Author: George

Hey guys, today I will review a mobile game for the first time. Due to reviewing a mobile, there will hardly be a need for a storyline section or a graphics and SFX section, so instead I will do just general, gameplay and finally, personal thoughts, and I will cover everything you need to know with these three sections. So, without further ado:

General

Clash Royale was developed by Supercell, the company that created the hit mobile game Clash of Clans.

In fact, the two games share the same fictional universe, even though they are not connected at all gameplay-wise.

While the games are developed and maintained by the same company, and being part of the same universe (which means that the characters remain the same), you will find that most players prefer one of the two games, and rarely (if at all) bother with the other.

Clash Royale is a belongs to the real-time strategy genre (RTS), but it combines elements from RTS, MOBAs, collectible card games (CCGs), and tower defense games (TDs).

Clash Royale was the first and best of its kind, and as is usual with these cases, Clash Royale spawned many clone games.

The game became a massive success, having reached one billion in revenue within its first year of release.

The game is frequently updated by the developers, and balance changes come on a monthly basis.

The game also has a promising esports scene, and it gives the chance to amateurs to compete by hosting an annual tournament in which everyone who wins it can compete in the Clash Royale League (you must win 20 games, and you are kicked out if you get three losses).

Furthermore, there is always something new going on in the game, so it really never gets or feels old, as you can stop playing for 3 months and return to a game with completely new and/or different features.

Let’s not forget about the new cards that get released every 3 months.

But is the game’s gameplay as fun and exciting as its popularity implies? Let’s move on to the gameplay section to find out.

Gameplay

As mentioned, Clash Royale is a mix of RTS, MOBA, CCG, and TD. That is very evident in its gameplay.

After you play the tutorial, you are tasked with building your deck from some available starting cards and one or two new ones that you unlocked. You will then be pitted against other players who also play against their deck.

The starting pool of cards you can choose from is very small, but as you win and gain more trophies, more and more cards will become available to unlock.

The main way to unlock cards is by in-game chests. You win chests by winning games.

There are different rarities for chests, and the more common a chest is, the less card it gives and the more common they are. But, the more common a chest is, the less time it will take to unlock it.

The minimum is three hours. You can unlock them early using gems, which is an in-game currency that requires real money.

Cards are split into four different rarities; common, rare, epic, legendary. These don’t determine power, they determine how often you can get one, and how easy it is to find one.

The cards also have levels that determine their power compared to other cards.

The levels range from 1 to 13, and each rarity has a different starting level. Commons begin from level 1, rares from level 4, epics from 6 and legendaries from 9.

There is also what is known as tournament standard levels. You can upgrade these cards by collecting enough stacks of the one you want to upgrade (the higher the level, the more card it will require), and by spending gold, which is gained by winning, chests, and many other ways.

Each win against an opponent gives you trophies. The more trophies you collect, the higher your arena will be, and the better and stronger your opponents will get. This is called ladder climbing.

Generally, grinding something to level 13 is quite hard and tedious (unless you pay money), which is where the tournament standards come. The tournament standard level is 9.

Essentially, these exist to give all players a chance to show their true skill without needing to pay.

Every tournament and event that is hosted is played at tournament standard level, so higher leveled players will be leveled down for the tournament.

Now for the actual gameplay.

Each card in your 8-card deck represents one of three possible types: a troop, a spell or a building.

These cards also have their own elixir cost. You gain elixir passively over time, and you must manage it in order to maximize your chances of winning.

When you play a card, it is manifested in the field. Each player has his own side, which is separated by the river in the middle.

There are two entrances to the other side of the field, the bridges on the left and right.

Your purpose is to strategically play your units, spells, and building in such a way, that you get to destroy more enemy towers, than the opponent, does yours.

Each player has 3 towers, two weaker princess towers left and right, and a stronger king tower in the back middle.

If the king tower is destroyed, then it is an automatic game over for the one who lost it (similarly to chess).

Your towers also have a level that determines their stats, and you can level them up with experience, which is gained upon leveling up a card.

Each game has three minutes. If three minutes have passed and both players have the same number of towers destroyed, the game goes to overtime sudden death, where that first player to get a tower within 3 more minutes wins. If those three minutes pass without any player destroying any tower, then the game ends as a draw.

After the first 2 minutes passed, the game will produce double the amount of elixir.

All of the above make the game quite flexible, as there are countless strategies and decks you can use.

The game also has a 2v2 mode where there are no trophies and you can either play with a friend or a stranger.

Finally, there are clans. A clan is good as you can ask for donations for any common or rare card you have and want to level up without involving RNG, and you can donate cards you don’t want in order to make some money and experience.

There are also the clan wars, which is split into two days, the collection day and the war day.

By competing in clan wars, clans can earn clan trophies which determine their individual week, plus, every player who competed in at least one war per two weeks gains a bonus chest depending on the clan’s best position those past weeks.

In the collection day, you play three games with a choice of four different game modes (the rotation changes frequently), and depending on if you won or lost, and your place in the ladder, you gain some cards for the next day.

In war day, you must draft a deck from all the cards your clan won the previous day and fight against a member of another clan who has done the same.

[adinserter block=”1″]

Personal Thoughts

Generally, Clash Royale gains a lot of praise, and for a good reason. Have I even mentioned it can be played on any device from 2014 onward?

The only complaint that the game gets is about its supposed pay-to-win system.

My opinion about this is that firstly, yes, you can get an advantage by paying money, and this advantage is almost always unfair.

It’s not like if someone has better levels than you, then the difference is small, you can literally lose games just because you had weaker cards. But it doesn’t matter.

For starters, if you lose to someone who actually paid, or grinds more than you, then it’s ok, the ladder isn’t going anywhere.

