votekick system to boot all the people who are lagging, but sadly, in S4, a lot of features have yet to be installed. This after all, is a preview, so a lot of this will get fixed very soon, however, at the moment; all we can do is wait. Some features I would hope get implemented / allowed access to be a kick system as well as the “voice chat” option I see in the options menu. Alaplaya is a very good company that maintains it’s updates with games it knows it is successful with and I hope they realize that the S4 playerbase is quite large.
So, to sum it all up, S4 is one of the best casual action games to come across the market in a while. The learning curve is simple, the game itself has plenty of features to not keep you bored and it’s just one of the games that you can jump in to and have fun.
Warhammer PAX Interview(2)
Onrpg went to PAX ’08 and there Gina interviewed Jeff Hickman (Executive Producer) and Paul Barnett (Creative Director) of Warhammer online about the new release: Age of Reckoning. They reveal some unique insight into the game features which include…. chickens?
Warhammer PAX Interview(1)
Onrpg went to PAX ’08 and there Gina interviewed Jeff Hickman (Executive Producer) and Paul Barnett (Creative Director) of Warhammer online about the new release: Age of Reckoning. They reveal some unique insight into the game features which include…. chickens?
S4 League
S4 League is a free-to-play, online third-person shooter with international popularity since its 2008 release. The game features eight different game modes, from team based deathmatch to conquest. Go on weekly missions, practice, and develop your skills in several suggested offensive and defensive roles that will prove key to tactical survival in battle. If you need an edge up, take a break from the battlefield to enchant your gear, and make sure to log in daily for monthly bonuses.
Features:
Anime visuals: Enjoy the strong, futuristic visuals inspired by Neo Tokyo.
Customization: individualize your own character with loads of items. Express your personal taste with different weapons, outfits and jewelry.
Team-based game modes: Enjoy American Football style gameplay in Touchdown mode, or player with several teammates against one superpowered player in Chaser mode.
Mix and match: Select from a variety of shotguns, pistols, rifles, cannons, swords and more to complement your playstyle.
Asda Story Review
Asda Story Review
By Joshua Temblett, OnRPG Journalist
I haven’t played a point and click free MMORPG in a long time, so I was more than happy to preview this very attractive looking online world. ASDA Story has a very comforting feel about it, what with the cartoon characters having giant feet and with a distinct anime style that echoes throughout its universe. Also with the list of “jaw dropping” features that this game boasts, I became very interested in whether or not this game will be a revolution to the genre.
But first how about we get this out of the way, ASDA Story is a grinding game. At the beginning of this story, you will be given short and fun quests, however shortly after level ten, you will begin to see just how amazingly repetitive this title is. It’s also incredibly addicting. You’ll spend your whole time, killing monsters, levelling up, completing quests and then repeating those three chores, however there is always new equipment and armour to be found or bought and this is where the addictive side comes in. You see the weapons and armour always make your character look super shiny and cool, and you’ll always want that set of gloves that give your persona just that little bit more defence and style. Your little avatar will also gain points every level in which you can put into your skills, increasing their power and enabling you to learn more skills. ASDA Story does however increase your stats as you level up automatically, which is useful for those of us who hate the whole “class build” concept, however if you’re one of those players who enjoys choosing how fast/strong your character is, you may not enjoy the lack of customisation available.
There is no real back story to the world of ASDA Story to begin with; however as the game progresses on you will be treated to more and more snippets of information regarding the lore of the world. Whilst the game may not have a compelling storyline, it does sport several short stories, which are played out through doing quests. However you’ll quickly find out that these brief tales are nothing more than an excuse to exercise your patience in doing repetitive tasks.
So whilst the story and gameplay are nothing to write home about, the graphics are very fresh and certainly the characters you create look and feel like Disney characters. There are however a few game bugs to still be fixed in the environment, one such game bug is that you can walk through huge boulders and bushes (which you get the general feeling the designers wanted to be solid). Whilst we can walk through bushes in real life, sure we may get a few scratches and scars, I have yet to see any human being walk into a humongous rock and come out the other side. Indeed the game doesn’t push awe filled “Wow!”s with its graphic but it does have its very own sense of manner and tone.
