Monthly Archives: February 2013

Invincible Armada – Dominating the Rocking Facebook Seas

Invincible Armada – Dominating the Rocking Facebook Seas

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Ever wanted to be a gnarly pirate but never knew where to start? Than look no further! Because Invincible Armada is a free-to-play strategy game in the medieval setting that is available on Facebook. Follow the story driven quest-line, battle with thieves and privateers, sell your booty and create your own fleet and kingdom. But first let’s learn how to sail your ship first. After all you’ll never be feared if you can’t even master the basics. If you’re as big of a fan of pirates as me, then what arrrrrr ye waiting for landlubber?

 

 

Something that I noticed after only a few minutes of playing is that Invincible Armada’s concept art is really good looking and the game itself looks a lot better than any game I have seen before in the same setting. Of course after seeing what Neowiz’s standards are on graphics after GStar 2012 it’s no surprise that they’d push this feature even in their browser titles. At first you play the very basic tutorial to teach you the controls and familiarize yourself with the main characters of this browser game.

 

 

As I mentioned before this isn’t my first time pirating in a browser, but this is the first time in a while that a game like this has actually felt polished and finished while this early in beta testing. Right out of the gate the game fluidly familiarizes you with the combat. Normally combat in these ship games is pretty mindless but Invincible Armada mixes up the formula a bit. In this game you have to consider positioning and the angle that you ship sails while constantly reacting to your opponent’s moves. Get outmaneuvered and you’re shark bait as your enemy will pick you off while you helplessly sail in circles.

 

 

Interacting with the map is another key factor in gameplay. If someone is a history junkie and knows particularly a lot about the invasions in Europe then the name might sound really familiar. This is because the locale is based off the Mediterranean and western coast of Europe during the heyday of Spanish naval power. Who knew that playing games taught us history huh? Screw school, let’s all play games.

 

 

Anyway, I really enjoyed checking out the map as I explored and correlating it to real world locations. Unfortunately this is where the game introduces its Facebook-esque cash catch, i.e., and energy system correlating to sailing out of port. Sailing out of port, and sailing to a new part of the map costs you energy and you cannot do much in an hour. Luckily this energy returns over time but if you hate waiting and just want to carry on with your missions, than you have to throw your money at this game.

 

 

Back in the day, rare materials and spices were THE currency of the Pacific and Invincible Armada reflects this perfectly. Earning money is relatively easy but the question is if you would like to use your limited energy for this. One of the first few missions I did was sail to a different city around the Italian shore and buy some cotton. Then I was asked to return to the city I came from to sell this same cotton for a higher price. Although this isn’t the most exciting aspect of the game, it’s a necessity as you can’t expect to rule the seas without proper funding.

 

 

Now let’s move on to the most enjoyable feature in Invincible Armada. Being Captain of the Fleet doesn’t mean squat to the covetous pirates eyeing your booty if you don’t build a reputation for dealing with rapscallions. You will have to destroy many enemies in this game to earn your money and materials. And thus building up your fleet to be as strong as possible is really important for roaming the open waters. Besides having to equip your ship with the best sails and armor, you also are able to acquire and use skills. When you are in battle, it us up to you to position your ships to focus fire the highest priority targets and win the day. For a Facebook game Invincible Armada gets this right with enough options and tactics to keep things fresh during your daily check-in of game time. And as you grow in level and experience, you are able to unlock more positions in your fleet to make it even bigger and stronger than before.

 

 

Conclusion

As expected from a Facebook game, Invincible Armada gets you hooked rather fast. I really enjoyed playing this game and will definitely keep playing it. I really enjoyed the overall experience this game gave me and even the history lesson it taught me along the way. Unfortunately as any other Facebook game, money plays a big role and can get you further ahead of any other player in the game. But I can’t really be bothered by that at all since the competitive element in Facebook games isn’t that big of a deal. I personally had a lot of fun which is the important part and if you enjoy this kind of setting then I doubt you’ll find much better on the market than Invincible Armada. Keep an eye out for its launch later this February.

Invincible Armada

Invincible Armada places the player in the captain’s seat in the era of global expansion when Spain’s mighty armada was viewed as an immovable force. Charter a fleet of ships, take part in global trade, and battle pirates and rival businessmen to rule the seas around the European continent.