Theoretically, you can someday attain max level to everything without paying a dime, and then only skill will matter.

But even if you are impatient, reaching the tournament standards is pretty routine, and you can show your true skills within tournaments and events.

The esports scene doesn’t even require you to be max leveled, you just need the tournament standards. So, while it might seem unfair at the start, honestly, you just get used to it.

There are times though when the game can be outright infuriating, if that happens, just close the game, and take a one or two days to break.

And in the end, Supercell needs to make money, and while one might argue that they could do other things to get money, and still keep being fair, that’s what they chose, so it’s something you must accept if you want to play the game.

Besides, they themselves are doing what they can to keep free-to-play players satisfied. Believe me, getting the cards you want without paying is a thousand times easier than when the game began.

I already stated my opinions about mobile games in general here, and how they should be preferably be played when you have nothing better to do, or don’t have the time or space to open your PC.

But Clash Royale certainly can be played more seriously, and is worth devoting time to get better at it.

---

---

Edit: Clash Royale has released the all-new (if you don’t play Clash of Clans) Season Pass, where there are free prizes for everyone, but tons of prizes, perks, and bonuses for those who pay a buck extra.

There is even an all-time exclusive tower skin that you can never get EVER, and there is no other way to take it. And the best part, the seasons change every month, so if you miss it then tough luck. I’m heavily disappointment by this development for 2 reasons:

First, the game took a step in the opposite direction of making things easier for free to play players (which I can’t really blame as they need revenue (not that they don’t have enough already but whatevs)).

Two, the exclusive tower skin. If for any reason (not having a job, being tight economically, etc, etc) you can’t pay for the pass, you’ll spend the rest of your lifespan (your Clash Royale lifespan) being reminded on a daily basis that someone has something better than you simply because he has more money or richer parents and that you could have done ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to get it, and will never have the chance to ever get it again. Sure, you can pay for one you really like, but again, firstly, that’s a nightmare for the collectors who want everything, and second, who’s to say you won’t like the next one better.

Honestly, I’m probably just venting here, but I can’t hide my disappointment. However, the game doesn’t change much but it will lose 1 point from its personal score due to becoming more P2W again.

---

---

General Rating: 7.0

Do you play Clash Royale? What is your favorite card? If you don’t do you like my review.

If you want to add something or have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments, and I will answer as soon as I can.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page and sharing our articles.

Follow @GamerWelfare

Defense of the Ancients 2 (or simply DotA 2) is the deuteragonist of the MOBA scene in the world. Make no mistake though, it’s not second because it’s worse, rather, the game is generally harder to pick up for new players which is a big deterrent.

This review does not aim to compare DotA 2 to its competitors, instead, I will per usual explain how the game works. Without further ado:

Storyline

Most of DotA’s storyline comes from various comics released, but you can find some deep lore if you care about it.

The main premise is that there are two opposing teams of 5 heroes fighting each on the side of an Ancient, the Radiant and the Dire, two greater fragments of a primordial, imprisoned into a single moon by the third fragment, Zet.

The Ancients’ influence is so strong, that it brainwashes weaker-minded being called creeps into doing their will. Heroes also have their own backgrounds, but it doesn’t affect the side they’re fighting on.

The reason for fighting is because it brings them closer to their respective goals.

Gameplay

The gameplay is what you’d expect from a MOBA, at least on its basis. People consider DotA to be very complicated and hard to master, and that is not far from the truth. The main purpose is using your heroes, and with the help of your teammates, you whittle down your enemies’ base in order to kill their Ancient.

As the game progresses, your hero becomes stronger and gains gold, which he can use to buy items to further augment his strengths or cover some of his weaknesses.

While the above sound pretty standard for a MOBA, DotA is more complicated than that.

There are over a hundred heroes for you to learn, and because they are all free from the start, this can feel overwhelming. Almost every hero has at least one complicated mechanic that can be very strong when utilized correctly.

There are 3 main attributes (strength, agility, and intelligence) and every hero scales with one of them. The items can give you any combination of the above stats.

But almost every item has an active of its own, which makes the game even more confusing, as you do not only have your hero’s abilities to manage but 3-5 active items (that’s how many active items are usually taken).

The map feels huge, and you can’t teleport back to base, you must walk instead, or use a teleportation scroll, which has a cooldown.

The death timers are pretty unforgiving, but you can buy your early revival for a hefty cost. Games tend to last for at least 40 minutes, which is way more from any other typical MOBA.

The aforementioned characteristics might seem like I’m bashing the game, but I’m not, I’m just explaining how everything feels from a newbie’s perspective.

As a matter of fact, these characteristics are what make DotA so unique and deep as a game.

In DotA, you can carry the game with any hero, even in a 1v5 situation. I’ve seen a game where literally one player was playing and his team left the game, and he still won, and it’s not like he had a huge lead. That’s also why DotA’s fanbase is fiercely loyal to the game.

This can be seen by DotA’s esports. While not very renowned, DotA 2 offers the biggest prize pools in all of esports. Not to mention the diversity of the game.

In pro play, DotA 2 has a remarkable diversity on the hero picks, only 1-2% of the heroes are not being picked in any game in pro matches.

Farming is very hard and complicated. Most heroes’ attacks have a slow missile speed (or animation if they’re melee) and usually, the creeps die before your final attack reaches them.

The mana costs for abilities are steep during the early game, which is why games tend to last so long.

Additionally, the enemy heroes can actually attack their own creeps and structures and deliver the last hit, thus “denying” you gold and experience.

Each hero also has something called a “turn rate” which is some time (microseconds) that it takes each hero to do a 180^o turn. Not every hero has the same turn rate.

