Yearly Archives: 2013

Soldier Front 2 OB Hero’s Welcome Pack Giveaway

OnRPG is partnered with Aeria Games to celebrate the arrival of Soldier Front 2‘s open beta with the Hero’s Welcome package!

Soldier Front 2 seeks to build on its predecessor, Soldier Front, offering amazing graphics, a diversity of combat modes, realism, and an improved learning curve. Suit up and head out to war in competitive and cooperative scenarios, customize weapons, and earn achievements to prove your stuff on the battlefield.

Your key grants you the following k:

SP and EXP Doubler
Color Code Name Change
Hot 3 Pack
Hunter Pack
Delta Scout

 

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:

Rising Storm Review – Community Driven Realism

By Remko Molenaar (Proxzor) OnRPG Journalist

Last year we have seen what kind of influence a community mod can have on the initial game overall. We have seen many indie titles rise from simple mods to officially sponsored standalone titles. This has been the truest in the shooter genre and Rising Storm proudly reps the mod world as the latest addition to the success stories. It now stands as the official expansion for Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad after over 2 years of joint development between Tripwire Interactive and the modding community. The beta went live on May 8th, and I have been put countless hours into it since!

This realistic first person shooter has all the core mechanics of Red Orchestra 2. Having played that game myself I was fairly familiar but it didn’t feel like an exact crossover. The game itself is completely different than what the original game was actually about. Rising Storm brings a whole new arsenal of weapons from both the Americans and Japanese that were used in the Pacific War. Many weapons including a personal favorite the M1 Garand and many others have now been introduced. Red Orchestra 2 was always more focused on close quarters combat scenarios such as housing complexes and alleyways. In Rising Storm you’ll be experiencing plenty of beach landings and jungle battlegrounds with weaponry more suited for handling the situation.

The game itself is actually fairly unbalanced. Since both nations are specialized in their own set of weapons, it feels like the focus is more on recreating historic battles than actually providing a competitive battleground. Though in their benefit they do it spectacularly well, to the point it sometimes feels like you’re watching one of those history channel ‘World War II actual footage’ specials.

Rising Storm Flamethrower

The Americans are well known for their diversity of arsenal in World War II, particularly the variety of flamethrowers. And this fearsome weapon is back, and it is actually frightening when you see it light someone up. If you are one of the unlucky ones being burnt alive, than you have almost no way of escaping this blaze of burning oxygen. The flamethrower literally kills off groups of people and is a great way to burn the camping enemy who are sitting in a bunker, or other defensive position. Where the normal submachine gun can go, the flamethrower does it ten times better. If you bide your time and wait for the opportune moment, you can single handedly win a match for your team.

Rising Storm Explosive Near Miss

The Japanese are given the grenade discharger. This weapon is a mortar that you balance on your knee instead of letting it sit on the ground. This mobile weapon still packs a punch and is useful for blasting a camping group of enemies right out of a structure or bunker. However firing a mortar can be a little tricky, and requires a proper aim and no obstructions in the air between you and your target. The Japanese are also given booby-traps and a banzai kamikaze charge; granted this is World War II so save said charge for your last stand.

Rising Storm Booby Traps

Rising Storm is one of those games that takes realism to a next level. I have played many games that try their luck at capturing this level of realism, but it’s not unusual that in the end they aim for the developer’s vision over realism in the end. Rising Storm seemed to take a much less compromising approach to the subject. The game itself reminds me of Call of Duty 2 due to the familiar kickback and feel of the weapons and item capabilities. Yet they are limited when you attempt to pull off unrealistic feats with these weapons like using a submachine gun to snipe an enemy from across the map. Nor will you see much success at run and gunning with a rifle. For that matter it’s not a great idea to charge the enemy position as one well-placed shot can end you. Instead matches play out with mind-games, distractions, and carefully timing rushes from cover to cover trying to get the better camping position.

