F2P Series - Smite (Beta)

With this post we will be concluding our F2P series for the indefinite future as Guild Wars 2 is launching in a matter of hours(!) and we suspect the blog will become saturated with offerings of useless information and ridiculous hijinks focused on the lands of Tyria... that is until we reach burnout and/or inevitable disappointment!

With that said, Bheez and I were lucky enough to be able to experience Smite in its "closed beta" for the past couple of weeks (along with the other 500 thousand people that applied for a free beta key). Smite is the love child that you'd get if a MOBA and MMORPG stayed in while listening to some Teddy Pendergrass. In fact, why don't you go ahead and click on over to that link to set the mood for this post.

If you like the above mentioned game genres then it's very likely you'll like Smite. Unless you can't stand ancient lore and culture references, or monkeys, then you won't like it at all. Smite pits some of history's most badace gods against one another with a MOBA style flow but changes things up by using a 3rd person perspective- giving it a battleground feel. As our friend Hooch once put it, "It's like a 30 minute MMO". Indeed it is.

CHOOSE YOUR GOD- BY CLICKING THE LINK!

Hmm... so many choices! Let's see, what do I normally like? Well, I usually like playing female toons so that eliminates about half of my choices, good. Maybe something healie? OH, or pink. 

Yeah now I've got it- /blindlyclicks

K. /selects

In retrospect this probably wasn't the best choice of god for me considering I suffer from a chronic case of lagitis and Ymir revolves around setting up and timing kills for your team... but oh well! 

ICE WALL: Ymir summons a wall of ice out of the ground that blocks player movement.

This installment of the F2P series will be rated using a scale from 1 to 5 "Poorly Timed Ice Walls", inspired by my own Ymir game play experience. One Ice Wall would be the equivalent of playing for the other team while five would probably equal a well timed one... that earns you double kill credit... yeeeah.

Let's get this done.

Customization-

Glynnia: The customization is very limited in this game due to the nature of its genre. But I won't hold that against Hi-Rez Studios. I personally think their visual takes on these figures from history are really well done. Most of the playable characters even have different skins you can unlock with currency. They have said there will be at least 30 playable gods upon release, which is speculated to be sometime this year. At 20 in the current beta there was more than enough to keep a person occupied. There are no UI mods or configuration settings nor is there key mapping but one could argue that it is not needed in this type of game. I, however, am not that person.

3/5 Poorly Timed Ice Walls

Bheezem: Well, being that SMITE is not an MMORPG, there is a definite lack of customization. All the gods/goddesses that you choose from have preset looks with the most you can unlock being differnt skins. In terms of "build" options, some characters can be built in differnt ways effectively, some not so much. However you do get to choose in what order you want your abilities and how you spend your money... But in terms of this genre of game this is as good as it's gonna get.

2/5 Poorly Timed Ice Walls

Game Play-  

Glynnia: Being a noob to this genre I was a bit overwhelmed at first and I don't feel the game did much in the way of bringing me up to speed. Sure they recommend build items for your chosen god, but conforming to the standard never made anybody a Gladiator... oh wait. Joking aside, Hi-Rez could polish the menu navigation more and make grouping easier in addition to adding in some kind of "game play" overview in their tutorial rather than have you rely on a community full of trolls and rabid acehats. I found myself relying on the advice of friends and learning from error more than I was comfortable with. Thankfully this game is still in beta so these things may be in the works already. As it stands though...

3/5 Poorly Timed Ice Walls

Bheezem: The game play takes a new perspective on the MOBA genre where instead of an overhead view, you are granted 3rd person RPG style view. This enables a differnt feel to the game that brings something unique to the table, with you actually having to aim "skill shots". In terms of balance the game is in beta state right now, so there is definitely some work to be done with the gods and goddesses, but overall the game is in quite an enjoyable state right now. Personally I prefer the 3rd person RPG style view with this type of game so I have to rate this higher than I would say, League of Legends(dont flame me).