The SFX is nothing special as it should. However, there are many different announcers, using many in-game champions.

There are even announcers from other popular titles like GLaDOS from Portal, or Adam Jensen from the Deus Ex Machina series.

All in all, DotA 2 really is worthy of all the trouble, but it needs a lot of time spent to truly grasp it as a game. In fact, once you really understand it, the other MOBAs will seem like child’s play.

[adinserter block=”1″]

Visuals

DotA’s graphics are kinda moody but it’s nothing bad, it actually sets the mood.

The map is split in the middle by a river, and each side has its own theme, respective to each sides’ Ancient.

One is bright and full of vegetation, and the other is dark and full of dead ground and trees.

The day has a day and night cycle, which isn’t only a cosmetic thing, it actually plays a role in the game, it reduces vision range for all heroes, and some heroes have passive abilities that come to play during the night.

The graphics can be quite nostalgic to all of you Warcraft 3 fans, as they Valve tried to make the game as close to the original appearance-wise.

Generally, DotA 2 can be run on most machines without much problems, which really helps with low budget players.

Personal Thoughts

DotA 2 is a game that requires a lot of time to master. Anyone of has spent the time required will tell you that it is worth it, as it a very good game.

Balancing is near perfect, which means that there isn’t a predefined pool of heroes that if you don’t play, you’re gonna get flamed and be at a disadvantage.

However, the game can feel stale, as large updates are scarce and new heroes come about once every half year.

In the end, DotA 2 deserves its place in the gaming world and is a game you should pick up if you really intend on spending a lot of time.

Fortunately, the community can help you in the game, there is even a feature where random players can join in games as a team’s coach and oversee a team and give them advice.

DotA is very innovative as a game in general.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 5.0

Gameplay: 9.0

Visuals: 6.0

General Rating: 6.7

Do you agree with my review? Is DotA 2 the MOBA of your choice, or do you prefer another? Did this review skim your point of view? If you have anything to add or anything you want to say, leave a comment and I will answer as soon as I can.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page and sharing our articles.

Follow @GamerWelfare

The images I used are from the following site:

www.igdb.com

League of Legends is one of the most popular (if not the most popular), well known and played games in the world. It also tops the Twitch streamer viewership count, or at the very least is among the top ones consistently.

League has marvelously survived all these years and it’s no fluke. As a matter of fact, every new game that becomes extremely popular (with the most notable examples including Fornite and Overwatch) everyone proclaims that “League is dead”.

Yet it survives, and always tops its challenges. I’ve talked about League of Legends (LoL) before, but I’ve never given it a proper review. And so, I will now, and as usual, it will be split to storyline, gameplay, visuals and personal thoughts. Without further ado:

Storyline

LoL’s storyline is completely separated from its gameplay, meaning that what you do doesn’t reflect in the storyline at all.

Other than that, Riot Games (LoL’s developers and owners) has a huge roster of characters, each with their own distinct personalities and motives, and a place in the game’s fictional world. The few that don’t are being looked at in order to be put in as well.

Generally, the game’s champions all reside within the fictional world of Runeterra.  Runeterra has been ravaged from wars called Rune Wars, where very dangerous crystals of tremendous energy called Runes were used to level cities and armies alike.

The world’s largest factions are at war, but none can use the Runes again, as another Rune War could destroy the world.

Other than that, there are many other factions with their own agendas, and many types of beings, like celestial or alien beings from other worlds.

The lore of the game is constantly expanding, and Riot Games really tries to appease the lore fans.

Gameplay

The gameplay is exactly what you’d expect from a MOBA, LoL was the first independent MOBA after all. You choose a champion, then go on to fight in one of the three lanes.

Your purpose is to gather enough gold and experience to improve your champion, and along with your team, slowly destroy the opponents’ base until you reach its heart, the Nexus while you try to stop the enemy team from doing the same.

Once either team destroys the nexus, they win, and the other team loses.

LoL does have some other “different” game modes but they are not popular at all. Riot also releases completely different, albeit temporary, game modes every few weeks. These modes cycle between a preset list. Sometimes, they create new ones to bring for one time or to incorporate into the cycle.

One of the main reasons for LoL’s popularity is its competitiveness. LoL is a very competitive game, and once you level your account to level 30, you can start playing ranked.

You will be put into a division and try to “climb” the ladder rankings for a season, which roughly lasts 9-10 months.

Their esports scene is one of the biggest in the world, with more people watching it by the year.

And trust me, everyone dreams of one day being pro. It’s kinda like football, to be honest.

[adinserter block=”1″]

Visuals

LoL’s graphics are good enough to be able to be played without complaints and bad enough to be able to be played in the worst of PCs and Laptops. That is another reason for LoL’s popularity; the fact that it can be played by almost anyone who wants to.

Personal Thoughts

Even though LoL is so popular, there are still complaints to be heard. These are based on two accusations; the matchmaking system, and Riot Games’ general policies and behaviors.

About the matchmaking, there’s not much to be said. As with every game, you will find many players who will just ruin your whole game by being extremely bad, negative or both. Riot is trying its best to improve this, but it’s pretty bad. They also gain a double penalty for this due to their policies, more on that later.

Now, about Riot Games. I personally like Riot Games, as I truly believe their example of ‘game company that becomes rich and influential in the gaming world with only one game’ is really inspirational. But the facts, unfortunately (for them) speak for their own. Firstly, what I mentioned above. Riot is extremely strict with verbal abuse and flaming in general.