 

Features:

 

Over 90 Ships: Unlock and purchase ships and them customize them with 20 variant ship parts and 30 skills.

 

Real-Time Battles: Whether you prefer PvE or PvP, Invincible Armada offers strategic and exciting missions to take part in.

 

Explore Europe: Recreate the ancient trade routes as you barter and build a financial empire of buying low and selling high.

OnRPG Shotgun News 2/6: Allods Online Update and City of Steam Dev Diary

OnRPG Shotgun News 2/6: Allods Online Update and City of Steam Dev Diary

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Elder Scribe

 

 

Lords of Destiny Coming to Allods Online

Another biggest ever is on it’s way. This time it’s Allods Online’s turn. Lords of Destiny will be the biggest update, 4.0 for anyone keeping track will arrive on North American and European servers on March 12. Though for those who can’t wait there will be public tests held throughout February.

 

 

City of Steam Goes Colossal

A new dev diary from City of Steam reveals why the City-State Delton has been lucky enough to live in a time of relative peace for so long. A gigantic colossus stands guard over the city protecting it from the occasional missile. You can read all about it and learn a bit more about the giant that protects Delton in the dev blog on the official site.

Arctic Combat – Full Review

Arctic Combat – Full Review

By Michael Sagoe (mikedot), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

With FPS titles running very rampant in the F2P market, it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to find a unique one that stands out from the rest. Many of these titles claim to be unique in one form or fashion, but ultimately end up feeling like nothing more than a rehash of titles that inspired them.

 

 

Take Artic Combat (AC) by Webzen for example. On the outside: It looks a lot like a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare clone with some slight tweaks, but on the inside:

 

 

…It’s a Call of Duty: Modern Warfare clone with some slight tweaks. AC feels and plays like CoD: MW and it certainly does not try to hide it.

 

 

Previously: I got to try AC out during some early closed beta impressions, and I was surprised by how much the game kept a pacing similar to CoD: Modern Warfare games while keeping the tactical tension of Counter-Strike, but with my extended time playing in the Open Beta, the tactical tension started to wear thin, and AC revealed itself to be nothing more than another imitator, rather than an innovator.

 

 

Customization

Customization in AC is on a basic level: You have the option to change the uniform and accessories that your solider wears, along with having special character skins that give players a small boost in earning in-game points and level EXP. There are several different passive and active skills that players can bring along into battle. In CoD: Modern Warfare games, these would be known as ‘perks’ and ‘kill-streaks”, and while a vast amount these skills have been built up in the MW series over the years, there isn’t many to choose from in AC:  There’s grenade detection, faster C4 planting/defusing, quick reloading, increased maximum HP and semi-regenerating HP (this one is permanently given to all players for free.)

 

 

In terms of active skills, there was only one at my time of review: An RPG-7 rocket launcher that becomes available after getting five-kills in a row. While they plan to add more passive and active in the future, the amount available at the moment is just poor overall, which will certainly not help with allowing players to change up strategies on fly.

 

 

Other than that, No other form of customization exists in AC. You can’t tweak your firearms with any sort of tactical gear, so there’s no way to create a unique weapon to call your own.

 

 

Controls

The control scheme for Arctic Combat is set up just like any other FPS title out there: WASD keys for movement, left mouse button to shoot, right mouse button for iron sight aim, etc. The controls are responsive, but the different kind of firearms among weapon types (Rifle and Sub-Machine Gun) lacked any distinct feel between them when fired, despite their stats showing different firing and stability rates. The only weapons that felt different amongst each other were the sniper rifles that had VERY noticeable re-coil differences.

 

 

Gameplay

The gameplay takes several nods from the CoD: Modern Warfare games in terms of pacing: Soldiers aren’t bullet sponges, so players can get picked off and killed easily if they’re not careful.  At the same time, however, play too cautiously and you may end up getting pinned down near your base by aggressive enemies. Here, you need to find a balance and constantly switch off from tactical to run & gun, and by ‘tactical’, I mean very basic camping. While working with your team is recommended, it’s very possible to be a lone wolf and mow down a whole squad of enemies. Not much thought is needed in considering where your enemies may attack you from, since map sizes are all moderately small, making most fire-fights very predictable.

