App Review: Dark Legends by SpaceTime Studios

Last week we mentioned that SpaceTime Studios has rolled out their newest title in the line of their "Legends" mobile games.  The significant point to be made with this game is that this marks the first time an MMO has been simultaneously released for both Mobile Devices and the Desktop Computer.  Pretty cool!

If you are familiar with SpaceTime Studio's other games (Star Legends and Pocket Legends) you kind of know what to expect as far as character design is concerned.  But let me go on the record to say that this game is nothing like it's previous two namesakes.  For one, this title is a great deal more violent than their previous titles.  Sure, Pocket Legends and Star Legends involve a great deal of fighting and combat.  But neither of them dump buckets of blood during a session of gameplay.  This title does.  Enough with the intro, let's jump in and see how this game stacks up.

Story:
Your character is a newly sired vampire in a world where people are aware that vampires exist thanks to innovation in technology.  Now the humans are hunting the Vampire Nation using said technology and the Dark Arts (hence the appearance of all the monsters in the game).  And it is your job as a new member of the Vampire Nation to take up arms and fight.

Honestly, this is a new take on the whole Vampire legend as far as I know it.  It is a somewhat simple storyline but it's great because that is all you need to know to understand what goes on in the game.  No further explanation is needed.

Graphics & Sound:
As mentioned above, the character designs are the cartoony and fun designs that we have come to expect from SpaceTime Studios.  Unlike SpaceTime's previous two games that we full of color, Dark Legends is much darker.  Given it's source material it has be portrayed this way.  And I can honestly say the atmosphere in the game is great.  It's that dark, but not too creepy dark.  The levels are designed in a way that rewards short bursts of fast gameplay, which we will get too shortly.

Sounds is pretty good.  You get all the fanfare you would expect from hearing the sounds of the onscreen baddies to your attacks doing their job.

Gameplay:
The gameplay is pretty good overall.  The action during the combat missions is great and a blast to play through.  You will find yourself running around slicing and dicing evil fiends very quickly as this game has a pretty small learning curve and does pretty well to get you playing pretty quick.  The earlier "training" type missions are solo missions.  So they are pretty easy.  After you complete that handful of early missions you'll be able to play with other people as you run through the combat missions.  Playing with others is a lot more fun as it gives you a sense of being a "team player".

My only complaint (and it may be I just overlooked this) is that the interface feels a little cluttered and right out of the gates there was a little confusion about what certain icons were telling me.  Although it is easy enough to figure it out as you play through the earlier levels.

The game is made up of basically two types of missions: combat and search type missions.  The combat missions are pretty straight forward.  Run through a map either solo or with others and kill pretty much anything that moves.  Most of the area's have a type of boss character at the end that may take some work to kill earlier on.  But as you progress and your character gets stronger, even these enemies go down fairly quick.

The search missions aren't actually playable missions at all.  Instead you simply tap the mission icon on the map and watch an animation (or cutscene) to see what happens.  Personally, this was a little off putting the first couple of times I played through these particular missions.  Some missions involve watching your character "Glamour" an NPC to charm information from them.  While others involve watching your character look through a pile of rubble or even breaking into a tomb of vampire's lair.  Personally, I feel like the search missions could have been a little more.  Maybe something like a puzzle of mini-game to break up the monotony of fighting through every mission.  But nonetheless, these missions serve the purpose of furthering the story more than gameplay.  After playing through a few levels you get used to them and it makes you look forward to the combat missions all the more.

Energy is one of the hot topics among the players of this game.  Some like it, some don't. Here's the deal, you essentially have a limited amount of energy.  From what I gather, each mission requires a certain amount of energy points in order to play it.  Not enough energy?  Simply redeem your in game platinum for more or step away from the game for a little while and let your energy build back up for free.  Personally, I like this feature as it forces me not to burn up all afternoon playing the game.  This does prevent marathon play for those who like to play that way.  But for me, not a big deal.

Skills:
As the game thus far that I have played it plays fairly linear you level up and acquire new skills automatically as you play.  One of the nice things about the game is that there is very little emphasis on customizing stats.  A lot of people tend to get lost when it boils down to getting a better character because you have juggled stats and numbers to do so.  This free's up the player to do more playing and earn new costumes for you character as you play.

Multiplayer:
As mentioned above, the early missions force you to play solo in order to learn the game.  After those missions you can jump into playing with other people.  And that is where this game shines.  There is no bloat or crap to deal with.  You simply jump in and run the mission assisting others.  Which turns out to be a lot of fun.  This game boasts to be an MMO but it feels more like a hack & slash co-op title to me.  With that being said, there is a PvP aspect to the game as well; however, I haven't actually tried it out yet.

