Monthly Archives: July 2013

Cross Horizon Review – A Console Throwback on Mobile

By: Vincent Haoson, OnRPG Mobile Guru

Cross Horizon is the latest mobile MMOG title coming out from Marvelous USA. The game boasts itself as a “console quality” action RPG for the android and iOS platform. You are put into the shoes of a hero who has lost his memories and is haunted by the dream of a witch.

 Cross Horizon 1

You then embark on your adventure to regain your memory, and alongside that mission you are tasked to find out the “truth” behind the return of the Bandit King, the game’s big baddy.

Starting Off

Cross Horizon 2

If you’re thinking that the game was set up like some anime-ish quest game, you aren’t far behind. Not only does the storyline seem to be torn off the pages of a generic adventure anime, the artwork also is a good indication that you are playing a game developed to look “beautiful”. However with the limitations of the platform you are playing at, (for the sake of this review I played Cross Horizon on my iPad 2) the sprite design looks clunky at best, and it’s a grim reminder of how old PS games looked like.

 Cross Horizon 3

The game introduces you to the basic controls and the things you can do. You are escorted along the game with a poorly written set of quests that opens up one game feature after another. After that, you are then left to your own devices on how to progress through the game.

Progressing

Cross Horizon 4

The game’s quest mechanic is its main fuel as you progress through the game one quest after another. With that said, the lack of multitasking quests pretty much puts the game in a bad light. It’s pretty tedious to keep on going back and forth from the castle (quest starter), to the quest area and back to the castle once again submitting the finished quest and getting another one when we are already used to gathering all the quests and finishing them in one go.

 Cross Horizon 6

Quests are separated into two different types, the combat and find missions. As the name suggests combat quests task you to finish off a specific amount of monsters while find quests require you to traverse through the maps to find the endless list of missing objects. NPCs in this world can’t seem to remember where they put anything.

 Cross Horizon 7

Gameplay

Most of Cross Horizon’s controls are touch based. You move with the left side of the device you are using while the character’s PoV is controlled through the right side. This would be your default control scheme during the explore phase but it switches up once you enter the battle phase.

 Cross Horizon 8

CH’s battle phase turns into a first person lash-fest reminiscent of other touch based reflex games such as fruit ninja and the like. The difference with CH is that you can only attack or shield yourself as long as you have stamina points which deplete whenever you do an action during battle. The damage you deal in-game is not just determined by the amount of attack damage you have but also through the body part where you are specifically attacking. You can in fact “break” certain body parts if you hit it hard and consistent enough.

 Cross Horizon 9

Going back to the game’s explore mode. You enter into instanced areas that are teeming with big “eye-like” circles that represent enemies in the field. Each circle has its own field vision that you can artfully avoid. One nice game mechanic is that you can attack monsters “from behind” by initiating a battle behind the circle’s field of vision. On the flipside though is when enemies are able to attack you on your blind spot you get a lesser amount of starting stamina hence you are open to pot shots from said enemy.

Other Features

 Cross Horizon 10

While the game currently doesn’t have a live multiplayer feature, CH allows interactions between players by either the bar system, where you can add and even message other players and or through the random greetings that occur in-game.

Cross Horizon 11
Greeting other players in CH leaves a “mark” within the map a player is playing through. It works much like how players can leave notes in Demon’s Souls. The game does promote “socialization” even in its most primitive form.

The other notable feature in the game is the enhancement feature where you can upgrade the stats of your weapons at the expense of the weapons you currently have.

Conclusion

Cross Horizon is a game that looks like a great game on paper. The game’s quest system is the game’s main replayability factor. The game’s customization feature, while a good effort from Marvelous AQL isn’t as much as it’s cracked up to be. I can’t really enjoy how my avatar looks if the details are not as well defined as I would like.

 Cross Horizon Conclusion

Another thing I didn’t like in CH is that the game forces players to actually go through the hoops of going through the maps even after you’re done with the quest. The alternative is that you would have to purchase a premium item to be teleported back in a flash. While I do understand that the company needs to make a profit, adding such an integral game feature as a cash item detracts from the feeling that the game is actually free. I haven’t even mentioned the special drops you get that require you to pay for items that would unlock said items for use.

 Cross Horizon Gameplay

Cross Horizon’s gameplay is solid. There’s no going around that. I liked that the game allows you to switch between PoVs. In its own way I liked that the game gives off an RPG vibe since you don’t necessarily play with other people and the only traces of them are found with “player greetings” that litter the explore maps you get into. However, the tediousness of going through the game eliminates whatever fun you have especially if you’ve gotten used to other titles having all the minor features available to you free. If you’re looking for a game that doesn’t make playing for free too much trouble, then this is not the game for you.

League of Legends Reveals Lucian, Master Yi Rework, and Patch 3.9

League of Legends Lucian

After an extended stretch without releasing an AD carry, Riot Games has broken the pattern with the reveal of Lucian’s splash art and kit today. Fulfilling a “Holy Gunman” archetype, Lucian combines elements of various past AD carries into a new style of run and gun action packed gameplay. Full details on his lore and kit can be found HERE.