Rising Storm Rifle Camping

When I played my first matches of Rising Storm, I was dead within the first ten minutes in close to 70% of my matches. I was trying to play the game as a normal shooter, a roller coaster ride as some of you know it. But Rising Storm is different. It puts you in the shoes of a fragile soldier in a war of attrition rather than the typical bullet soaking super hero most shooters set you up as. Dying is inevitable so prepare yourself for the school of hard knocks before you jump into Rising Storm. You might get a nice camping spot from time to time, but no level of skill will keep you from catching a bullet sooner or later.

Rising Storm Flanking

Conclusion

As I have said before, the game itself is unbalanced, but in a good way. Rising Storm focuses on realism but maintains a decent balance between weapons in the process. Every weapon in the Japanese and American arsenal servers a purpose in a specific situation, and does it extremely well. This means twitch skill isn’t king as in most shooters. You’ll need to survey your situation, listen to the enemy’s weaponry, consider your advantage or disadvantage, and act accordingly to have consistent success. And trust me even though it’s a game, it’ll instill fear into you in every action you take. Yet this fear will forge the stronger players in the long-term as they learn how to utilize it against their enemies. As some people in the military are told, you have to assume that you are already dead, only then you can function.  Bringing a few friends to watch your back and follow a unified pattern is a must. Team play is important, and flanking is by far the most successful tactics to win games.

Rising Storm Review @OnRPG

Overall this game captures the feel of the Pacific War like nothing I’ve played prior. And with the modding community still active in its development, you can rest assured it’s only going to get better.

OnRPG Shotgun News 6/27: Soldier Front 2, The Settlers Online, and Dragon’s Prophet

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG News Mistress

 

Soldier Front 2 Heads to Open Beta

Soldier_Front_2_Sniper_Shot

Aeria Games’ new F2P FPS has entered open beta with all new content never seen before. An all new Escape mode has everyone racing to get to the choppa and four new maps bring more variety. There are also newly released guns. And GMs will be hosting a variety of events to celebrate the launch of open beta. And be on the lookout later today for a goodie bag on OnRPG with all sorts of awesome things to get you started in Soldier Front 2.

 

The Settlers Celebrates 20 Years

Ubisoft and Blue Byte are proud to announce the 20th anniversary of the famous brand The Settlers. The first game was released in 1993 for the Amiga-PC and later ported for MS-DOS. And now, 20 years later The Settlers Online has sold 9 million copies and is celebrating. There will be a new event in game with adventures for all. Congratulations on 20 successful years!

 

Winter is coming…to Dragon’s Prophet

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A harsh wind is blowing in Auratia this next patch. Wintertide, a new region will be added which brings cold dangers and the mysterious Shax cult. More details will be released next week including information on new dungeons, a new festival, and some advanced housing features. Keep an eye out here for when they’re announced.

The Next Chapter Begins for Fantasy MMORPG The Aurora World

The Aurora World

 

GBE Games, a global publisher and distributor of interactive online entertainment media today launched the next chapter for its popular MMORPG, The Aurora World. This exciting new update is bursting with new content including increased level cap to 70, the highly-anticipated Nation War PvP, upgraded servers and so much more. Fans can get a peek at all the latest new content in the “Next Chapter” video below, and check out all the new features by downloading and playing the game for free on The Aurora World website

Level cap increased to 70! Players can join up with fellow adventurers and tackle all the new challenges that lie ahead as they experience the new level content complete with new skills unlocked for each profession. Coupled with the increase, the new skills will also include new armors and weapons and completely new areas to explore filled with creatures and peril!

 

 

The highly-anticipated Nation Wars arrives and nations will collide! It’s now time to settle the age-old argument to which nation is the most skilled and powerful in this epic all-out player PvP battle. Whose nation will come out on top! Additionally, in an effort to improve The Aurora World’s overall gaming experience, upgraded servers and server locations have been added to reduce lag and better serve the varying regions. Other improvements include fine-tuning the player population and balance between the three nations including adding most of the enchanting items to the Points Mall and making cash-shop Majinns more readily available.

To celebrate the Next Chapter update, the Aurora World is kicking off two exciting events! The Leveling King will reward the first 10 players who reach level 70 from each nation with a special title and legendary dragon costume. That’s not all; players can also receive a free level 70 Majinn! Players who get five level 60 purple armors and enhance them to +6 will get an exclusive level 70 Unicorn Majinn for their efforts.

