Monthly Archives: September 2015

Call of Champions Preview: Adrenaline Junky MOBA

By Jason Parker (Ragachak)

 

Call of Champions Spectating

MOBAs are still at the height of popularity, but as the past year or so have gone on, quite a few have risen and then subsequently fallen: Dawngate and DC Infinite Crisis in particular sending shockwaves with their premature closures. Trying to reinvent the wheel is a dangerous game, but has proven the path to success for other competitors like SMITE, and if hype it to be believed, Gigantic. But today we’re here today talk about Call of Champions! A mobile MOBA is something I was leery about, until I got a peek of it at Pax Prime. My time with it was brief, but not too long ago I got invited into the beta to take a look around, play some matches with developers, as well as some bots, to see what it was all about. A MOBA requires communication, knowing matchups, items, creep farm, and a lot of other strategems. However, this one takes item shops away (in the vein of Heroes of the Storm), and creep farm as well. It requires a decent mobile phone (or tablet, I also play on my Galaxy Tab A), but the 3v3 works quite well for a mobile. While it may not be reinventing the wheel, it is definitely changing the road that the wheel lies upon. Spacetime Studios is no stranger to mobile games though, and despite a dark period of copycat titles, they are responsible for the first big 3D real-time mobile MMO in Pocket Legends. They are dedicated mobile developers with quite a few accolades under their proverbial belts.

Call of Champions

Call of Champions is fun! And that’s pretty damn important. At present there are sixteen champions, based on one of the elements, and each one plays different. Call of Champions reminds me of some kind of intense game of tug of war. The game uses an Orb system; each team has two lanes, and between the teams is an orb in each lane. Controlling the orb pushes it ponderously forward towards the enemy tower, where it will take the shots for you so you can push it down. Having the orb present also increases the damage you deal to the tower. But the other team can come and stop it from moving forward, creating a fight for it, until one team retreats or dies where they stand.

Call of Champions

There’s also a jungle in the center of this map. On either side (top/bottom) of the jungle portion of the map there are spawn points for a variety of buffs (damage, defense, speed, etc) that you can run up and grab for yourself, but here’s the fun part. If you can make it to the middle of the jungle with the buff, and channel for a few seconds, you can grant that buff to the whole team! Imagine one of your assassins is moving in on an orb to push a tower, and suddenly has an attack buff; she leaps off screen, down onto the enemy carry, and obliterates them! Now the advantage goes to your team. Combat is simple enough to be easy to follow even on small screen displays. You start with all your abilities on the bottom of the screen, and tapping it shows where it will activate, tapping again in another direction will change that direction and fire away. Holding a finger on it will show what it does if you aren’t certain/didn’t check pre game. Tapping enemies causes you to auto-attack and tapping the map moves you about. It’s simple to get into but hard to master, that’s for sure!

Call of Champions

The game also has tools to add friends, watch matches quite easily, and it’s said to have social rewards/loot to boot. The social rewards will help you advance a little faster with friends, gaining exp/champions and what not. You can stream this game from your phone from Twitch or other services, allowing you to show off gameplay. While I was pretty skeptical of playing a MOBA on a mobile device, it’s becoming more popular, and I have to admit, I enjoyed it a great deal. There was no sweating over what item build I needed to focus on or worrying about whether my teams carry could farm. It all came down to skill. Well skill and very very important factor that needs to be addressed:

Call of Champions

THIS IS A FIVE MINUTE GAME. Three on Three, five minute matchups. You heard that right; one of the things that many MOBA game players grow frustrated in are games that last forty, fifty, and even sixty minutes in a world where chances that one of the ten players has a not very understanding mother that needs the trash taken out now, not later. Sure the rare occasion where everyone is in it for the long haul can be exciting, but in today’s world us aging gamers ain’t got time for that. But you can pick up Call of Champions virtually any time, have a couple of matches, and get right back to your personal life! So you’re probably asking the same question I was: How does a five minute match even work? Can you push into their base and win in five minutes? With a good team comp and a strong offense/defense, absolutely. But if you don’t, fear not. Victory comes down to Actual Victory, Most Towers, and finally Most Kills.

Some of the queues in the beta were kind of long, but that won’t be an issue at launch. You can chat in game, and since it’s a mobile, if you really wanted could Skype, call, or do whatever with close friends. As you play the game, you build exp for characters you use. As their personal level grows, there are unique traits you can pick up for the characters you play the most frequently, building them in your image. It kind of reminds me of HOTS again, but it’s out of match, not inside.

Call of Champions

This is a free game, like many MOBAS, but there is also a “Premium” service that gives more exp, et cetera as you play. This can make your time in the game go faster, but it in no way makes you have a huge advantage over players that choose to not utilize it. The exp boost from it is pretty nice, especially if you’re impatient and want to see how a variety of the characters can play with unlocks. But when you can grind out matches every five minutes (plus queue time), the progression feels far faster and real than your typical MOBA experience anyway. To my surprise, this system doesn’t trivialize the victory or loss in the process. Instead, I feel like the adrenaline was pumping even harder, with such a short timer on the clock. Every move counts, every decision is important. I have noticed that once you have a nice, decisive lead it can be very hard to come back, even if it’s just one or two kills separating you from victory and that will no doubt be frustrating to competitive people. But luckily, it’s only a few minutes til the next match. It’s a game of adapting and overcoming.