Today also saw the release of the latest patch notes for 3.9. Most notable among them are changes to the way ward wars are dealt with and the long overdue introduction of the League of Draven passive. Full notes are available HERE.

Master Yi Rework

And if that wasn’t enough excitement in one day, Master Yi’s finalized rework has been introduced. Receiving a new voice over, improved art, and slight tweaks to his current skill set, Master Yi now presents a more well balanced less risky champion that can transition well into late-game whether in lane or the jungle. Or so the theory goes. Check out the full notes for yourself and tell us your speculations in our active League Thread.

Eden Eternal Reawakening Gift Pack

OnRPG is teaming up with Aeria Games to celebrate the biggest update Eden Eternal has ever seen, Reawakening!

Eden Eternal Reawakening does more than just upgrading the UI and improving the graphics. With it players will now be capable of using skills while moving, enjoy an improved Pre-Level 10 tutorial experience,  find greater freedom in being able to choose all 5 base classes at level 1, all with the massive end-game content updates and competitive guild features for the more hardcore gaming audience.

The Reawakening Pack Includes:
x1 Auric Jewel (+50% EXP and CP gain)
x1 CP Talisman 1 (+25% CP gain)
x1 EXP Talisman 1 (+25% EXP gain)
To get your key you have to follow these instructions:

  • If you are not yet a member of OnRPG please sign up here.
  • Enter your OnRPG username and password below to get your key.
  • The key will appear at the bottom of the page. Copy & paste it to a safe place as you may not be able to retrieve it once closing your browser!

To Redeem your Key:

  • Login or create an Aeria Games account
  • Visit the redemption page HERE
  • Enter the key into box provided, then click “redeem.”
  • Your items will be sent directly to your Itemmall in-game which you can access by pressing “i” when in-game.
  • Note that this item can only be claimed by one character per account.

Camelot Unchained Breaks the Silence with New Update

Camelot Unchained Update 53

Today Mark finally reappeared on his Camelot Unchained Kickstarter podium for what has become the 53rd update he’s posted on the site. In it he states reasoning behind the lack of updates and discusses the concept of opening up the “Smackhammer” test server for pre-Internal Alpha testing of the CU core code and character models on live servers. We also learn more of the vision for the world in a not too dark but not too fluffy vision that one popular backer has adeptly referred to as Tim Burtony. Check out the Kickstarter page for the full details.

Cube World

What began as one man’s experimental game development hobby in 2011 has evolved into one of the most impressive block-based fantasy adventures yet seen. Welcome to Cube World, where great game ideas of the past unite and evolve with endless player choices to customization and builds, a huge and dangerous world waiting to be explored, and an infinite number of crafting goals to achieve.

 

Features

Infinite Worlds: Encounter new experiences in each play session as you battle your way through randomly generated worlds and enemies with no borders or invisible walls standing in your way.

Adventure Skills: Acquire the ability to sail, hang glide, and rock climb as you push the limits of what you can find in Cube World.

Action-Based Combat: Aim and time each attack carefully as you attempt to gain armor penetrating bonuses from successful combos. Just stay on your toes as you’ll have to actively dodge your enemy attacks as well!

Endless Customization: With 8 races established and more on the way as well as four combat classes with branching paths and various crafting professions, players will be able to distinguish themselves greatly while still looking like a living lego piece.

Early Access: Cube World Alpha Weekend

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor) OnRPG Journalist

Cube World Early Access

Your biggest dream as a hobbyist making games is that one of your projects truly explodes. Over the last years we see more and more people trying to throw their ideas into the world and only a few of them are actually nice ideas. As we have seen with big names like Minecraft and DayZ , that even the Alpha state of a game can be a huge success and get a lot of people’s attention. Cube World is another one that can add itself on this list, the past week they have really experienced what a luxury problem might be.

Cube World, a game that was made by a hobbyist named Wollay, was begun 2 years ago as a simple experiment. Being a big fan of Minecraft, Zelda, Diablo, World of Warcraft and some other big names, he decided to make a mixture of what he felt made each title so successful; something that was infinite, colorful, full of adventures, and with plenty of monsters and mysteries to discover. As a result comes Cube World, a voxel-based role-playing game. As the name suggests, everything is made out of cubes including your character, the world, and the various creatures you’ll stumble across. Before I want to talk about the game however, I want to talk about the first world problems of a successful project.

Cube World Massive Hatchet

Last week when Cube World decided to open its door to the public, for only a small price of fifteen euros, the site received a huge influx of interested people, or as I would like to call it, a friendly DDOS. Because of the huge influx, it didn’t really take long for the website to crash and the team behind this game had to take the registrations and option to buy the game down. Over the course of a few days, it was turned on and off hoping that the inflow of people would stabilize, but unfortunately up until this day it is still being turned on in phases because of the friendly DDOS. People really want to play this game. Despite the Alpha label being in place to scare off the kids with no intention of doing actual testing and bug reporting, the sheer uniqueness and massive features list just keeps drawing in more players by the day. Patience is something this community is likely not going to have pushing forward.