League can be extremely toxic as a game, and rightly so; it’s very hard having to fight for about half an hour only for literally one person making that half-hour a complete waste of time, not by having a bad day, but by straight-up trolling. Now, imagine that happening for about half of your games. This is enough to break the hardest of men (or women). Yet Riot decides to ban people immediately for any form of flaming.

Honestly, I’m all about banning racists of any kind, but there are people being banned for just calling everyone something light as an insult like “ape” for example. There are of course two mitigating grounds to justify Riot Games, but the fact remains; they are too strict.

The mitigating grounds are the fact that punishments are scaling, and they warn you before your fist ban, and the second is that it’s within their terms of playing the game, which is known within the game as the Summoner Code.

Riot was and is blamed for greediness as well. Here, I wholeheartedly disagree, at least when it comes to the game. Riot recently gives gifts and has sales on many of its items requiring money, and in the end, the game is completely free to play, and you gain no advantage from paying whatsoever, so even if they are greedy, at least it doesn’t affect the game. They are also blamed for the balancing of the game, but they improve on that by the year, and there are always going to be complaints.

The last negative you can hear is about some internal problems with Riot, but that doesn’t affect the game. I will list it though, just as bonus information. Riot has been blamed for sexist behaviors, and their stance to these accusations which have not yet been proved is suspicious at the very least.

Their answer was harsh to them because they started work strikes, and now, Riot waits to see how things play out and promises to be even more harsh to such outbreaks.

In the end, despite Riot’s (sometimes) shady nature, and the game’s toxicity, it will always have you coming back to it when you run out from games to play, and it will be a changed game (depending on your absence time).

Final Verdict

Storyline: 7.0

Gameplay: 9.0

Visuals: 7.0

General Rating 7.7

That’s it for LoL. Probably, most of you have played LoL, and if you haven’t it’s probably because you prefer another alternative to it. In any case, I wrote this review for people to know what’s happening in general, either in the game or with Riot Games. I hope it at least accomplishes that. I’ll see you in my next article.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page and sharing our articles.

Follow @GamerWelfare

With Warcraft III: Reforged coming later this year, I thought it’d be a good idea to review the classic game behind the reforged version. Warcraft III has 2 different games that will both be “reforged” with the new version. This review will have a storyline, gameplay, visuals, and personal thoughts section. Without further ado:

Storyline

Warcraft III is a game that puts a lot of effort into its story on its well-established universe. Both games have a different campaign mode that tells the story through each race’s point of view.

Because the story is a lot to digest, I will put a short version and a long one. The short version is that in every campaign, you control a race, and then move to the next until you’re finished with all four.

Each campaign gives you the story, and you are the one that advances it by playing. Every new race you change picks up from around the point where the previous’ one ends. Once you play them all, you will have completed the story.

And now for the (very) long version:

In the first game, after the prologue where the orcs must escape the human-controlled lands and sail west, you take the humans as they try to cull an uprising scourge.

Immediately after the human storyline ends, the undead one picks up as it tries to finish the job they started during the previous’ campaign storyline. They wreak havoc on the formerly grand human kingdom, but the heroes you control are all doing this thinking they are serving the Lich King, a powerful sorcerer trapped in ice, or the Frozen Throne. In reality, they were serving the Burning Legion, and its master Archimonde, who they manage to free. Archimode’s purpose is to conquer this world.

The orcs’ storyline begins somewhere around the end of the undead one as they try to survive in the new lands they landed. At some point, they find out that humans have also set foot on this land, and they must deal with that as well. There is a side story where the orcs’ second in command has to contend with a mysterious new race for resources. That mysterious race has the help of a demigod, and in order to kill him, they must sacrifice something in return.

Finally, the new race’s storyline begins about when their demigod is killed by your army of orcs. This mysterious race, the night elves, have to antagonize the newly-formed alliance of humans and orcs which is slowly destroying their land; night elves are naturalists. After some skirmishing, they will find out that the true enemy is the undead, and after awakening Malfurion, a druid, and releasing from prison Illidan, a demon hunter and Malfurion’s brother who deemed a traitor, they join the alliance, reluctantly, to defeat the overpowered demon warlock Archimonde.

Frozen Throne’s storyline is the direct aftermath of the war from the previous game. The game begins with the night elves this time, as warden Maiev tries to catch the now rogue Illidan, who tries to destroy the frozen throne. To aid her, she calls Tyrande, the night elf priestess from the previous game, and her husband Malfurion. In the end, as Illidan, Malfurion and the Blood Elves, former High Elves now addicted to magic, search for the lost Tyrande, Illidan is forgiven by Malfurion for his crimes and escapes to Draenor, the orcs’ former homeworld.

The story picks up from the humans’ point of view, more specifically the High Elves. The High Elves struggle with their uneasy alliance with the humans, and after capture, they escape with the help of Illidan’s Naga, former Night Elves that were mutated. The High Elves manage to escape to Draenor, now called Outland. They pledge their alliance to Illidan, who in turn promises to satisfy their need for magic. Illidan’s master tries to kill Illidan when he finds out that he didn’t destroy the Frozen Throne but Illidan responds by merely saying that he was gathering more forces for another attack.

You continue by controlling the undead. Firstly, you try to conquer the remaining former kingdom of the humans with the death knight who started it all in the previous game and the aid of Sylvanas Windrunner, a former High Elf that was corrupted into a banshee in order to serve the undead for eternity. As you carry on, the death knight notices that his powers are diminishing. Then the Lich King telepathically tells him that the loss in power is due to Illidan’s attacks on the Frozen Throne. Thus, he is summoned to defend it. He leaves Sylvanas back to tend to his new kingdom. The storyline then splits into two different stories. From one side, you battle Illidan and his Naga, on a race to the Frozen Throne in the treacherous frozen wastelands of Northrend. From the other side, Sylvanas, now in control of her powers, tries to kill any undead that are loyal to the Burning Legion and claims the land for her and the other undead that are freed from the Lich King’s grasp. She dubs the new, more peaceful undead as the ‘Forsaken’.

