Saturday, July 18, 2009

Savage 2: A Tourtured Soul

Check it out. Savage 2 is a new way (well, its been out since '06, so not "new" anymore) to play online games. It combines RTS, FPS, and MMORPG factors in an interesting way to create a really fun experience- for free. S2 games announced it as freeware several years ago, and if you haven't checked it out, it's definitely worth a peek.

For most players, the game is played as an FPS/ Action RPG game. You choose a side (humans or beasts), and do your best to take out the enemy command center. Melee fighting is done in an over-the-shoulder view, and comprises of the main portion of the gameplay. You attack by clicking, block with middle mouse button, and charge/dodge with RMB. Pretty standard, except when blocking, you have a block bar that is knocked down with each hit, and can be broken with a strong attack. It's different, and takes some getting used to in order to get the most out of it, but you can circle strafe until you do.

Ranged weaponry plays like a pretty standard FPS, and is mainly used to snipe at enemies, and take down low-health ones. As the humans, you get medieval weapons (just as crossbows and longbows) as well as steampunk weaponry (such as "The Ravisher", a steam-powered chain gun). Beasts get magical attacks such as lightning.

Each team also has one player who is their commander. They see the game as an RTS, and with all the characters being the other players (with exception of a builder type NPC). The commander is in charge of building structures and gold mines, as well as giving orders to the players. I haven't had the chance to play as commander yet, but it seems like a challenging-but rewarding- job.

There are some issues in the game, though in my short time playing I haven't found many. But hey, for free, they can easily be overlooked.

There is also an option for a premium account, which is a $10 one-time payment, which gives you 2 extra inventory slots, access to player's lifetime stats, the ability to play as the special "Hellbourne" units an unlimited amount of times (free players can only spawn as them once per match), and the ability to watch a replay of every Savage 2 match ever played.

Oh, and if you run into MasterWaldo, you'll know it was me. Probably you'll have killed me- the game does have a bit of a learning curve. It's still a blast to play even if you aren't sure what you're doing though :)

MW