 

 

Also similar to the MW games: Enemies will randomly drop pick-up items including health packs, UAV support, Chopper support and Airstrikes, with health packs being the most interesting, giving players a bit of strategy in either picking them up to recover health, or using them as bait to lure out enemy players (or at least that’s how I used them.) UAV support and Chopper aren’t as special since they’ve also been napped straight from MW: UAV Support allows players to see enemies on the mini-map for a short amount of time, and Chopper support summons a helicopter that will fire missiles at any enemies that it flies across. If an enemy chopper is in the area, players can shoot it down, but it’s not as exciting as it looks or sounds once you’ve taken it down for the 20th time (all by yourself, even).

 

 

With several different types of game modes to choose from, including old stand outs like Team Deathmatch and Bomb Defuse, players will find one that they’ll be most comfortable with, but there’s nothing here that’s unique and original.

 

 

There’s honestly not much else I can say about the action found in Arctic Combat, because the gameplay here has been done plenty in other military shooting games before it. You run, you gun, you kill, you die, you respawn. Rinse and repeat.

 

 

Visuals & Presentation

Arctic Combat uses the Unreal 2.5 Engine, and while it will undoubtedly run well on many aging PC setups, the texture quality is very moderate and bland, even with the visual options set to maximum.  Gun fire and reload animations seem natural enough and the sound effects for gun fire also sound appropriately close to their real-life counterparts. The voice-over work they’ve done for AC (including radio chatter) sounds hilariously overdone. The American Soldiers literally sound like newly enlisted college frat kids that just got back from a drinking party. They all speak with an exaggerated tone to make battles (seem) intense. There’s also Russian voice work done for the game, and I can only assume it’s been given the same treatment.

 

 

Community

AC features all the basic community features that gamers have come to expect from an online multiplayer game, including friend lists, private messages and clan support. The player base is filled with your expected bunch of friendly, not so friendly, quiet and obnoxious gamers. Once again: nothing out of the ordinary.

 

 

Overall

To put things very bluntly: Arctic Combat is about as average as a F2P shooting game can be. It’s not particularly bad in many regards. It’s just that everything about the game has been done in shooters before it and has been done better. It’s certainly not bad to pick up for a quick fix, but there’s much better alternatives out there.

 

Customization – 2

Controls – 3

Gameplay – 3

Visuals & Presentation – 3

Community – 3

Overall – 3

OnRPG Shotgun News 2/5: Camelot Unchained, Real World Racing, Acony Games, and TERA

OnRPG Shotgun News 2/5: Camelot Unchained, Real World Racing, Acony Games, and TERA

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Elder Scribe

 

 

TERA: Rising Releases Without in Game Store

Today is the day TERA goes free to play, rebranding itself as TERA: Rising. The Valkyon Outtfitters, an in game cash shop meant to be available right away, has been delayed. There are also two new servers for players to enjoy. The new PvP server is calledLakeofTearswhile the PvE server isAscensionValley. An all new trailer has also been released to celebrate the rebranding.

 

 

 

Real World Racing Beta on Now

Racing fans have another chance to get behind the wheel starting today with the launch of the Real World Racing beta. In it players can race up to 15 other players on a track, browse cars in their own garage or even play single player mode. The client can be downloaded from the official site.

 

 

Acony Games Shutdown Announced

Less than a week since announcing the free to play multiplayer shooter Bullet Run would be shutting down in March news has come from developers Acony Games that they too will be closing their doors. Bullet Run was only live for 6 months before the announced closure and Acony’s only other game Parabellum.

 

 

Mark Jacobs Reenters MMO Scene with Camelot Unchained

Industry pioneer, Mark Jacobs famous for Dark Age of Camelot has revealed his studio City State Entertainment is working on a MMORPG with the working title Camelot Unchained. A new minute and a half long teaser trailer has been released which you can watch below.

 

En Masse Entertainment Launches Free Release of TERA: Rising

En Masse Entertainment Launches Free Release of TERA: Rising

 

TERA: Rising

 

En Masse Entertainment™, a player-driven publisher focused on delivering fun and innovative online games, today announced that TERA™: Rising, the next evolution of the award-winning action MMORPG, is now live and available for play without charge throughout North America. To celebrate the new chapter of TERA, En Masse is launching new in-game content, new servers, and an action-packed cinematic trailer.

