When I originally started this blog I thought I would make a post every few days. For some reason, I have started a non-stop campaign of articles and now want to keep it going. That being said I am going to try a new format out because it can be tough to find things to write about. I am going to play a game for an hour and give my first impressions of it. If the game has an ending I'll follow it up with a full review, eventually. I will be tagging these with a First Look label. Without further ado, my first hour of Paladins.
If there is one genre that has taken off lately it is the team-based shooter. While team-based shooters have been a thing for a while they have taken on a new form in that you now play unique heroes. No longer are you strapped into a nameless character with a helmet and a gun. Now you control a hero with personality and unique abilities that change gameplay. One of these shooters that is doing pretty well right now, still in early access, is named Paladins by Hi-Rez Studios. I dropped this game on my PC, set the clock and played one full hour.
The player you start with in the tutorial is Victor, a hero with a standard assault rifle. Each player has a left click, a right-click, two abilities and an ultimate. You also have a deck of cards that are your character's loadout. This, I think, is where the game starts to distinguish itself from its competitors. Each champion can carry several decks with certain perks and abilities that can be changed to fit what is needed in the team comp. These cards come in the chests that you can get post rounds, which also contain unique skins and voices.
After the quick 101 on how to move and shoot I joined a matchmaking that follows the formula of the genre. There are several class types, one set is free and a few are on rotation. Each of these can be bought with in-game currency and gems (your real money currency). I should have balanced out the team but I did what any self-respecting nublet would do and picked the only character I knew, Victor.
The countdown clock for the round hit 0 and it started. I found that this game has yet another level of buffs that you can buy in a round. This thankfully is set to auto-buy by default so you can ease into those as soon as you are comfortable with the game. Right before the gates opened an awesome surprise showed up as a mount spawned under me giving me a huge boost of speed and I was off to battle.
This game is a blast from the word go. You compete with the other team for a point and whoever gets that point gets the payload, which slowly makes its way to the enemy base. This means either team can be on offense or defense. This did just enough to this gametype that it kept me from feeling like I have done this all before. Come to find out I didn't suck and I was able to help my team to the other side for a quick victory. This quick game became a theme as I learned matches to do not last too long.
The game never really feels like it lags in intensity. Even when you die it doesn't feel you are held out of the game for an unreasonably long time. Before you know it you are on your mount headed to recklessly run in front of their heavy hitter because who doesn't want to die twice in a row. Once the match ends someone gets a "play of the game" where you can watch them feed kills off all the damage you were doing. This is followed by end game stats and what you gain in gold and XP. You can also get a chest that can be boosted with the gem currency.
Within the hour I was able to get 3 more rounds in, which is just an awesome pace for my time-strapped life. I played a healer, an assassin character, and a turret dropping dwarf (yeah I know). Each character kept gameplay unique and they were very distinguishable, at least in this game. There is more than one character that reminds me of someone else. Nonetheless, I had a really good time. I did crash at one point at the end of the round, which we won. I was glad to see I was greeted with another chest once I logged back in. Since I really wasn't paying attention to my XP, I can't tell you if I got it or not. Even with that crash at the end, I didn't run into any other issues. Now that I am done writing this review, I think I am going to give this a few more hours. This is definitely a well put together team-based shooter and I think it does just enough to pull itself from being too much of clone of the genre.
If there is one genre that has taken off lately it is the team-based shooter. While team-based shooters have been a thing for a while they have taken on a new form in that you now play unique heroes. No longer are you strapped into a nameless character with a helmet and a gun. Now you control a hero with personality and unique abilities that change gameplay. One of these shooters that is doing pretty well right now, still in early access, is named Paladins by Hi-Rez Studios. I dropped this game on my PC, set the clock and played one full hour.
The Experience:
After finding out I already had an account with Hi-Rez Studios (forgot they made Smite) and resetting the password (I forgot), I reset the clock and entered into the game. I was greeted with a quick tutorial and immediately the aesthetics reminded me of Overwatch until I remembered that this is the group that made Smite. If I was going to sum up the graphics I would say think an upgraded Smite. This game looks pretty good with its cartoon art style. I haven't seen any clipping or popping, it runs like glass, and I was able to stay at 60 fps.The player you start with in the tutorial is Victor, a hero with a standard assault rifle. Each player has a left click, a right-click, two abilities and an ultimate. You also have a deck of cards that are your character's loadout. This, I think, is where the game starts to distinguish itself from its competitors. Each champion can carry several decks with certain perks and abilities that can be changed to fit what is needed in the team comp. These cards come in the chests that you can get post rounds, which also contain unique skins and voices.
After the quick 101 on how to move and shoot I joined a matchmaking that follows the formula of the genre. There are several class types, one set is free and a few are on rotation. Each of these can be bought with in-game currency and gems (your real money currency). I should have balanced out the team but I did what any self-respecting nublet would do and picked the only character I knew, Victor.
The countdown clock for the round hit 0 and it started. I found that this game has yet another level of buffs that you can buy in a round. This thankfully is set to auto-buy by default so you can ease into those as soon as you are comfortable with the game. Right before the gates opened an awesome surprise showed up as a mount spawned under me giving me a huge boost of speed and I was off to battle.
This game is a blast from the word go. You compete with the other team for a point and whoever gets that point gets the payload, which slowly makes its way to the enemy base. This means either team can be on offense or defense. This did just enough to this gametype that it kept me from feeling like I have done this all before. Come to find out I didn't suck and I was able to help my team to the other side for a quick victory. This quick game became a theme as I learned matches to do not last too long.
The game never really feels like it lags in intensity. Even when you die it doesn't feel you are held out of the game for an unreasonably long time. Before you know it you are on your mount headed to recklessly run in front of their heavy hitter because who doesn't want to die twice in a row. Once the match ends someone gets a "play of the game" where you can watch them feed kills off all the damage you were doing. This is followed by end game stats and what you gain in gold and XP. You can also get a chest that can be boosted with the gem currency.
Within the hour I was able to get 3 more rounds in, which is just an awesome pace for my time-strapped life. I played a healer, an assassin character, and a turret dropping dwarf (yeah I know). Each character kept gameplay unique and they were very distinguishable, at least in this game. There is more than one character that reminds me of someone else. Nonetheless, I had a really good time. I did crash at one point at the end of the round, which we won. I was glad to see I was greeted with another chest once I logged back in. Since I really wasn't paying attention to my XP, I can't tell you if I got it or not. Even with that crash at the end, I didn't run into any other issues. Now that I am done writing this review, I think I am going to give this a few more hours. This is definitely a well put together team-based shooter and I think it does just enough to pull itself from being too much of clone of the genre.
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