The features that stand out among this title and try to make it seem different from the rest are interesting. The game has a Soul-Mate System, whereby you can make someone your soul partner and share exp, among other things, with them. You can even play as your Soul Mate’s character! Another system is the “Sowel System”, whereby your weapon of choice/amour needs to be equipped with a special jewel in order for it to work. You can also update these “Sowels”, making your items stronger. I would not say that these features are revolutionary and will really make you (the gamer) want to play this game more than any other, however for a bonus (which is what they more or less amount to), they make nice little touches.
To be honest I really don’t want to lie about ASDA Story, it is an average free to play MMORPG, and to be honest it will probably remain that way. The title does have a nice system going on though, as you’ll always want to earn that new weapon or piece of amour, which in turn brings you back for more plus playing in a party, is definitely incredibly fun. If the developers can make the game less of a grind though and focus more on providing more weapons, more instants and other items, I can definitely see this game becoming close to the king of free to play, point and click MMORPGs.
ASDA Story has a very comforting feel about it, what with the cartoon characters having giant feet and with a distinct anime style that echoes throughout its universe. Also with the list of “jaw dropping” features that this game boasts, I became very interested in whether or not this game will be a revolution to the genre.
New alpha wave for Kickster started
Berlin, Sept. 5th 2008 – Frogster has opened the virtual soccer pitches of Kickster Online Street Soccer for 1.500 new players. This current wave of the private alpha is by far the biggest enlargement so far. Because the closed beta is scheduled to start soon, Frogster is going to activate even more registered accounts for the alpha version within the next few days. Although a German beta client is almost ready, the closed beta will be open only at certain weekends during the first beta phase. Thus, a quick registration for the alpha assures the opportunity to play Kickster non-stop for a while.
Kickster Online Street Soccer
Stale football simulations are a thing of the past on the comic inspired online grounds of Kickster, only those players who control the most individual character and master the coolest special moves will rule. Two vs. two or three vs. three: with their team of real buddies online, players stir up international tournaments and leagues. With dashing moves, impressive tricks and absolute ball control, PC kickers gain respect from the ball addicted online community. Only those who have the coolest special skills will climb up in the player rankings.
Kickster offers various scenarios in authentic street style. Backyards, parking lots or factory premises a fast match can kick off anywhere. Thanks to the dynamic motion system, ball artists sweep their opponents from the court with impressively animated dribbling, tackling, tricks and straddles. But only players with the best skills receive respect from the streets. As soon as they reach expert level, Kickster offers even more strategic gameplay and lots of new powerful moves. A tutorial is available to get you started and will help new players increase their skill level to make them ready for human opponents. The dynamic and elaborate tournament and league system of Kickster will see the best players unveiled and glory claimed. “Easy to download and free to play Kickster offers fun football without complications or any payment liabilities. The original online game can be quickly installed and runs smoothly on any average PC. Currently Kickster Online Street Soccer is in the private alpha stage. After the following closed and open beta phases have ended, the whistle will blow this autumn: Kick off in the backyards!
Features Kickster Online Street Soccer
- Free2Play: free game client, no subscription fees
- Team based multiplayer online game (no single player, no AI opponents)
- Getting started easily: comprehensive tutorial with 13 game missions, hints and
rewards for completed missions - Intuitive controls, but profound gameplay
- Ingame chat and community tools
- Compact game client of about 300 MB and moderate system requirements
- Customization of player character in large-scale item shop: trendy outfits from
head to toe and special moves available for micropayment - Level based game system: advanced skills learnable with progress
- Strategic team play and tactical moves in expert level
- Elaborate league system with promotion and relegation
- Ample tournament system
- Formation of clubs and club ranking available in the future