Overall:
If you are looking for a fun coop style game to play on either your mobile device or in your web browser.  Than Dark Legends is a must have.  It is free to play.  Although there are plenty of opportunities to swap real world cash for in-game items if you so choose.  But it is not forced to shell out your hard earned cash, which is nice.  Also, a lot of free to play games (especially on mobile devices) are riddled full of advertisements that get in the way.  And so far, nothing like that has popped up for me.

If you don't mind having limited access to energy points to delegate you play (which I don't mind at all) you should have a blast in this game.  So far I have, and I am not that big a fan of vampire related games.  But this one does it right.

One side note that I'd like to make is just some simple advice.  I would recommend this title to the older crowd as some of the source material is a little too mature for children.  With this being said the Google Play Market page for the game shows "High Maturity" for the Content Rating.

Rating:  4 out of 5 stars!




Pro's:
-Fun multiplayer
-Great gameplay
-Easy to find people to play with.
-PvP is available
-Character customization is basically equipping crystals and costumes.
-It's Free to Play!

Con's:
-There are missions that are only for progressing story involving no gameplay whatsoever.

Get it at:
Google Play: http://bit.ly/IyXeVO
Chrome Web Store: http://bit.ly/HMLHJg
Apple's App Store: Not available yet, according to their forums the game is pending Apple's approval and should be available in a few weeks.

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Dark Legends is Out!

For all of you mobile gamers out there, a new title has hit the web from the likes of SpaceTime Studios.  That's right, they are the great folks behind the much loved "Pocket Legends" and the newer "Star Legends" titles.  Their newest title is called "Dark Legends".  And after having some hands-on time last night with the game, I can say it is definitely a lot grittier than their two previous games.

Here is the deal, you play a newly sired vampire in a gothic/urban city setting where normal humans are aware of the vampire's existence.  You have to fight to survive.  And you are fitting off all kinds of creatures from zombies to demons, it's the full gamut.  It has the feeling of a SpaceTime Studios game in the character design.  It has a cute but dark feeling about it.  And at times it feels a lot like a cooperative hack-&-slash game.  Which is pretty cool.

One of the big deals about this game is that it is the first MMO title that was released simultaneously for mobile and desktop play via Google Play for mobile devices and the Chrome Web Store for desktops.  And the game is a free to play title.  So don't hesitate to jump in and have fun.

Look for a review next week!

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One of the Most Anticipated MMO's Gets a Release Date

Yep, we finally have a release date for BioWare's entry into the MMO market: Star Wars: The Old Republic.  Announced yesterday morning, the street date for the new Star Wars MMO is December 20th.  So looks like all of the prospective Jedi and Sith warriors out there will have something to play for Christmas.

They also announced the subscription model (does any MMO other that WoW use those anymore?).

Monthly: $14.99
Three Month: $13.99 (per month paid in three month increments)
Six Month: $12.99 (per month paid in six month increments)

Personally, the game looks awesome.  But I am curious as to how long BioWare will try to run with the current subscription plan the have on the table.  The current MMO market is shifting more to the favor of Free-to-Play titles.  As we have seen with this past week's announcement that DC Universe Online is going Free-to-Play in October (next month).

What do you think?  Can BioWare bring the subscription plans back to the MMO market?  WoW has been steadily loosing subs since Cataclysm was released upon Azeroth.  With so many F2P options out there, the game's content has to be absolutely rock solid (or have an extremely huge fanbase; as Star Wars does).  I am excited to see what will happen with this title.  That being said, I'm not planning on getting into the game at least for several months after release.  That way any launch issues they bump into will be ironed out, and maybe a couple of patches will be rolled out during that time (as with all MMO releases).'

So, if you have pre-ordered or were hoping to get your Jedi on before next year.  Fate smiles upon you all.  :)
And if you are still on the fence with it, then watch this.




Happy surfing!

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Age of Conan: Unchained F2P

Well, despite everything I have been reading the last couple of weeks about Age of Conan I have decided I will go ahead and download the F2P (free to play) game client and begin a test drive of the game.  I attempted to try the game out once before and had some issues getting to that point.

Personally, the game looks like it has a lot of potential.  Once I have installed the game, my goal is to give it 30 days of play time before reporting back on my time with the game.  So check back soon.

Happy Surfing!

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F2P News: Age of Conan: Unchained

Fans of MMO's everywhere should be on the edge of their seats...Why?  Because another MMO has adopted a free to play model again.  This time it is Funcom's Age of Conan.  Now, I know a lot of players have their own opinions on AOC; however, I haven't personally played it.  Now that it has a Free 2 Play offering, I may check it out.  I'm an avid fan of Big Bang Theory (the geeky TV show for those not in the know).  And one of the episodes from an earlier season revolves around the guys playing AOC.  It sparked my interest then.