Finally, you play the orc storyline, which is more of an RPG that a real-time strategy game. Unhindered by anything of the above, the storyline focuses on how the orcs try to build their new permanent home, and their skirmishes with some remaining human forces that aren’t willing to accept the newly-formed alliance.

Gameplay

As mentioned, Warcraft III is an RTS or real-time strategy. This means that gameplay is dynamic, and there are always things happening on the map. There are of course some base-building elements, as in order to build your army, you must find resources and build your base of operations.

Micromanaging is essential in the long run, as you have to keep your eyes on your base, resources, any battle that is happening and your hero(es) and his/their experience. In huge battles between the army, being able to manage each of your units’ spells and target the right receptor is key. That is why Warcraft III takes so much time to master.

Another point is the races. Each race has its distinct buildings, heroes, and units. That means that every race has their own playstyle, with their respective strengths and weaknesses. Frozen Throne generally has more content, as it adds some extra units and buildings, as well as a new hero for every race.

Heroes was a new thing back in the day, and each hero had three stats and armor, and one of those stats was their dominant stat, which would show their role. They also had four spells, three regular and one ultimate. They could gain experience by killing units and items by killing strong neutral mobs that are scattered in each map. The could also be revived if you had to build each race’s specific altar.

Warcraft III could be played online through its Battle.net. While you could play the classic game (which is competitive to this day), there were many custom user-created maps that totally changed the way you play the game. Some were survival, and others were battle royale-like. You could anything you wanted, and that is a big part of Warcraft’s success.

The SFX was very good, and it still is. The voice actors sound convincing, and the rest of the sound of the units had their own selection of lines, and not just two or three.

Every unit had at least 5 different lines, a trait evolved into today’s games. There is a nice Easter Egg, where if you repeatedly clicked on the same unit too many times, they would begin saying funny troll lines that had nothing to do with the game.

[adinserter block=”1″]

Visuals

The graphics are exactly what you’d expect from the early 2000s. The models for each building, unit, and hero are 3D rendered, but they look extremely outdated.

The graphics are generally weird and old and they haven’t aged well. Of course, those graphics were pretty successful back in their day, and you can say the completed their purpose, as they were relevant for nearly a decade.

Personal Thoughts

This is the game that raised generations of gamers. This is also the game that is the ancestor of many of today’s popular genres, most predominantly the MOBAs and the MMORPGs. Not to mention the countless memes that it contributed to the gaming culture.

There aren’t many more things to say about this game, besides that the only reason you wouldn’t play this game now would be the graphics, and an updated version comes out soon. So, I will leave you with thy hype for Warcraft III: Reforged.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 9.0

Gameplay: 8.8

Visuals: 2.5

General Rating: 6.7

Will you buy Warcraft III: Reforged? Have you played Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and/or Frozen Throne. Let me know if you have, or if you have any questions, feel free to ask them and I will answer as soon as I can.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page and sharing our articles.

Follow @GamerWelfare

Undertale is a game that became popular instantly in the same year as its release. In the same year, as well as the subsequent one, Undertale was nominated and won many awards ranging from Game of the Year to Best Story award.

If you try to talk it down, its loyal fanbase will rush to defend it, zealously might I add. But is Undertale really worthy of all this praise, or was this all a fluke?

This review will be split into storyline, gameplay, visuals and personal thoughts. Without further ado:

Storyline

Undertale’s main selling point is definitely its story and foe a good reason. I am always a story fan on any game that has one and Undertale really blew my mind. As it says on its Steam page, Undertale is the game where you don’t have to kill anyone.

This gives the storytelling plenty of options. I will not give it away too much as Undertale is best experienced without any knowledge firsthand, and it really is so much better this way and that’s coming from someone who loves spoilers.

The main premise is that long ago, humans and monsters lived together in harmony. At some point, a war broke out, and it ended with the humans victorious. So, they banished the monsters deep within a mountain and sealed them off with a magic barrier that only humans can pass due to their determination.

You are a child that travels up that mountain, and falls down to the Underground, where the monsters live. Now you must find a way to return back to your home.

As mentioned, Undertale won the best story award as proof of its good storytelling. The story will make you have the feels, both good and bad ones. The way the story is delivered makes you feel like you are the one actually living the story.

The game has multiple endings as well, so there really are no ends to the positives of the story. The characters are very lovable and unique in their own way. Plus every character has his own theme music! But we’ll get to that later.

Gameplay

The gameplay is nothing extraordinary, it’s actually the classic bullet hell kind of game. There are of course certain boss fights that are nigh impossible, but you can get used to everything in the end.

The main point of interest is the aforementioned “good vs bad” choice you can make, but it doesn’t alter the gameplay at all…

Some of the bosses have a surprising twist to them, and it’s directly tied with their characteristics.

Some will make hinder you with gravity, and another one will allow you to shoot at some projectiles. There are also RPG tropes where you level up and gain stats by defeating enemies. There are also some items you can find that boos your attack or defense.

The SFX of the game is another huge bonus. Undertale was nominated for Excellence in Audio award. Toby Fox is a self-taught musician who composed the entirety of the game’s music on his own. And he was hugely successful in doing so.

The music is amazing and delivers everything you expect from any given area or encounter. It really conveys what you would feel if you were actually in the game.

Many appraise Toby Fox for remixing several leitmotifs into different themes and songs, again with huge success. The music is so good, you will want to keep listening to it even after you’re finished with the game.

