Monthly Archives: October 2013

Tamer Saga

Tamer Saga is a browser-based MMORPG with a cartoon-like feel and plenty of exciting adventures to await. Players may choose from four classes: warrior, mage, priest, and ranger. The game also features an extensive pet system, a marriage system, guilds, and much more.

ARMA III Launch Review

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor)

ArmaIII Review 1

There are not many shooters that aim for reality, but there is only one that really goes fully into it. And that game recently fully released after having one of the longest beta testing phases ever seen for a first person shooter. I am of course talking about ARMA III, a military simulator that has been around for centuries, and last year really exploded with the release of a simple mod. Something that has always intrigued me about this series is not the game itself, but the studio behind it, Bohemia Interactive. This game studio is probably one of the few studios that really care about their game; rather than seeing each game as a new source of income, they push to provide a brand new project that both they and their community came come together on to build a success both are happy with.

ArmaIII Review 2

First of all I want to go into full detail of how open Bohemia Interactive is with its fans. Where new first person shooters are more and more limiting in what they let players do, Bohemia Interactive fully gives away their game to the community. The community itself has always been a tight group, one with passion that has put their whole hearts into the game to create missions, mods and friends. I myself am a member of one of these large communities, and now you might think, what is the fun of that? Well ARMA 3 isn’t just a tactical game you can play with a bunch of friends. It isn’t a game you play while sitting on the couch. No ARMA has always been a series where realism is the most important thing, and they try their best to bring that up front. There are many players like me, playing every weekend with a big group of hundreds of players, playing big missions with multiple squads at the same time, together and against each other. When I think of ARMA, I think of the community as a family with Bohemia Interactive being the grandparents.

Now onto the game itself, the ARMA series has been around for a long time now. As such it becomes an increasing challenge with each iteration to offer enough innovation to make gamers want to jump to the latest version. Well better graphics and improved technology are both present as one would expect. But besides these elements, ARMA III pushes a major overhaul on past versions that is well needed. The new inventory system and interface is much appreciated compared to what we dealt with in Arma II. I can’t properly describe the level of frustration I had dealing with the buggy inventory in that game. Luckily Bohemia listened to us, and they completely redid their whole inventory system that started out many years ago. Beyond the UI, Bohemia used their technology to push ARMA II’s realism into every facet of the gameplay. I’m talking about improved weather systems, underwater environments, and a lightning engine that puts most shooters on the market to shame. All in all, it’s just eye candy but fans like myself aren’t complaining.

ArmaII Review I3

As I’ve mentioned in past write-ups, ARMA III’s alpha felt a bit off as they attempted to push beyond the modern setting of past titles into a post-modern setting roughly thirty years in the future. I must admit for a game known to push realism, this new setting wasn’t too appealing. Sure everything is “better,” as you can play around with borderline science fiction technology and super soldier weaponry. They put in the effort to make it believable and I can’t knock them on the effort. It’s more a personal gripe but worth mentioning for former ARMA II players that might be jumping in without being aware of this design change.

ArmaIII Review 5

A couple weeks ago, the game itself finally opened its primary world map, the largest map in gaming history. You think the latest Grand Theft Auto 5 map is big? Well it is nothing compared to ARMA III’s Altis. Perhaps this map was the biggest surprise in the entire package. During my first impression traveling around, the map looked completely awesome. But as I traveled more I realized that a key component that made ARMA II maps awesome was missing. Where were the forests? Sure there are patches of trees scattered here and there, but nothing on par with Chernarus kilometer long forest expanses. Beyond aesthetics, the larger forests were key in guerilla tactics. Altis feels more designed for large scale open warfare rather than small skirmishes. Now snipers will have to find other means as the forest density just doesn’t offer the kind of confusion you need to keep your enemies guessing long enough to secure victory. I guess it comes back to Bohemia’s never ending quest for realism and the huge forests just didn’t match the Greek sandy landscape they were aiming for. Players will have to take the fight to each other in the many village and cityscapes that all seem to blend together after a while.

ArmaIII Review 4

Verdict: Good

I wouldn’t say that I am disappointed, no not at all. Without a doubt I will be spending thousands of hours into this game just like I did with its predecessors. I just expected more. Bohemia Interactive took a huge leap of faith with going into the future with ARMA 3, and I honestly believe that this was a bad call to make. Everything feels unfamiliar, a little strange and unbelievable, and in my eyes that is a failure. The gameplay, and graphics are yet again are extremely well done, but that isn’t the point that I want to raise here. I was hoping for something that reminds me of their previous game. Instead it’s just a post-modern shooter in a huge world with the ARMA label on it. However, if you are a big fan of shooters, and do not mind the simulation style of having a thousand buttons to press, then you should definitely get ARMA 3 because once you get to know the game, it is solid enough to warrant the purchase price.

WildStar Pushes New Systems for Quests, Leveling, and Ability UI

Although the NDA keeps the majority of the industry in the dark, Carbine Studios has been open in their developer blogs to keep the general public knowledgeable about the major changes happening behind the scenes in WildStar. Today they finally confirmed rumors of changes to the leveling system, and while not at groundbreaking as some of the features demonstrated in their DevSpeak series, they are certainly changes you’ll appreciate subconsciously as playing through the game. Convenience is on tap!