Fast forward a little while, and you'll know that they offered a free limited trial that let players experience the first 10 levels or so of the game.  Which was a cool idea, not sure how well it worked out for them, but it was a cool idea.  Now, they have changed up the offerings somewhat.  When you get into looking at the fine details you'll see that their F2P offering is basically an advanced limited trial type of deal.  See below:

So as you can see they are really trying to tease players to hop back into the game.  Will this help draw people back into Hyboria?  Not sure, will people try it out.  Hopefully they will.  If you're interested visit:

http://www.ageofconan.com/

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PC Game Review: Microvolts-Free 2 Play FPS Shooter Madness!

One of the reason the blog updates have been coming so sporadically is due to my stumbling upon an awesome game called "Microvolts".  It's currently in Open Beta and is free to play.  it was pretty ironic that I found this game.  I was messing around on YouTube about a week prior and saw some video footage of someone playing this game.  At the time I thought it looked pretty cool, but the video had no info of what game it was or how to find it.  Luckily one of the MMO newsletter's I get in my email each week had an add for it.

Here's the skinny.  You're character is one of 4 toys.  We have Know, Naomi, Pandora, and C.H.I.P.  They are engrossed in a rather messy war.  Every player can play as one of these four characters.  The real joy comes when you have collected enough MicroPoints (MP) to redeem them for custom parts for your character (like new hairstyles, clothes, pants and shoes, and even bling).  There are RPG elements to this game as well.  Every match you play will help you build experience points that will count towards your level (I'm currently a Level 7).

The Kitchen Map

There are currently 9 Maps (Junkyard, Castle, Neighborhood, House Top, Model Ship, PVC Factory, Chess, Battle Mine, and Toy Garden).  Each map is amazing detailed.  For example, the Chess map takes place on a patio table outside.  With a chair on each side of the table lending it's seat as the spawning area for the players.  They can then leap up ontop of the table via a jump pad.  There you will encounter a giant chessboard that you can use the pieces for cover as you make your way across the table battling other players.  Each map makes you feel as though you are a renegade toy, with everything being oversized.  It's awesome.  If you've ever played "World of Padman", the levels are very much the same in terms of shear size.

The game types include Team Deathmatch, Free For All (Deathmatch), Capture The Battery (Capture The Flag), Elimination, Item Match, and Close Combat.  The first three are pretty self-explanatory.  However, the Elimination Mode is just that.  It's a version of Team Deathmatch with no respawn.  Forcing you to play by the rules and help your team survive the round, if you'd killed; you're out.  Close Combat restricts each player to Melee weapons only and takes place only on the Chess map.  Item Match simply causes random drops whenever a player is killed.  Survive the map working as a team and collecting drops to help you win the match.

The weapons are insanely fun to use.  Instead of trying to make each weapon look realistic, the developers went with more plastic made, or toy friendly designs.  The weapons look like something you'd see packaged with an action figure.  You start out with rather low damage weapons in the beginner levels, but once you build up enough MicroPoints you can upgrade each weapon class and get the fancier, more powerful firepower.  The roster of weapons are pretty standard stuff to online shooters: melee weapon (some form of shovel, wrench, chainsaw, etc.), rifle (a rapid fire weapon), shotgun, sniper rifle, gatling gun, bazooka, and grenade launcher.

My version of Knox with the second tier Bazooka (the Pound).

Each weapon class has it's own set of unlockable versions.  Each version has it's own set of stats that will play a factor in it's operation.  This game reminds me a lot of the early days of Team Fortress 2.  Just the way the game handles, and the controls are pretty universal to typical FPS titles.

Upon entering the game, it's pretty standard fanfare.  You'll have to register a free account over at: http://www.microvolts.com/
From there you can start to "Charge You Battery" by doing things like linking the game to your Facebook account, completing your profile, reaching specific levels within the game, etc.  Once you're battery is charged you can unlock special rewards like extra MicroPoints for buying goodies for your characters.  You'll only have access to 2 of the 4 characters when you start (Knox and Naomi).  However, Pandora and C.H.I.P are available to unlock with your MicroPoints for further expansion.

The Shop.

As I mentioned above, one of the real joys comes when you start decking out your character with it's unique look.  This is done the same way as upgrading you're weapons; through the Shop.  Simply click on the Parts you want to see.  And if you are the appropriate level and have enough MicroPoints, you'll look unique in no time.  Once your items are bought. you can equip or unequip them by moving them from your inventory to one of the empty boxes hovering around your character.  And right now if you log 10 hours or more in one week you're entered into a contest to win one of 2 iPad 2's.  The first giveaway will be for hours logged the week of March 28th through April 4th.  And the second for hours logged the week of April 4th through April 11th.  So, hop in game build up a lot of MicroPoints to pimp out your character and this will have you logged time towards you're 10+ hours in no time.  Plus this game is insanely addictive, so you'll want to log more time into the game.