[adinserter block=”1″]

Visuals

The game is based on pixel art graphics making it an indie game. Which means it’s nothing special. It also means that Undertale can run on any console without a problem. Many of the overworld characters look like a kindergarten child drew them.

That was done in part intentionally as Toby Fox (the creator of Undertale) worked alone for the biggest part of the game, with only a few artists helping him in the end. Another reason is that Undertale is not a serious game, it’s meant to lighten you up, as a pleasant way to pass the time. They wanted to reflect that with the funny-looking characters.

Moreover, the game has extremely good uses of the 7 primary colors that are this game’s theme around each character and personality.

Personal Thoughts

Undertale is truly a unique game. The combination of storytelling, feeling delivering and music make for a very strong combo. It really isn’t an exaggeration to say that it’s one of the best games of all time.

Its numerous awards and nominations, as well as its fiercely loyal fanbase, are proof of that claim. But, words alone cannot deliver how much of a masterpiece this game is. So I urge you to play this game and find out yourself.

Of course, this game has some people opposing it, and that’s ok. There can exist nothing that is universally accepted. The people who don’t want to play the game are gamers who like their games to have AAA graphics. But, even to you, I suggest you try this out. If you have anything to add, please do so in the comments.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 10

Gameplay: 8

Visuals: 6

General Rating: 8/10

If you have anything to add, please do so in the comments. I will get back to you as soon as I can.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page, and sharing our articles.

Follow @GamerWelfare

The images I used are from the following websites:

www.igdb.com

MMORPG have been a part of the gaming world for over a decade. I can’t even start saying how much they brought upon the gaming culture in general. Today, I will speak about a newer generation MMORPG: Guild Wars 2 (abbr. GW2).

Guild Wars 2 was at some point the fastest-selling MMORPG in the west, and for good reason. The review will be split into 4 subsections; storyline, gameplay, visuals and personal thoughts. Let us begin:

Storyline

Set about 150 years from the original Guild Wars, GW2 begins at the local year of 1325 AE, and it begins with the personal story of the character you created.

Through the story (that is unlocked as you level up), you try to build up your own legend, based partly on your race’s culture and join one of Tyria’s (the continent that the game takes place on) major orders: The Vigil (based on warfare), the Order of Whispers (based on subterfuge) and the Durmand Priory (based on science).

At the same time, your hero tries to reunite a legendary guild called Destiny’s Edge by solving the problems that broke them apart the first time.

Their ultimate purpose is to create an army strong enough to challenge the most dangerous threats to the world; the Elder Dragons. I don’t want to spoil the story further, but in general, the storyline about the Elder Dragons is the game’s focal point.

In general, Guild Wars 2 is very focused on its story, with frequent releases to their system, the Living World. The Living World is, as the name suggests, a continually updating story. The story and the world evolve through those Living World episodes, and more maps are created for the sole purpose of housing the newest plotline.

If you’re looking for an MMORPG that is focused on delivering an exciting story, then Guild Wars 2 is a must pick for you. And the positives don’t end here.

Gameplay

Generally, GW2 has your typical MMORPG gameplay. You create your character, choose his race, class, appearance, and some minor backstory details, and the gameplay is dependent on the class.

A difference from the classical MMORPG trend is that weapons don’t change your DPS, instead, they give you 5 different profession skills (classes in the game are called professions).

You also have 4 utility skills that you can choose from a broad range (exclusive to each profession) and an elite skill. These utility skills are unlocked from each profession’s specializations, and each profession has its own.

GW2 has so far released 2 expansions that you can buy. Each comes with an expanded story, more maps, and buying one gives you access to several other features. This does not mean that GW2 is pay-to-play or pay-to-win, as these features aren’t all that important, with the exception of maybe one.

Each expansion also gives each profession each own elite specialization, with new mechanics and playstyles, and one or two new weapons, with all new weapon skills.

The above seems like pretty handbook stuff for MMORPGs, right? Well, GW2 has one main selling point from the other ones. GW2 generally has a horizontal progression system, instead of the classic vertical one.

This means that instead of being based on you grinding your way to the maximum level in order to grind for the best possible gear, only to start that grind again with every new expansion, GW2 instead focuses on the endgame.

Once you reach level 80, that’s where the game begins. The newer expansions and updates are relying on this concept, they just give you more stuff to do, without needing to grind anything.

There are both PvP and PvE modes. PvP, and GW2, in general, make sure that a player without an expansion doesn’t have any disadvantage. That means that playing the Core game doesn’t leave you handicapped and overpowered by players who paid for more content.

PvE has two endgame modes, fractals, and raids. Fractals are easier and designed for up to 5 players, they are practically harder, bigger dungeons. They are available for all players. Raids are harder, 10 man content that require very good timing and communication.

They have many micromechanics to learn and are done usually by experienced and hardcore players. You can only play raids if you have one or both expansions.

Many players complain about the balancing of the game, but there are always these kinds of players in every game. They do have a fair point in that the balancing changes take too much time, as they only come on a rate of about once a month.

Of course, some professions are weaker or less optimal than others, but that is always the case for anything multiplayer.

At least GW2 is not based on the holy trinity. In case you don’t know, the holy trinity is the rationale that every group in every MMORPG should definitely have the three classes: tank, DPS and healer.

Another selling point is the freedom this game provides. GW2 lets you do practically anything you want, however you want it, and it never forces you to do what you don’t want. And another huge bonus is customizability.

Guild Wars 2 lets you design your character how you want to; besides the plethora of options in the character creation, there are many different armor pieces that you can use on your character, and you can mix some of them up to have your own personal style.

