Player Preview - Heroes of the Storm

Title: Heroes of the Storm
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
Status: Open Beta
Release Date: June 2nd, 2015

Official Site: http://blizz.ly/1Kw95Gk

Hey what’s up, Serpentine here taking a look at the free to play MOBA, Heroes of the Storm, developed by Blizzard Interactive. Blizzard has collected all its existing IP’s and put them all together in a faster, objective based take on the MOBA genre.

The core of the gameplay still remains true to the MOBA genre with lanes that you can push down alongside creeps that continuously spawn. You still have an average of 4 abilities to work with and the character roles are split into fairly common groups like Assassin, Warrior, Support and Specialist. The first team to destroy the enemies home base wins, the usual. But Heroes has made some small changes here and there that have made quite a significant difference, shaking up the formula to give us a more action packed game that lasts around 15 – 20 minutes rather than 30 minute to an hour. The biggest difference from other mobas is the addition of objective based maps, you’re not restricted to the one map, instead there are currently seven different maps with 7 different objectives tied to them. In a couple of the maps you don’t even have to touch the enemies’ base to be able to destroy it and win, purely by playing the objective.

The gamemodes in Heroes can pretty much be split into 2 groups. There are the collection game modes where you have to collect tokens, skulls, seeds or what have you and turn them in to gain a boss creature that in some cases you can take direct control over or have a pirates cannons rain down on your enemies base. This game mode equates for 4 of the 7 maps, the other 3 maps however are based around capturing points to gain a similar kind of reward. The power or bonus that you receive from completing a main objective is extremely important and turns the focus away from winning a lane or getting as many kills as you can to a more team fight focused strategy that has players leaving lanes as soon as an objective becomes available. All of the maps include monster camps situated in what could be considered the jungle. Once defeated you can capture the camp and have the monsters march on with your offensive in a lane. These monsters deal significantly more damage and have a bunch more health, when protected from enemy attacks they can deal a bunch of damage to your enemies structures, especially if you defeat and capture the boss monster of the map.

On the ability side of things you’re given all of your abilities except your ultimate straight of the bat. When you do level up you don’t decide what ability to gain or upgrade to the next level instead you are given numerous options to choose from via the trait system that can be a passive upgrade, for example life steal on attacks, or it can add effects to your existing abilities, for example adding a stun to an ability. Or it can be an addition of an activatable, for example an activatable shield. This gives some room to move and adapt to what would best suit your team and counter the enemy team. When it comes time to pick your ultimate ability you will have 2 choices that are usually vastly different in their functions. One can be an AOE damage dealer while the other can be a skillshot stun and allows you to specialise in the ability that will suit your team composition better.

Some of the more common mechanics that you would expect from a game in the MOBA genre have been tweaked and some just completely removed. Last hitting minions has been taken out and instead you just need to be near a minion when it dies to gain experience however this experience will be shared by your whole team and your team will level up as one unit as oppose to individual levels, so it’s a pretty good idea to have someone in each lane at all times. Purchasable items have been removed so you no longer have to worry about what item to buy next time you visit the store or have to worry about the items your enemy has purchased instead this decision making falls to the Trait system that only gives you 4-6 options each level milestone. Enemy fortifications have also been tweaked significantly with 2 ballistic towers and a gate that will need to be taken down to proceed onto a larger base like structure that has more health, ammo, range and a slow effect on its attacks. To help keep you in the fight there is also a fountain next to the base structure that provides healing and mana regeneration every minute or so making so you don’t have to recall back to your teams spawn every time you get low on health or mana.

Progression outside of the game has you leveling both your account level which rewards you with gold and boosters as well as access to the ranked mode and Team ranked mode. Then there is also hero levels for each individual hero that before you reach level 25 on your account will unlock more trait options for that hero. Later on you will also start unlocking re colours for your hero and your mount, a special Master Skin will also be unlocked for each hero at level 10 respectively.