Customized Naomi.

To give you an idea of the customizing options available for the characters, here is a customized version of Naomi from another player I was playing with this afternoon.  The only other thing to cover is the sound, which is pretty common as other FPS titles right now.  Each character has it's own phrases they say when the taunt or when the get killed.  And some of them are pretty funny.  And definitely lighten the mood when you're killed in the middle of a crazy fire fight.

Overall, I'd rate this game 9 stars out of 10.  And that's only because it's still in Beta.  I can't wait to see how this game matures.  I've been playing this game pretty regularly now for about a week and the playerbase has done nothing but grow.  With more and more people playing with each passing day.

So do yourself a favor, if you love games like Team Fortress 2; you have to check this game out!
In the meantime enjoy the trailer:





Happy surfing!

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Video Review of 'Brave Arms'

Hi everybody, this one is a little behind.  I've been crazy busy lately.  I created this quick video review a few weeks ago.  And the folks at 3G Studio's have been absolutely fantastic.  I wanted to throw this video review up for 'Brave Arms' which can be found on Facebook.

'Brave Arms' is technically the first, first-person-shooter to make an appearance on Facebook.  It plays a lot like the Quake Live site that rolled out sometime back.  Do yourself a favor, if you Facebook and like games.  Check this one out.  And I promise, there is no farming here.  :)

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MMO's: The States of Our Games

The MMO scene has been very volatile as of late. With well-known games going F2P (free 2 play), the upcoming WoW expansion (Cataclysm), and even more news about Guild Wars 2. Anyone who has ever played an MMO (or any MMO's for that matter) can identify with the current environment we are seeing amongst the games we play.  And it is exciting.

A couple of years ago I started checking out F2P MMO's. I was interested in getting into an MMO with a good community and have some fun. This of course led me through the ranks of most of the popular free MMO's. Started with 'Last Chaos' and kept trucking through a little bit of Dungeons and Dragons Online,  Rappelz, Atlantica Online and every other one in between.  Recently found a hidden gem in Allods Online, which even though I have had limited time in game; what I have played has been pretty fun. 

Turbine had converted Dungeons & Dragons Online to F2P, many people thought this was a brave move, and it could have went either way for the company.  How did they do it:  the gave the game away as a free download.  Implemented a cash shop where gamers could purchase items, character slots, new playable races, and mission packs that would unlock other parts of the game.  There is still a subscriber version that includes the mission packs and some other perks.  But for people starting out in the game and maybe limiting their cash spending for games.  This was a great solution.  And it worked for Turbine.

Worked so well for them that now they are taking 'Lord of The Rings Online' free to play as well.  Personally, I'm excited about this one.  I've wanted to play LOTRO for a little while now, and I just couldn't bring myself to another monthly subscription.  Subscription based games are fun, but they come with a sense of obligation.  Either I play a lot and get my monies worth, or I don't play and I lose the money.  That being said, I have spent extensive time in game in Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft, and Champions Online.  And each of these games are fun in their own rite.  However, after playing through the handful of starter levels I tend to find myself not having as much fun.  Because I know that to keep playing (usually past my first 30 days), it will cost me.  Maybe I'm cheap.  But I tend to think my gaming habits aren't constant.  I have several games that I like to play.  And don't like to dedicate any certain amount of time to any one certain game.  I play what I want to play, when I want to play it.  That's it. 

LOTRO isn't the only title going to F2P either.  Also recently announced was Everquest 2 (which will have some hyrbid F2P stuff going on) and Alganon are among the latest.  Which titles are going to be the next to conform to F2P?  Who knows.  But evidence shows, F2P isn't going anywhere, anytime soon.



The other hot topic right now is ArenaNet.  These guys have been pretty quiet about the upcoming sequel to Guild Wars until a few months ago.  They've been teasing us with concept art and concept visuals.  Then they released info on the playable races (which include the Charr this time around), and then they started teasing us with playable classes that are available.  Most recently they have released the 'ArenaNet MMO Manifesto'; which shows off all kinds of gameplay goodness.  From Charr's with guns, to Asuran's piloting Golems, to underwater gameplay footage.  On top of crazy combat visuals, and gorgeous environments, better graphics and the introduction of a persistant world (whereas the original Guild Wars was instanced outside of towns and outposts).  I know one thing for sure...When Guild Wars 2 finally hits the streets, I'll be in line to get my hands on it.

But until Guild Wars 2 hits, you can find me back in the original Guild Wars.  Until next time!  Happy surfing!

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