The game also allows you to dye those armor pieces, further adding personality to your character. There is also a small part of the players interested in roleplaying. And once more, the positives don’t end here.

The SFX in-game is nothing too special. But the voice lines are amazing and the voice actors very convincing. You’ll find yourselves all giddy on some of your character’s lines, no matter the race.

[adinserter block=”1″]

Visuals

GW2 has absolutely stunning graphics. ArenaNet (the company that is responsible for GW2) has nailed every environment that was put as a challenge; from icy mountains to vast jungles.

From regular plains to dry deserts. ArenaNet never fails to impress and the graphics are certainly top quality. While that may sound scary to low budget players, GW2’s lowest settings can actually be run on some very bad PCs, and the minimum system requirements are not high at all.

Sometimes though, when many players gather at one point, there is a cluster of effects, and all you can see is just some glowing, but other than that, the graphics are top-notch.

Personal Thoughts

Guild Wars 2 certainly gets a lot of praise and for a good reason. It has a company that cares about it and tries to perfect every little detail. Its balancing might be subpar but they are trying. The graphics are amazing for the PCs that can handle them.

The versatility is huge. The fact that you can fully customize your character is awesome. There are so many different dyes to choose from, I personally spent hundreds of hours just trying to decide!

I suggest you try this game since it’s free, and if you like it, you can proceed to buy the expansions, that is the most reasonable move anyway.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 7.8

Gameplay: 8.8

Visuals: 9.0

General Rating: 8.5

This was my review for Guild Wars 2. I hope you enjoyed it. Did you find it helpful? Have you played GW2? If so just leave a comment.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page and sharing our articles.

Follow @GamerWelfare

The images I used are from the following sites:

www.igdb.com

Minecraft is the kind of game that is the king of its respective genre. A simple game at first look, its massive success forced Microsoft to buy it and take charge. It also spawned many clone games trying to take some of its glamour. Minecraft, however, remains at the top, and it will stay there for a long time.

This review will help you understand why Minecraft is so successful, and why you should play it if you haven’t already. As usual, this review will be split into storyline, gameplay, visuals, and personal thoughts. Without further ado:

Storyline

Minecraft has no storyline, except some random dialog between two beings that pops up when you… finish the game. But I wouldn’t consider that as a story. Other than that, you are a person who spawns in a world and tries to survive.

Then again, there are many lore tidbits lying around the overworld, but that’s just the first of the many fun things in Minecraft. The speculation.

Gameplay

Minecraft is all about its gameplay. The basics are that you can do anything. The only limit is your imagination, life is your creation. Before I dig in deeper unless I state otherwise, I’ll be talking about single-player There are three game modes (four if you have multiplayer): survival, creative, hardcore, and the multiplayer mode of spectator.

Survival is Minecraft’s classic game mode. You spawn in a randomly generated world, with no items. Your purpose is to survive, but even if you die, it doesn’t really matter, as you respawn to your original location. Generally, there are steps that you can follow, but the beauty of survival is the distractions.

The general guideline is that you find materials to build tools, then you build a house as a safe haven for the night. Afterward, you dig deep to find rarer minerals in order to mine obsidian, which is the hardest material. Using it, you build a portal to the Nether (or hell…) where you explore until you find a Nether Fortress.

There you kill the mobs called blazes and collect their rods. Combining them with ender pearls found from Endermen in the Overworld or Nether, and you get Ender Eyes. These will lead you to a stronghold.

You then place 12 Ender Eyes on the portal. Jump in the portal to teleport to the End. There, you will find the main boss, the Ender Dragon. Beating him will give you the ending I mentioned.

Other than that, there are harder bosses and more stuff to do, and you can do them in any order, it doesn’t matter.

While it doesn’t sound like such a “do whatever you want” game, I mentioned distractions. That means that on any of the aforementioned steps you and will be sidetracked. You might want to find a village and start trading, or improve your house and expand it. Or, as I already said, literally anything you want.

Creative mode releases you of the burden of survival. You are invulnerable to damage, and enemy mobs don’t chase you. You also have every possible item available, and mining takes no time at all. Now you might be wondering “why would I play a mode in a survival sandbox game that dismisses survival completely?” Two reasons actually.

Firstly, you might just want to build anything out of your imagination. That will require lots of resources, and Creative mode gives you an infinite amount. There are many people who made absolutely amazing things and settings. Some created whole replicas of actual cities and countries. Again, only your imagination is the limit.

The second reason is Minecraft’s special blocks. Minecraft utilizes its own energy-producing ore called Redstone. With it, you can power up various blocks with different uses each. There are pistons that push blocks. Or note blocks that play a specific note. Lots of people have created various contraptions, including a fully functional 64-bit computer. Others have recreated their favorite songs using the note blocks. Limit = Imagination.

Hardcore, as the name implies, is the harder version of survival. The only practical difference is that you only have one life. Once you die, it’s game over. I don’t see a reason for someone to play hardcore unless they really wanna challenge themselves.

Finally, spectator is a multiplayer-only mode that enables you to watch as other players play. All of the aforementioned game modes can be used for multiplayer servers.

As you can see, Minecraft definitely gives you the freedom to do what you want and the way you do it. Furthermore, you can use mods, which add more things to do, more stuff to mine, more mobs to find, and many other things.

You can create your very own mod as well. Mods are supported by the game. Just be careful when using one, as it can mess your previous save files, so be sure to back them up.

Its SFX is unique and renowned among gamers. Everyone knows the sound Creepers make before they explode. Or the sound of an angry Enderman. And certainly, everyone is spooked when they hear a Ghast.