5/5 Poorly Timed Ice Walls

Graphics-

Glynnia: The graphic style reminds me of World of Warcraft, which is not my favorite. It's cartoony and somewhat disproportionate but not without its charms and it ages gracefully. It also lends itself to giving that arcade fighter game feel, minus the side-scrolling action. The ability effects felt fresh and in my experience it was easy to tell which graphics were associated with each god, which opens the door for making more intelligent decisions while caught up in the chaos of battle once you've familiarized yourself with them. Layers in a game is a good thing. Even though they pulled gods from all time periods all over the world they managed to stylize it and give it a cohesive feel without sacrificing their individuality, very nice.

5/5 Poorly Timed Ice Walls

Bheezem: The game's graphics are quite well done, effectively bringing to life all the attacks of the major gods/goddesses. You are definitely made aware when Zeus is pissed off. The environment around you does a good job of immersing you in a manner where you are more focused on what you see around you and the minimap, as opposed to being able to see from above with an aerial view.

4/5 Poorly Timed Ice Walls

Creativity-

Glynnia: So I want to say taking this style of game and forcing a player into 3rd person is pretty next level stuff. Would calling it revolutionary be too much? Revolutionary for the genre that is, and so smart of them. There is something awesome about being able to assume the form of various gods from history and partake in real time combat. Come to think of it, isn't that what made Smash Brother's so popular? And before you say it, in my book Link is a god, ty. Pairing that aspect with team and objective play creates more potential for madness and amazing HOLYSHAT moments (remember that time I actually timed an Ice Wall well Bheez?!). Oh and big thumbs up for the addition of each god's lore on their stats page. Sometimes education can be fun.

5/5 Poorly Timed Ice Walls

Bheezem: Have to hand it to HI RES Studios, they took the idea of 3rd person perspective and ran with it, and it ended up doing quite well. Nothing ground breaking in terms of exploring new concepts, but definitely points for the different perspective on MOBAs. Plus, its always thrilling to be able to play as the manly man's Odin and personally send your opponents to Valhalla.
4/5 Poorly Timed Ice Walls

Fun Factor-

Glynnia: It's true, prior to Smite I had never played a DotA or MOBA style game. Sure I have seen League of Legends, and heard of others that precede it but never managed to find the motivation to actually play any of them. I have the F2P series to thank for forcing my hand (to install that is) in this matter. After my brain absorbed the protocol and game flow I had a good time laneing with Dong-Dong, aka Guanyu (I know you were probably thinking that was Bheez' new nickname), and even tried my hand at jungling (and failing which is why I went back to park it in my lane). This game has the potential for a 5 ice walls rating but unfortunately I cannot ignore the fact that the community in this genre of game is highly testosteroned and therefore prone to irrational raging from all sides. I haven't seen that level of chat aggression in a game since... well pick any FPS and that'll do. Am I the only one that feels a community really makes or breaks a game?

3/5 Poorly Timed Ice Walls

Bheezem: If you're a person who likes competitive games, or PvP in general this is a good genre/game to try. If youi're more about the dragon hunting and achievement collecting, I wouldn't reccomend this game to you. SMITE is one of those games where if you have a half hour you can sit down and play out a game or two during lets say...GUILD WARS 2 DOWN TIME. You definitely need to play often to stay sharp, however not playing frequently wont put you behind due to lack of relevant gear or levels, which makes it a good game to pick up which will keep players coming back. Me? I love PvP, the thrill of planting the banner of victory into your enemy's corpse, the adrenaline rush of fighting a worthy opponent, all the highs and lows of combat are  most definitely here. 

5/5 Poorly Timed Ice Walls

Here's a typical Smite match as played by Bheez. His lady of choice is Hel(raiser).I had to convince him NOT to title this "How to be a Hero".

If you're interested in giving Smite a try you can check out the official page here!

A look back at the F2P Series:
DC Universe Online
Dragon Nest
Dungeons & Dragons Online

No, we did not intentionally pick games that start with a "D"...

xoxo ~glynnia