Scrolls TCG

Scrolls is Mojang’s next major gaming project following the success of Minecraft. Players are welcomed into a world of sorcery and machines as they utilize trading cards to summon their legions on a hexagonal shaped battlefield. The goal? Destroy 3 of the enemy’s 5 totems to claim victory!

 

Features:

Discard Resource System: Tired of waiting for lucky draws to utilize your resource cards and progress your tactics? Every card is a resource card waiting to happen as you can discard cards of a set resource type to gain resources.

Unique Resource Styles: Build a deck to master and utlize a set resource with strengths and weaknesses, or mix and match various resources for personalized strategies.

Hexagonal Grid: Deal with advanced tactics as you fight to control various interconnected lanes for dominance.

AI Challenges: Not feeling like battling players? Take on the formidable AI and add bonus handicaps to up your challenge, and rewards.

Scrolls OB First Look

By Jason Harper (Hhean), OnRPG Tactician

 Scrolls Avatar Options

Scrolls is Mojang’s first release in the wake of its runaway megahit, Minecraft. At its core, Scrolls is a collectable Card Game, similar to Magic: The Gathering. However, positioning in the game is unusual, as creatures are placed on a hex grid rather than simply being summoned in a row in front of you. This garners the game a number of mechanics usually found in Tactic games. The victory condition of the game is unusual too; Rather than attacking another player directly, you win the game if you can destroy three of the enemy’s five totems, each of which is found on one of the game board’s rows. This means that positioning and movement in the game aren’t gimmicks, but instead is a core component of winning the game.

 Scrolls Modes

At the start of a match you draw six cards into your hand, and draw a single card on each subsequent turn. Frustratingly, there’s no way of discarding your hand for a new one if you don’t like it, so a bad opening draw can screw you. Cards can be sacrificed to gain one of your deck’s resources (Order, Growth or Energy) or draw two more cards. Since your resources can be gained from any card, rather than having to rely on specific cards (Like Magic: The Gathering’s land cards) you can’t get your resources blocked by a bad draw. Players can then play as many cards as they like, provided the total cost of the cards they play is under the amount of resources available to them on that turn. If any of these cards are creatures, they’re put onto the game board, and it begins preparing for its next attack.

 Scrolls Early Game

Placing a single creature on the board can provoke a complex set of questions in itself. Do I try and oppose the enemy in a space they’re strong, trying to weaken their foothold on the gameboard, or do I place out of their way, forfeiting a totem or two in order to build strength later in the game? Which of my units can I afford to place in the front row, knowing that the enemy is undoubtedly going to kill them next turn? Do I place a high threat target near an enemy unit to draw attention away from my larger number of weaker units, or do I use those units as an expendable shield? Scrolls doesn’t favour one strategy over another, and the correct answer is constantly shifting as a match goes on.

Scroll Totems

A creature can’t move more than one hex a turn, and most can only attack in a straight line in front of them. They will always attack if able, but have a cooldown of a few turns before they can strike. This means it’s rare that a player can commit to an assault without you seeing it coming a turn in advance, allowing for plenty of counterplay. The goal then is to establish enough board control that they have no option but to fall for your traps, or to present them with so many simultaneous threats that they are stuck in a losing game of choosing what they need to sacrifice rather than how they can mount an offensive of their own.

 Scrolls Late Game

When you begin, you’re given a choice of three starting decks, each one using one of the game’s three resources.

Scrolls Order

Order relies on establishing board control through massed troops and sudden assaults.

Scrolls Growth

Growth is an aggressive rushdown deck focused on smashing the enemy so hard early that they never get a chance to fight back.

Scrolls Energy

Energy is a defensive endgame monster with plenty of damage dealing spells to keep the board clean while they’re weak.

Another resource called Decay is planned, which will gain power from the death of creatures, be they friend or foe. It’s possible for a deck to be made from multiple resources, allowing for some very powerful combinations that are currently dominating the top levels of play.