Other features of the game include 6 alternate match making ques with ranked, ranked team, Quick match, Versus AI, Practice and Custom Matches. Being based off the Star Craft engine there is also a replay system that can save every match you play to watch later on and even import other player’s replays by just placing them in the replay folder. With the current quick play que not having a draft pick, getting a balanced pool of heroes for your team can be hard but there is an option to somewhat fix this in the Looking for Party option that will show you to all players currently online and hopefully get you into a 5 man party and be able to build a better team composition. Lastly, being a free to play game there is a shop where you can purchase heroes from $5 to $13. Skins are also available and offer information about what has been changed with the skin for example if it has new voice overs, new effects or new animations. These skins also come with 3 colour variations to play around with and range from $6.50 to the $19.50 legendary skins. Along with hero skins you can also purchase new mount skins that range from $13 to $26. Every skin for heroes and mounts also come with 3 alternate re-colours for you to choose from before going into battle. Bundles of heroes, skins and mounts are made available however there is no complete bundle that you can purchase that will unlock every character in the game which is a little unfortunate, the closest you can get is a bundle that unlocks 8 of the 37 heroes plus 4 hero skins and 2 mount skins for $52.

Altogether, Heroes of the Storm is a MOBA designed to be more action packed with very few dull moments, at least if you’re on the winning side. The overwhelment that can come from shop items and the focus needed to get every last hit on minions being removed makes Heroes a much easier game to get into and start playing. Traits can still be a little overwhelming to begin with especially due to the speed of the game and team fights happening every couple of minute, but 4 to 6 options is a lot easier to deal with then hundreds of items all at once. If you want to get into a MOBA but don’t want to dedicate too much time into learning item meta, find last hitting tedious or just don’t like 10 minute lanning phases then Heroes of the Storm may just be what you’re looking for especially if you are a fan of Blizzards numerous universes. I will say that anyone trying out the game, understand that Heroes is an objective based game and while kills are important, they aren’t as important as they are in other MOBAs.

Anyway, that’s been my player preview for Heroes of the Storm, the game is currently in Open Beta and will be officially releasing on the 2nd of June via Battle.net. If you want to find out more about the game check out the links below. Thanks for watching, I’ll see you guys next time.

Player Preview - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt

Title: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
Developer: CD Project Red
Release Date: 19th of May, 2015

Official Site: http://bit.ly/1FdFaPP
Steam Page: http://bit.ly/1HIOJJA
GoG Page: http://bit.ly/1JUhLIu

Hey what’s up, Serpentine here taking a look at Role Playing Game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Developed by CD Project Red. Wild Hunt is the final game in the Witcher series, or at least the last game based around the main character, Geralt of Rivea. 

Wild Hunt carries on from where The Witcher 2 left off. The Northern and Southern kingdoms of the world are still heavily at war with each other and as you travel around the country you can see the effect it has had on the people and the environment with bloodied battlefields and ransacked villages with peasants struggling to survive. While the war is all around Geralt it’s not actually his primary concern, as the games name suggests it’s the Wild Hunt that holds his interest as they hunt for his protégé and in some respects adopted daughter, Ciri, a fellow witcher that has some rather interesting magical abilities that you can play around with when given the short opportunities to play as her.

The size of the world is pretty damn big and while the quest lines will take you through a certain path in the world you can also walk off into the wilderness to find random points of interest like monster nests, caves and hidden treasure represented by all those question marks on the map. Accompanying you on your journey is your loyal horse, Roach, that will make traversing the countryside a lot easier along with quick travel points dotted at key towns and locations. Roche can also hold some of your loot in his saddle bags, carry trophies from important monsters and you can also go racing with him in the horse racing mini-game to earn some extra crowns on the side. Engaging in combat is also possible while mounted and can be devastatingly effective with one hit kills to enemies that would have taken 5 or more hits to down, getting your timing down however is the difficult part while also avoiding Roach bucking you off out of fear. 

As Geralt you have access to 3 combat methods with your steel and silver sword being your primary method with heavy and basic attacks along with a block and a riposte that you can use straight of the bat. The combat is extremely fast and relies heavily on your dodge timings. It’s a huge step up from the Witcher 2 and actually reminded me of Dark Souls combat and I wouldn’t be surprised if CD Project Red had it mind when creating the combat system for this game. The only thing that could have been improved on is the sword play as you only have the two alternatives in heavy and quick attacks. Probably the biggest combat move that is missing is the ability to lunge forward with the sword so as to keep your distance from the enemy but otherwise the combat is extremely enjoyable and amazingly satisfying once you get the hang of it.