WildStar Level Up UI

Leveling: Previously leveling up opened quite a bit for players in WildStar. Perhaps too much as some players would overlook half of what happened. Or spend time digging through countless menus and exploring places in Nexus they had been before to see what was new. Now a convenient pop-up offers all the info you’ve unlocked in one fast and furious package.

 WildStar Abilities

Ability Sorting: Picking abilities was overwhelming before. Now not so much. Players can see what abilities are available, what purposes they serve, and even filter out the path abilities into a separate group so they aren’t confused with combat skills. Again, convenience.

WildStar Quests

New Quest System: This improvement seems to be glaring evidence of NCSoft backing this game and Guild Wars 2 as the new system brings in a lot of the convenience GW2 offers with public PvE elements. Now players will be pushing progress bars rather than grinding out quests with eyes glued on the kill count or gather count reaching that magic number. What’s more, players who perform epic actions related to the quest will gain a much larger push towards completing the bar, allowing you to take things slow and steady or get risky and wild to save time. And don’t worry about jumping in with someone you aren’t partied with to get your quest done, as both will receive kill credit towards their individual quests. Killstealing never felt so rewarding!

 

The full details can be read on the official notes here. Just be ready for a wall o text!

Shotgun News 10/3: Guild Wars 2, CABAL Online, Hero Bash, and More!

Guild Wars 2 Free Trial and Sale Extended

GW2 Twilight Assault

The Guild Wars 2 Free Trial which started on September 27th is being extended through this weekend. Originally the free trial was due to end today but now trial accounts will remain active until Sunday, October 6th. And to go along with it the current sale on Guild Wars 2 which reduces the Digital Heroic Edition will also be available for $39.99 for an extended period, until Tuesday, October 8th.

 

Microtransactions on Hold in GTA Online

Rockstar has disabled Microtransactions while GTA Online is plagued with problems, including players not being able to purchase the currency. Players will still earn the currency, called GTA$ by taking part in profitable in game activities.

 

Esc Bros Announce Hero Bash

Need a MOBA you can play on the go? Hero Bash is coming to an app store near you. This quirky one of a kind party MOBA will be available on all iOS devices. Features will include Mighty Heroes with unique abilities, multiplayer fun up to 4v4, upgrades, and presents.

CABAL Online Greenlit on Steam

After spending 83 days on Valve’s Steam Greenlight program ESTsoft’s CABAL Online has been greenlit and will soon be available on Steam. More information on dates, and region support will be coming soon.

Project Velyria

Project Velyria is a browser-based return to classic dungeon crawlers. Play as an abandoned colonist on a savage planet, and fight on in a never-ending onslaught of enemies. As you explore, you will gain experience plus access to new weapons and skills. Even after you reach the level cap, you will be able to find new areas to explore and missions to complete.

Features:

Variety of Classes: Four base classes (Soldier, Scientist, Recruit, and Worker) include 36 branching advancements.

Unpredictable Adventures: Randomly generated, persistent tile-based maps are created for you to explore.

Missions Unending: Hundreds of missions and side-missions available, with more to come in the future.

Alliance Support: Create or join alliances, and work toward unlocking alliance-only skills and missions.

SMITE Announces Mercury in Latest Patch

The long awaited reveal of the famous Greek god Mercury in HiRez’s Pantheon-based MOBA, SMITE, has arrived. Staying true to lore, Mercury offers a fanatically frantic kit that is sure to leave enemies guessing as he blinks around his region dealing out massive damage to any daring enough to attempt to catch this speedster.

SMITE Mercury

Fastest God Alive (Passive): For every 1 ft traveled, Mercury gains a 0.1% physical power bonus on his next basic attack (max 50%). Mercury also gains additional physical power equal to 20% of movement speed from items.

 

Made You Look:  Mercury moves in the blink of an eye, dealing one melee attack to every enemy within the target area. Each hit is considered a basic attack, may trigger item effects, and can critical hit. Damage: 70/100/130/160/190 (+50% of your physical power). Range: 55ft. Radius: 5/7.5/10/12.5/15ft. Cost: 50. Cooldown: 8.

 

Maximum Velocity:  Mercury increases his attack speed, ignoring slow and root effects for the duration. Attack Speed: 30/40/50/60/70. Duration: 3/3.5/4/4.5/5s. Cost: 60/65/70/75/80. Cooldown: 18/17/16/15/14s.

 

Special Delivery:   Mercury dashes forward, knocking aside minions, grabbing the first enemy god he encounters and spinning them. The enemy god takes damage until the effect ends, and Mercury throws the god in the direction of his choosing. Minion Damage: 70/115/160/205/250 (+60% of your physical power). Damage per Tick: 10/15/20/25/30 (+15% of your physical power). Duration: 1s. Damage Interval: 0.25s. Cost: 70/75/80/85/90. Cooldown: 15s.

 

Sonic Boom: Mercury gathers energy for a powerful dash, with the range extending as he does so (max 500ft). He travels the distance faster than the speed of sound, dealing damage to all enemies, disorienting them and spinning them around in a random direction. Damage: 200/275/350/425/500 (+120% of your physical power). Disorient Duration: 1s. Cost: 80/90/100/110/120. Cooldown: 90s.

 

For full patch details including balance changes, check out the official patch notes here. And keep an eye out as it’s only a matter of time before the video reveal shows Mercury in action!