If you spend any time visiting videogame
news sites you are aware of the war on used and rented games. Game publishers
are trying to make it harder and harder to play anything secondhand while
stores like GameStop are becoming little more than gaming pawnshops.
Personally, I would like my money to go to
the people actually making the game and not some middleman cooperation. On the
other hand, if I bought all the games I want to play new, I would go broke and be
forced to become a shady covert operative just to makes ends meet.
How can a person game on a budget while
avoiding used and rented games? Well, I’m here to find out.
Currently there are countless games that
are fun and cheap or even free. The problem is that for every decent free game
there ten billion bad ones. For every good five dollar game there’s a plethora
of titles that will give you the clap and steal your boyfriend. For those of us
gaming on meager means, it’s a minefield out there.
Don’t worry about it; I’m going to run
through it first.
Let’s start with:
Super
Monday Night Combat
Imagine a universe ruled by sports fans,
one filled with endorsement deals, where scantily clad female eye candy are abundant
and where everything revolves around a high stakes spectator sport. That is the
world of Monday Night Combat (MNC) and its new sequel Super Monday Night Combat. It’s a parody
world built on not too exaggerated elements of modern day pro-sports. If you
listen to the announcers closely, you find out this world is a dystopia. But at
least there are still sports, right? We’ve all know at least one person that
could put up with the apocalypse as long as they could still watch grown sweaty
men fight over a ball.
For those us that find football tedious to
watch and unbearable to play, there is Super Monday Night Combat. The game
feels like League of Legends and Team Fortress Two had a baby and immediately sent it to sports
camp. The objective of the game is a very much inspired by the Defense of the Ancients play style, but it’s
a first person shooter.
Just like the first MNC, you pick a ‘pro,’
which is pretty much a TF2-styled class. You then lead an army of bots to
attack something called a ‘money ball,’ which is a giant cash-filled piñata. Of
course there is another team that is trying to crack open your team’s money
ball, so you better watch out. Much like TF2, the game play feels very frantic,
but unlike most first person shooters, strategy plays important role. Now, how
you use your money matters.
What’s new to Super Monday Night Combat is
a LOL-like free to play system. There are pros for sale as well as 5
complementary ones that are rotated each week. Each pro has a unique skill set
with three unique abilities. You can also purchase weapons, enhancements and
the power-ups with either real cash or earned in-game currency. You can buy
more bots for your army as well as jump platforms that take you to a second
floor.
There are some issues with the game. Much
like TF2 and LOL, you are sort of thrown in at the deep end right when you get
to the pool. If you never played the first MNC your first few matches are going
to be a little rough. There is a training mode where can learn the ropes but it’s
not nearly as much fun. The other issues with the game mostly come from how new
it is; there aren’t enough pros to choose from, queue times can be a little
long and the menu is a bit hard to navigate.
Putting the small grievances aside, this is
a game that has a ton of potential. I would like to see international SMNC
tournaments, preferably with real announcers and coed cheerleading squads.
Simply put, I would love to see this game treated as if it were a sport. If you
are a fan of DoTA or first person shooters, this game is certainly worth your
time.
The Game’s
Worth: $10 a month.
Actual
Cost: Free to play on Steam with optional upgrades.
No comments:
Post a Comment