 

 

TERA: Rising ushers in a new era in Action MMO gaming where players can dive into a deep MMO with the best action combat in the genre without having to pay a dime,” said Chris Lee, CEO of En Masse Entertainment. “The feedback so far has been overwhelmingly positive and our community is eager to greet a new wave of gamers checking out TERA for the first time. The brand new content is going to be engaging for both the new and existing players alike – creating a fun and dynamic environment we haven’t seen before in TERA.”

 

TERA: Rising

 

In-game content launching today includes an all-new wave-based dungeon and a PvP battleground map. The multi-level Crucible of Flame dungeon will challenge players with a series of epic, high-level battles, and PvP players can jump into an all-new three vs. three battle arena. Two new game servers, one PvE and one PvP, also launch today to give players the option of joining a fresh server or one with an existing community.

 

 

The recipient of multiple industry accolades, including “Best PC Game” at E3 and “Best Combat” at PAX, TERA gives players the best of both worlds: MMO depth delivered with the visceral gratification of an action game. In TERA: Rising, players actively aim, dodge, and block, as the game’s real-time combat system takes into account player skill and position as well as stats. Players join in an alliance to save the world and can also participate in the game’s forward-thinking political system, through which they wield power based on their in-game political prowess or PvP combat skill. New players can enjoy Standard status for free with no level cap or content restrictions and anyone who has purchased the game will gain permanent Founder status with special privileges. Elite status is available for advanced players who want to further customize their gameplay experience.

Hunted Cow Reveals New Game Details for Eldevin

Hunted Cow Reveals New Game Details for Eldevin

 

Eldevin

 

Hunted Cow, the online role playing game experts today released the first gameplay footage and information about the studio’s long-awaited, innovative new browser-based, massively multiplayer, 3D, online, role-playing game, Eldevin. The world exclusive trailer for Eldevin is now LIVE on YouTube:

 

 

Eldevin is a new story-driven game, set in a corrupt fantasy world on the precipice of all out war. Players can join the Eldevin army, or the Mages of the Arcane Council, in a quest to recover the magical artefacts, which have taken the kingdom to the edge of disaster.

 

 

The game runs entirely within a web browser, using Java technology. This means it runs on all major web browsers, with no additional downloads or installations. Eldevin does not require high end graphics processors and will work on the majority of netbooks, laptops and desktops running Windows, Mac OS or Linux, making Eldevin accessible to almost every computer user.

 

Eldevin

 

Eldevin is vast. The game brings players one of the richest, most in-depth game experiences ever found in a browser-based game. It offers a powerful, classless, real-time combat system. There are 100 different abilities, 200 talents, several hundred different items, which can be collected or crafted by players within the game, by mastering up to 14 different professions.

 

 

From launch Eldevin will offer hundreds of hours of gameplay within a huge, diverse world. There are over 600 individual quests, as well as group dungeons and solo adventures to keep individual players and parties challenged and engaged for months. The game also offers player versus player combat, including 5 v 5 battlegrounds and free for all matches.

 

Eldevin

 

John Stewart, the studio manager of Hunted Cow, said, “Eldevin is our flagship project. We’re a small indie developer but we’ve been working on this game for the best part of eight years now. It incorporates everything we’ve learned from our previous games, such as Fallen Sword and Gothador, but adds a wide range of innovations and ideas we believe take the genre in a number of new directions. As huge MMO fans ourselves, our goal was simple – to build the best massively multiplayer online role playing game on the market. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished and we’re ready to find out what players think of the game. We want to see everyone in-game for the closed beta test in March 2013, which will be followed closely by the open beta and full game launch.”

 

 

The development team is hard at work ensuring the game is ready for the beta period and subsequent launch. However, the team is already planning additional new content, new features, updates and expansions, to ensure that from launch and into the foreseeable future, Eldevin remains at the forefront of online role-playing gaming.

 

 

The Eldevin closed beta test launches in March. Players wishing to join in should visit www.eldevin.com/beta to sign up.