 

The game’s small team shows most clearly in its art design, as it looks like the game’s various assets were made in photoshop by a single artist. The artwork is consistently good throughout as a result, with everything in the game remaining aesthetically cohesive. However, the look of the game isn’t quite so refined as a number of its competitors, which often draw upon large pools of experienced freelancers to get exceptionally detailed illustrations on their cards. The animation quality on the characters is also quite good, giving a little bit of personality to the creatures while they attack or move around. The music is pleasant without being distracting, though there currently is a very limited number of tracks in the game.

 

One of the game’s biggest surprises has been its excellent community. People frequently talk during matches, and take both the good and bad in good humour. I’ve yet to encounter a rude or abrasive player, which has been a wonderful change of pace from your usual General Chat trolls and MOBA monsters. It’s incredible that this game seems to have avoided whatever problems The Banner Saga had with its silent community, overcoming the lack of team play to be found in games of this sort.

 

One of the reasons for the game’s talkative community may be its trading system. It’s in your best interests to reach out to other players and swap cards with them, or else you’re stuck using whatever you happen to discover in the store’s booster packs. Some people likely will enjoy the surprise of getting whatever a booster pack can give you, but if you want to get a deck built with any speed, trading will get things done far quicker. While you can purchase a limited pool of specific cards from the shop, whether you get something you actually want in that pool is entirely down to pot luck.

Scrolls Select Trial

When you’re not feeling sociable, the game’s AI can provide a stiff challenge. You can play a normal match against the AI, or run the gauntlet against its Trials, which add in unusual handicaps to the match. The earlier ones of these provide an easy means of acquiring the ingame currency, but they quickly turn vicious as you progress. These provide a great introduction to the game, allowing a new player to build up their confidence before tackling other human beings.

 Scrolls Deck Builder

Deck variety is a problem currently, as the number of decent cards is rather small. As a result, you will see the same card combinations come up frequently, especially in your first few games where most opponents will be using the same starter decks. While the existing card combinations are interesting in and of themselves, the scope for creativity is limited.

 

Since the game is still in beta, it has its share of bugs and rough edges. Crashes and freezing are commonplace. The game’s feature set at the moment is also very limited, lacking basic functions like a friends list, or even a menu option to leave the game. Your only option to get out of the game is to hit the Esc key, which feels like a bizarre omission. The game also has an unusual conflict with Avast antivirus, where you can’t login unless it’s disabled.

 Scrolls Cash Shop

The payment model for the game is a half way between F2P and a straight purchase. The game has to be bought in order to get access to the beta (and, just like Minecraft, its price will rise as it approaches release) while also allowing you to buy various cards and cosmetic options in-game with real currency. The only things really worth purchasing though are the other two base decks that you didn’t choose when you first logged in.

 Scrolls Victory

I’ve enjoyed my time with Scrolls so far, but it’s clearly a ways off from being finished. It’s unlikely to compare to the unstoppable money making monster that propelled Mojang into existence, but it’s definitely worth the investment if you’re a fan of collectable card games. The rough edges on the beta make it a harder sell for those who aren’t already fans of the genre, but those problems will hopefully disappear as the game approaches release.

SMITE June Patch Update

SMITE June Patch

HiRez has been busy this month rolling out a series of major changes to SMITE in terms of character redesigns, map balances, new items and new active and consumable options. Overall this has given players much more strategic decisions that can go an extra mile to set the great and awesome players apart from each other in high tier play, though it’s still certainly a work in progress.

Today marks the next wave of updates including huge revamps to the primary 5v5 Conquest mode including larger lanes and adjusted audio distance to make it easier to navigate the camera and fight within the jungle yet more difficult to identify enemy activity sneaking between lanes or stealing jungle mobs. The base itself has also been adjusted to a smaller more manageable size with a nerf to phoenix respawn times throw in to keep the balance between offense and defense still on par.

Two new skins and voice packs were thrown into this huge update as well along with the usual god rebalances. Check out the full patch notes for details on which item and god changes will have the biggest impact on your gameplay.