I suppose we’re in no way guilty of this as a quarter of our team’s writing staff and RPG fans from around the world managed to squeeze into the packed servers this weekend to test things out. The day the doors were opened, our forum chatbox lit up with our community members joining together for the adventure. Luckily we were the prepared ones that got in before the endless series of crashes. Since the game is still in Alpha, there isn’t that much to do yet, but what was there felt solid and polished. First off I have to disagree with Wollay, Cube World is too different to easily compare it to anything that came before it. Sure it is inspired by these past titles, but the overarching vision is all Wollay. Visualize yourself in a Minecraft world, made out of blocks and squared objectives. Now completely think away all the crafting, and throw in a hundred different monster varieties in various locales around the world.

Starting with the character creation, Cube World already demonstrates it has plenty to offer. There are currently only the four standard classes we have seen in many games before which are the Warrior, Rangers, Mages and Rogues. Currently each one of these classes has two branches they can pursue, though it’s more of a barebones layout of future plans than fully fleshed out character designs. There’s just enough finished to make you stop and notice that you’re playing a rogue instead of a warrior during the gameplay. In addition to classes there are eighth races ranging the gamut from frogmen to undead skeletons. Each has a well-designed artstyle, quite a feat given the limitations of the blocky graphics.  But Wollay promises plenty more classes, advanced specialization options, additional races, and more complicated skill trees for all classes at launch.

Now perhaps it’s Cube World’s artstyle, but the one title it’s hard to ignore while talking about the game is Minecraft. Yes I know Cube World is a completely different genre of game, but blocks look like blocks. The control scheme as well has a distinctly Minecraft feel with slight variations to adjust to a wider array of gameplay modes. Instead of playing in first person (which is available as an option if you prefer), Cube World offers a much smoother third person experience that is a lot easier on the eyes. With a small crosshair on the map, controlling your character is a very easy thing to do and I hope a lot more RPGs and even MMOs take this same route. Aiming attacks is necessary and missing is possible.

Cube World Frog With Princess

As you can imagine, I couldn’t resist starting my trial as a frog. What is not to like from these adorable little creatures? The character options let me adjust his eyes and mouth to be the most handsome prince among frogs the kingdom had ever seen before I finally confirmed my name and set off to adventure. Now the gameplay itself can be best compared to the random infinite world generation of Minecraft mashed together with a Diablo dungeon crawling system. The further you journey from home, the nastier the monsters you’ll find waiting for you. The world is big… really big. As a level one, you can only battle the most harmless looking of creatures including bunnies and flies. In your weak state the world will seem unforgiving, with almost any exploration attempt ending in your untimely death. Yet the draw to find out what’s out there will lure any self-respecting adventurer into this unavoidable death as the urge to see what is out there is just too strong to resist! All over the world you can find plants and objects that you can pick up or attack to collect crafting materials. The crafting is currently in place in-game but don’t expect it to be on par with Minecraft’s crafting at this stage in development. You can however build your own gear, equipment, and a few miscellaneous supplies.

Cube World Inventory Vender

Over the world there are multiple dungeons and missions like huge castles or mountains where monsters patrol and a king or leader defends its throne. These dungeons can be cleared by yourself but it’s a far wiser idea to team up with friends. Unfortunately the multiplayer is still very much in an alpha state and is a guaranteed problem waiting to happen if you team up with more than four other players. Travelling in this world can be done by walking or hopping, but I preferred taking a less orthodox approach. There are a couple of skills that make you able to sail on water, or fly through the sky with a glider. The skills for each class are basically endless, and the more points you put into them, the stronger or faster you are. There is also a third more lively option if you can find special pet food. Pet food can be used to tame a pet, some of which are viable as mounts and can be used as battle companions.\

 Cube World Huge Mesas

Closing Thoughts

Honestly I can rattle on about Cube World for hours, and it is no wonder why the game’s popularity has exploded this year. The project claiming to simply be a combination of gameplay elements from inspiring titles is quickly establishing itself as a leader in innovative gameplay all to its own. I have played together with many friends, clearing dungeons, killing huge bosses and swimming under water just fooling around. And that’s what I feel one-ups the current MMORPGs on the market. You can have so much fun in this game while accomplishing nothing. The reward is the gameplay itself. No dangling carrot or promise of power is needed to force you through uninspired grinds and pointless quests.

Even though the game is in its Alpha phase, I can say this is one of the most promising alpha phases I’ve encountered. The sheer number of ways you can kill time in it is phenomenal and looking to expand exponentially based on Wollay’s promises. Just be ready for more friendly DDOS attacks as I don’t think this tiny indie project had any inkling of the impact it was set to have on our industry.