[adinserter block=”1″]

Visuals

Minecraft has simple 2D Pixel Art Graphics. They are also based on blocks, which is Minecraft’s unit of measurement. While that may not be fancy, it certainly is a reason for its appeal. Its pixel art graphics serve older gamers with nostalgia.

Of course, if you don’t like it, there are thousands of resource packs created by players and supported by the game that changes the appearance of the game. Some of them make the game look stunningly realistic. All you need is a guide.

Overall, the blocky graphics and whacky sound effects won’t be much of a bother, on the contrary, you might find yourself being used to them.

Final Thoughts

Minecraft absolutely deserves all of its praise. Its simplistic nature, the fact that you can do anything, and really everything about this game make it great. To further add to its bonuses, Minecraft has a working team of developers bringing more updates to keep the game fresh.

Even if you are bored waiting, there are a plethora of mods for you to try. The game doesn’t force you to stay either, you can just stop playing for a year, and when you return even more stuff will be waiting for you!

There are lots of other smaller great stuff about this game that shows how much the developers care about it, like in the language settings, there is an option for “Pirate” language, which replaces every item’s name with its pirate slang counterpart.

Minecraft is one of the best games in the world and it deserves it, you can spend infinite time on Minecraft, and you will still want more.

Final Verdict

Storyline: –

Gameplay: 9.8

Visuals: 5.0

(It should be noted that the visuals can go up to 10 with the right resource packs. 5.0 is the very least.)

General Rating: 7.4

That’s it for my review. Do you have anything to add? Do you have any questions? Did you enjoy it? Either way, just leave me a comment and I will answer as soon as I can.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page and sharing our articles.

Follow @GamerWelfare

The images I used are from the following websites:

www.igdb.com

Today, I will review a newer generation roguelike game: The Binding of Isaac, and its sequel The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth. Like last time, this review will be divided into 4 subsections; storyline, gameplay, visuals and final thoughts.

I must warn you before I start, this game takes some very religious turns here and there, so those easily offended by such things shouldn’t continue. Now, without further ado:

Storyline

The story begins with the titular character, Isaac. Similarly to the story in the Bible, his mother, a very religious person, starts hearing a voice from the sky, presumably God himself. He claims that Isaac’s soul is corrupted and he must be cleansed.

So, his mother decides to strip him of all his toys and clothes. “God” however still demands proof of faith, so he asks his mother to kill Isaac. Isaac overhears his mother’s plan, and before she has the chance to kill him, he escapes through a hatch.

Now, Isaac must escape from the basement and free himself.

Other than the above introduction, there really isn’t much story to unlock. The only remaining story is some in-between levels cutscenes and a bunch of different endings for each first successful different final boss kill.

The game does have a deeper meaning, however, as there are signs that Isaac is homosexual, and he tries to deal with his nature by turning to religion, and after seeing that the Bible doesn’t have a solution, he kills himself.

This is not set in stone, as the game doesn’t actually have a set canon storyline. But you shouldn’t let the darker theme of the game’s story affect you as the game is more than worth it.

Gameplay

Another game that relies on its gameplay instead of story or graphics, The Binding of Isaac (TBoI) is a newer generation roguelike game. You pick your starting character between the many different options, each with his/her strengths and weaknesses, and you start to traverse randomly generated dungeons. Each level becomes harder and bigger, with tougher enemies. To move on to the next level you must beat a boss each time.

You begin with your character’s basic attack. As you explore, you will find various items and trinkets, all of which grant you a beneficial effect. The fun factor is the randomness and replayability; you never experience the same run, and you never know which items you’ll find. Some items can be combined to form extremely strong combos.

The first game is much harder as it has fewer items and combos, fewer characters, and fewer game modes. It also has fewer final bosses. These were addressed with its sequel, TBoI: Rebirth, and its DLCs. TBoI also has elements of survival games; you have keys, bombs, and money to manage.

There are also many micro details that you will learn while playing. For example, if you finish a level without taking damage, you have an increased chance to find a devil room, where you can trade max health for very powerful items unobtainable otherwise.

If you don’t make “a deal with the devil”, every time the devil room is set to appear, an angel room might appear instead, which gives a very powerful item for free. Things like this are worth spending time too as this game can keep you hooked for many hours. There are also many unlockables for the achievement hunters out there.

The SFX is spot on, and there are many sound effects that will be engraved in your mind. Each passive item has its own effect on your projectiles, making it easy to see what’s going on.

Certain combos create absolutely stunning visual effects. This is mostly true for Rebirth; the original is older after all.

[adinserter block=”1″]

Visuals

The graphics are nothing to gawk at. It’s certainly not an AAA game, but they do hit the mood. Each level gets darker and bloodier, and they do a very good job of reminding you that you are in a hostile place.

The bosses have fluent animations and great models. There isn’t anything too complicated, and the developers did exactly what was expected.

Final Thoughts

This game delivers in its goals pretty well. Other than being a game that you can play and spend time getting better, it also has the positive of being easy to pick up and start playing and then stopping after a few minutes of playtime, only to continue from where you left off when you return.

Many sensitive people might get offended by its religious elements and “deal with the devil” options, but these people are exactly that; sensitive. For those not as easily offended, this game is sure to stay in their hearts. I guarantee that anyone who buys this game will spend hundreds of hours having fun unlocking items and characters.

Final Verdict

Storyline: 5.5

Gameplay: 9.0

Visuals: 6.0

General Rating: 6.8/10

That’s it for my review. I hope you enjoyed it. Have you played any of these two games? Did I convince you to try it out? If you have anything to say, just drop a comment and I will answer as soon as I can.

You can support us and get notified when we post a new article by following us on Twitter, liking our Facebook Page and sharing our articles.

Follow @GamerWelfare