 Your Witcher signs are an important part of not only the combat but the game as a whole and you will need to take full advantage of them. There are 5 of them available to you with arguably the most important being Quen, a shield that can negate all damage from 1 attack before it breaks. When fighting something like the Griffen, a sort of boss monster that appears very early on in the game, and you don’t use the shield you can be killed within 2 shots and unless you’ve mastered dodging that is very likely to happen. Yrden is a trap sign that is used to slow down and weaken any enemies who enter it making them easier to deal with. The rest of the signs are mostly situational but they also have secondary uses in the world unlike the Quen and Yrden signs. Aard can be used to push back and damage enemies while it can also be used to break open doors or clear debris. Igni can be used to ignite enemies directly infront of you or it can be used to light torches in dark areas and light explosive barrels. Axii can be used to stun an opponent or it can be used to take control of NPC’s to get them to do what you want or tell you what you want. Changing between these signs while in combat is done really well with the game slowing significantly while you choose from a circular menu that doesn’t just contain your signs but also your bombs, crossbows and various other equipped items.

 Lastly there is Alchemy that includes potions, oils for your swords and throw able bombs all with various different effects. Potions in the Wild Hunt have been changed quite significantly from the previous game in terms of their duration and the ability to drink while in combat instead of having to take time out to meditate. While this makes potions a lot easier to use as you can add them to your hotbar and drink them instantly it does come at the cost of the potions duration. A 30 second duration may seem like a decent amount of time but it can go by quite quickly especially in some of the bigger fights were you can only get a few hits in every now and then. For comparison, potions in the Witcher 2 lasted 5 to 10 minutes.

These 3 different combat methods have their own skill trees that you can invest in that can add and alter the effects of certain elements. For instance upgrading your sword skills can allow you to deal more damage or deflect arrows. Upgrading your Qeun sign, or your shield, you can add a damaging knockback effect to it when it breaks and with alchemy you can increase your potions effectiveness and potency. With the skill slot system that is implemented you can’t really throw skill points around into multiple different skills though because you can only socket so many skills at one time with the slots maxing out at 12 and over 48 skills available to use. There is one other skill tree that focuses on passive skills like increased vitality that don’t need to be socketed as well as mutagens of which you can have a maximum of 4 active at one time and when linked to similar coloured skills it will give a scaling stat bonus. Skill points are primarily gained from levelling up however if you go exploring a little finding and using places of power you will also obtain skill points to use.

Missions and quests come in a multitude of varieties from combat missions to investigative missions and surprisingly enough there aren’t really any missions that feel like a waste of time. There are no “Go collect 10 bear arses” types of missions that are so prevalent in RPG’s these days. Each mission has a great storyline behind it whether it be part of the main story or just a very small side plot with both allowing for multiple different outcomes formed from your decisions. While it’s totally understandable that some people may be unable to play a lot of the side missions, I would highly suggest that if you have the option to play through them, to definitely play them. To get involved with some of the side mission you will have to visit your local quest board and collect missions from there to follow up on.

The crafting in Wild Hunt remains fairly similar to the previous games requiring you to find recipes in the world before actually being able to craft items. Weapons and Armour will require you to visit the appropriate smiths and with some of the more unique gear you will have to seek out expert smiths to get it made. Your weapons and armour will degrade after some use taking slight damage output and armour decreases requiring you to get them repaired every so often or use repair kits to repair them yourself. For potions and bombs you only have to craft them once, you will only have a certain amount that you can use before you have to meditate to get them all back again at the cost of some alcohol that is fairly easy to find, buy or even craft. Sword oils on the other hand only have to be crafted once and have unlimited uses without the need for any meditation or alcohol to replenish.

The graphics have been a hot topic with the Wild Hunt with rumoured downgrades for console however honestly, even if it was downgraded it still looks stunning and even on its lowest settings it looks a thousand times better than most other games. If you do want to push it to the next level though there are currently mods being worked on with SweetFX already working with the game.

Other features of the game include a surprisingly in-depth card game called Gwent and it takes the place of Dice Poker from Witcher 2. Collecting cards from opponents and stores you can compile quite an impressive collection and you’ll need to if you plan on beating some of the more difficult players of the game. The tutorial for it is a little bit of an information overload but once you play a game or two it becomes a lot easier. There is also the return of fist fighting and by betting big you can make a tidy little profit out of it.

Altogether The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is one of if not the best game I have ever played that I couldn’t wait to play every day. Playing the game on its hardest difficulty is definitely recommended for the most satisfying experience similar to that in Dark Souls in terms of combat intensity. The amount of content all in the one game and the quality of it all is incredibly impressive and really makes the world come alive. If you’re looking for a game to lose yourself in Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is that game. Looks amazing, plays incredibly and the numerous storys told throughout are fantastic.

Anyway, that’s been my player preview for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, the game officially released on the 19^th of May. If you want to find out more about the game check out the links below. Thanks for reading, I’ll see you guys next time.