Call of Champions

Coming soon: Call of Champions, looking to shake up how you play MOBAS!

Spacetime Studios Launches Call of Champions

Spacetime Studios Launches Call of Champions news header

Spacetime Studios, a Texas-based independent mobile game developer and publisher, has launched Call of Champions, a next-generation multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game that delivers fast-paced combat against anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Comprised of 5-minute real-time 3vs3 matches, Call of Champions brings intense and strategic action with last-minute outcomes. Call of Champions is now available as a free download exclusively on the App Store for iPhone and iPad: www.appstore.com/callofchampions

 

“We’ve spent the last two years creating a fiercely competitive experience perfect for the mobile gamer,” said Gary Gattis, CEO, Spacetime Studios. “Call of Champions is a hugely innovative game with robust spectator capabilities, and the combination is unique on any platform. In all our years making games, we’ve never seen players get more excited.”

 

Call of Champions builds upon and refines core MOBA gameplay mechanics to fit the specific play style of mobile gamers. Players must strategically work with their team to score the most points in a 5 minute match. Call of Champions adapts conventional MOBA gameplay by removing slower mechanics like “minions” and “item shops” and replacing them with a unique Orb and Power-Up system. This creates a frenzied tug-of-war to take down the most towers, kill the most enemies, and – if a team is good enough – destroy the enemy base before the 5 minute timer expires.

 

With competition at its core, Call of Champions gives players the ability to watch live and featured matches, as well as an expansive social toolset to invite friends to matches, chat to plan strategy, recruit teams, and play custom games. The Call of Champions fiction immerses players in a place beyond the cosmos, controlling one of sixteen Champions with an enormous array of abilities and customizable talents. Each Champion has been developed from five roles across eight realms and comes equipped with their own individual appearance, personality, and play style.

 

To “#AnswerTheCall” and join the competition today, download Call of Champions at: www.appstore.com/callofchampions

Feel the Thrill of the Kill as DarkScape Launches Today

Feel the Thrill of the Kill as DarkScape Launches Today news header

Jagex Games Studio, creator and custodian of the fantasy MMORPG RuneScape, today announced the PC launch of DarkScape, a cutthroat and fresh twist on the deadly player versus player (PvP) sandbox experience set in a shadowy, alternate game universe. DarkScape is entirely free-to-play and includes areas of Gielinor usually reserved for RuneScape members. Featuring a surprising and treacherous world divided into low, mid- and high-risk regions, each with their own economy, players will have to decide how deep they travel into DarkScape zones of maximum threat, where valuable resources and high-level content can be claimed.

In a game where the line between friend and foe immeasurably blurs, players will have to watch their backs yet work together to protect trade routes, hold resource plots and assemble into bandit groups. Even Gielinor’s cities, highly-protected citadels of commerce in DarkScape, aren’t safe from PvP skirmishes. The further away from these rare “safe areas” they travel, the more likely it becomes that players must fight for their loot – and their lives.

DarkScape’s key features include:

  • Open free-to-play PvP gameplay across the game world
  • Legacy RuneScape combat system only
  • Most valuable resources found in high-risk zones
  • Items not stowed in a bank vault are dropped upon death
  • RuneScape members benefit from double bank space, +50% XP and an extra item kept on death

 

“As big fans of sandbox survival games, DarkScape was born from an idea we first bandied around the studio a couple of years ago. Even while it’s been on the backburner, it’s stayed with us,” said Conor Crowley, senior producer of DarkScape. “Developing a new take on the world of RuneScape, one where PvP gameplay rules supreme, has proved very exciting. We spent time looking for a way to get DarkScape into the hands of players as soon as possible, so launching the game today is very much an experimental first step. That said, it will continue to evolve and further develop based on how players explore our fresh take on a deadly MMO experience!”

In DarkScape, you fight or you die. Visit the official website for more information.

 

Umbrella Corps

Umbrella Corps is a 3D sci-fi shooter developed Capcom that is available for purchase on both PS4 and PC. Now that the Umbrella Corporation has been shut down, numerous other corporations are becoming interested in bio-weaponry and hiring mercenaries to do battle in infected zones. As a mercenary you will take part in intense, close-quarters, multiplayer combat against another team of mercenaries while simultaneously trying to survive the horrific infected. Only the most fierce, unrelenting mercenaries have what it takes to emerge victorious. Are you one of them?

Features:

Various Game Modes: Compete against mercenaries in intense game modes like the One Life Match!

Resident Evil Nostalgia: Do battle in iconic Resident Evil locations like the Umbrella Facility!

New Weapons: Enjoy some exciting, new weapons like the Brainer axe and boot-mounted Terrain Spikes.