Pros: A wide cast of character to choose from, the simultaneous turn based feature is pretty unique
Cons: Currently only a small handful of maps, focuses on a single gameplay mode
Recently we were invited to check out Atlas Reactor’s new Alpha testing sneak peek, given our own account we were provided with full access to the game in its current stage and a chance to really sink our teeth into Trion World’s new strategy title. Set in the future players step into the shoes of “Freelancers”, criminals for hire for the most part who appear to have attained celebrity like status among the masses, not entirely sure why they fight each other in 4 v 4 battles atop skyscrapers and huge flying cargo ships, but it sets a nice tone.
The game focuses, right now, on a team deathmatch game mode where the objective is to be the first team to score five kills (you respawn after two turns if you die) or the team with the most kills once the timer has run out. The unique aspect of the game that is being brought front and centre by the developers is the “simultaneous turns” element; as with traditional turn based strategies players choose from their list of actions that they wish to perform and then lock in their choice and end their turn… only in Atlas Reactor everyone does this at the same time and you’ve no idea what the enemy is doing.
So how does it determine the outcome of a round? Well quite simply there are four types of actions that players can take, and these action types occur in order; the last thing your character will get to do is their Move action, which every character can do as part of their turn for maneuvering around the battlefield, getting into cover, or in hiding spots. Unfortunately the Move action happens after the Blast action. Blast is all your attacks (or in the case of support classes your heals), so if you have someone in your sights you know you’re going to be able to shoot them and deal full damage before they move away … unless they have some Preparation or Dash skills. Preparation happens before Blast, this allows players to enhance their character, increasing shields, putting down trap defenses, using cloaking devices and more, whereas the Dash skills generally let you get the hell out of there and are the first actions that happen in a round; so whilst you may have been aiming at that guy who appeared from the round the corner and intend to shoot him, he may have a Dash that gets him out of the square before your shot goes off. It seems complicated, it’s really simple, and very effective.
Well how did we perform? In a MOBA style hero rotation there are over a dozen characters currently to choose from, these are unlocked using earned currency (credits or premium currency), but there’s also a number of heroes in rotation at any one time. We decided to try out ranged assassin Nix, able to stealth around the battlefield with our cloaking device and shoot people with our sniper rifle for high damage. We played a few AI games to learn the character and get to grips with the mechanics, when we felt comfortable in our role we jumped into some PVP.
Crappy start. Our team split early and we and another guy went one way, the other two another; as a sniper I figured staying on the outside of the battlefield might be my best bet and firing at all the melee guys in the middle. The problem here was that as we’d split and the fight started elsewhere, it took a while to safely get over to the others, meanwhile our team decided to just sit there and take it and fight outnumbered, then start bitching me out for not having done any damage (they’d engaged and made no effort to try and move anywhere near me) which prompted toxicity telling me to go play against bots and learn how to team fight. We’ve played enough MOBA/team games to know this kind of attitude happens; it was just disappointing to have it in our first PVP match.
Feeling a little bit salty we reassessed the situation, decided to focus on more aggression in our next game, getting in the battle and back out again as opposed to playing too defensively, and it seemed to pay off a lot more. Combined with having unlocked some extra credits we could buy a few Mod Tokens and upgrade our character! In the Abilities/Mod system we had various mods we could unlock for each of our 5 skills; there was quite a different range that would allow for a variety of builds, the more (seemingly) powerful mods costing more tokens, that would enhance how the skill worked. The other customization option was the Catalysts, here we could pick three different single use perks; a Blast, Dash and Preparation, allowing us to do one off heal over times, instant teleports, etc. There wasn’t a massive range to choose from, but we’re hoping as the game moves on these lists will continue to grow giving a hell of a lot more customization and variation between characters.
Heading back into PVP our experience was a lot more enjoyable, we’d picked up on a few subtle features we’d overlooked on the map, such as some tiles make you invisible until you shoot, we’d learned what some of the other heroes abilities could now do, and so generally had more survivability. We ended up in a few matches with some good teammates who would congratulate each other on good plays, or thank each other for saving their skin, overall some good comradery that honestly really enhanced the game. Teamplay really is the name of the game, not just for morale, but whilst going solo is viable and can work, you can get so much more out of a team working together and some great combos such as our Gremlins Inc character that we unlocked with their ability to lay down a field of explosives, only to have your ally pull one of the enemy onto the tiles! Boom!
The game definitely has a strong foundation in place, a great cast of characters that really bring some humour to the battles with their one off lines; the variation on abilities helps keep each battle feeling fresh and we’ll be happy to see even more implemented. How the game is going to develop will be very enjoyable to watch, we’re personally hoping for more characters, ways to customize them and hopefully some new maps and modes. Whilst the team deathmatch was fun, and the two available maps were well designed, we’d love to see some different modes and some interactive map environments down the line, though what the developers have planned we’ve no idea. The game might be a little niche to ever hit MOBA levels of popularity, but the look and gameplay should make it a strong contender and definitely viable for eSports if it’s an avenue they go down.
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