Player Preview - Brawlhalla

Title: Brawlhalla
Developer: Blue Mammoth Games
Status: Closed Beta

Official Site: http://bit.ly/1HtNIFi
Steam Page: http://bit.ly/1EYf95S

Hey what’s up, Serpentine here taking a look at the 2d fighting game, Brawlhahla, the first game developed by Blue Mammoth Games. Brawlhala is commonly compared to the Nintendo exclusive Super Smash Brothers and there are a bunch of similarities however where super smash opts for craziness with character abilities and items, Brawhala instead focuses more on balance and strategic directional move sets.

The core gameplay is simple enough to understand and get into. You have two different types of attacks, one heavy attack that takes some time to get off and one quick attack. You also have a dodge that makes you untouchable for about half a second and is extremely important to utilise during a fight to dodge heavy attacks that would otherwise deal a ton of damage to you. The depth however comes with the direction that you’re moving as it will change up how you attack with 4 different directional attacks that also take on a new form while you’re in the air. This attack scheme transitions over to the weapons you pick up too. Each character has access to 2 of the 5 total weapons in the game and this is where each characters uniqueness also comes into it. While all the weapons quick attacks remain the same for every character it’s the heavy attacks that make each character unique with different animations and positioning’s.

There are currently 14 different characters available to play all with a unique primary and secondary weapon combination. The characters range from pirates, kings, aliens, ninjas, cowboys and more all done in a great art style that is easy to distinguish one character from the other so you know what abilities to look out for during a match. When the game officially releases there will be a free weekly character rotation requiring to spend the in-game currency to unlock a character forever.

Brawlhala has a couple of items that randomly drop during a match including weapons that drop as a glowing coloured sword. There are 3 other items including a mine that explodes on contact or attaches itself to a surface until someone does come into contact with it. A bomb that explodes on contact causing a bunch of damage. A spiked ball which is used purely as something to throw at your enemies. Finally there is a horn that summons a weapon to your position, flying in from the side of the screen damaging and knocking any enemies it passes by. Again the item selection is perfect for the balance of the game rewarding skill rather than a random lucky item drop like the power hammer in Super Smash brothers. However I wouldn’t mind seeing an arcade muck around game mode where the items do get a bit crazy.

Brawlhala already has a bunch of game modes for both online and offline play including local multiplayer given that every player has a controller or keyboard ofcourse. For online play you can take to the ranked 1v1 mode were you each have 3 lives and the winner moves up the rankings. This mode offers a cool feature with match history shown before you enter the game showing your win loss record against the opponent if you have ever faced off against them before. The other official online mode is free for all mode against 4 players. More game modes and mode customizations can be found in custom matches with 4 alternatives including time and stock based matches and the more unique additions of BrawlBall, an American football style game mode were you try to get touchdowns in your enemies’ base, and Bombsketball, basically basketball only with bombs. All these game modes excluding the ranked 1v1 mode are all available in offline play as well as single player. There is one unique singleplayer mode though in Tournament Mode were you can take on the full lineup of characters from the game in an attempt to get to the finals and win. I will say that the bots are a little on the easy side at the moment especially after playing against other players in the ranked mode, they do provide a good way to learn the game but currently are pretty lousy competition. I did notice that they are only medium difficulty bots so I imagine there is still a hard difficulty AI in the works. Also in the works are 2 new game modes that will increase the maximum player count from 4 to 8 with an 8 player free for all mode and a 4v4 team based mode.

Other features of the game include some customisation options that includes full colour reworks of characters that are freely avaialalbe. On the premium currency side of things you can purchase skins for your character which on average costs around about $6. Weapon skins are also available averaging the $3 mark each. Finally you can also purchase taunts to use during matches, these also average around the $6 mark.  In single player mode you will have access to major and minor relics that can change up your stats in what seems to be a sort of handicap system to get everyone on an even playing field. A playback or replay system is also in development so if you ever want to rewatch one of your matches you can.

Altogether Brawlhala is a highly competitive and enjoyable fighting game that will finally be the PC’s answer to the incredibly popular Nintendo exclusive Super Smash Brothers. With its vast selection of characters and the weapon system it will be hard not to find a character that suits your play style from heavy hitters to quick assassins and everything in-between. If you’re at all interested in Super Smash Brothers or 2D fighters in general, definitely check out Brawlhala.

Anyway, that’s been my player preview for Brawlhala, the game is currently in Closed Beta with no known release date as of yet. If you want to find out more about the game check out the links below. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you guys next time.