Battleborn

Battleborn

Battleborn is a next-gen hero-shooter brought to you by the creators of the award-winning and best-selling Borderlands franchise. In Battleborn’s distant future, the only hope for the last star in a dying universe is a new breed of warriors, who must put aside their differences to drive back an unstoppable menace. Choose from a myriad of powerful heroes and fight together alongside your friends in an intense co-operative campaign, or battle against them in fast-paced competitive multiplayer matches.

Brick Force

Brick Force

Brick-Force is a sandbox shooter where you build worlds and maps that you’ve always dreamed of, brick by brick. Share your virtual playgrounds with the community and use them as the backdrop for fast-paced shooting matches.

In Build mode, you can use simple building blocks to construct detailed environments. There’s a whole range of different brick styles to choose from, and you can even place key interactive elements such as turrets, launch pads or bomb sites.

GunZ 2: The Second Duel

GunZ 2

When I was younger (and perhaps more foolish) I managed to draw a great deal of enjoyment from a rather strange little game called GunZ: The Duel. This third-person platformer was all about quick fingers, melee, and parkour – I was hooked. You can imagine my excitement then, when I realized that there’s a sequel, currently in open beta on Steam. Does it live up to the legacy of the original? 

Well…yes and no. 

Full disclosure here: I’m kind of awful at this game. I’m not entirely certain why, or what it is about it, but…I can’t play to save my life. Keep that in mind as you read this review (though I’m not going to be commenting much on game balance – everything seems to be in order there). 

One thing I’m going to say before moving on is that purist fans of the original should probably avoid GunZ 2. They have, unfortunately, gotten rid of K-Styling (they’re using a new engine, without the easily-exploitable flaws of the original). What that means is that you’re going to have to rely more on your standard outfit of moves. Unfortunately, while you’ve still got a pretty varied set of moves, the mechanics feel like they’ve been gutted somewhat, as well. Although you’re going to be moving with a fair bit of agility, GunZ 2 feels somewhat slower than its predecessor, with much less parkour than the original. What’s more, Although each of the four classes is somewhat unique in the gear available to them, melee ultimately feels the same whether you’re a Gunslinger or a Shield Trooper.

Oh, yeah. Forgot to mention: remember the awesome freedom you were afforded in GunZ? How you could design your character however you wanted, giving them whatever guns and cosmetic gear you saw fit? Yeah, say goodbye to that in the sequel, where the developers have inexplicably decided to switch over to a class system. At creation, you’re going to need to select one of the four different characters; the others will remain locked to you until you shell out either real money or a hefty sum of in-game cash.

That’s strike one against GunZ 2, and a significant one, at that.

There’s also a severely limited range of cosmetic items available for your character compared against the previous game – though admittedly, this may be due to GunZ 2 still being in beta. I’ll give it a pass on this, as the team behind it could well release more stuff as the game moves past its beta stage. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that they don’t make it pay to win, though certain elements (like the respawn coins, which let you revive your character in the single-player missions and cost $2.95 a pop) don’t really bode well, nor does the somewhat exorbitant price of most of the stuff in the shop. 

Ultimately, I don’t dislike GunZ 2…but I don’t like it all that much, either. It’s sort of…bland and soulless, in spite of how good it looks and sounds. That’s a shame, given how fun the original was (though admittedly, I might be looking at it through rose-colored glasses). Ah, well. Back to Loadout. That game’s giving me more entertainment than this one possibly could. 

Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade

Warhammer 40K: Eternal Crusade

Warhammer 40k: Eternal Crusade is a Sci-Fi MMORPG currently under development by Behaviour Interactive. This third person MMORPG has a heavy PvP focus where players fight for territory control. The combat system is uniquely engaging, with a 3D, third-person, action-based targeting system.

Chose from on of four unique factions: The Space Marines, the Orks, the Eldar, or the Chaos Space Marines. Invite your friends and make a squad, fight together and dominate!

Limited information is available, so stayed tuned for more!

F.E.A.R. Online

F.E.A.R. Online

F.E.A.R. Online (FEAR) is an upcoming MMOFPS from Aeria Games, currently under development by Inplay Interactive. Expect the same kind of suspense and horror from the previous FEAR titles in F.E.A.R. online, especially thanks to the eerie atmosphere and immersive maps.

FEAR will feature a 4 player co-op option along with the traditional demolition and deathmatch game modes. The acclaimed Soul King mode will also make its triumphant return following its previous success. Look for the Beta coming soon!

Heroes and Generals

Heroes and Generals

Heroes and Generals is a free to play MMO First Person Shooter with a strategic multiplayer campaign that takes place during World War II. In the game players choose between fighting as the Heroes, which pits you into the trenches and the battlefields, or as a General which has you managing the battlefield and the units from afar.

The game can be accessed continuously using a cross-platform approach. Windows, iOS and Android devices support the game, which results in continuous action across the battlefield. Each conflict takes place through contested cities, factories and airfields on a strategic map.

The main component of the game is the First Person Shooter element, where players are put straight into the battlefield where you can use a variety of character, weapons and vehicles to take out the enemy. When you’re unable to use your PC for the FPS element, you can download the app, Heroes and Generals: Mobile Command, and use the strategic element to command players or entire groups into combat, while managing resources and securing key locations on the map.

The Division

The Division

Tom Clancy’s The Division is a third person shooter MMO currently under development by Ubisoft Massive for the Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Based in modern day USA, a plague suddenly spreads throughout the entire country on Black Friday. Within 5 days America is ruined. Cue the “Strategic Homeland Division”, aka The Division, to come in and clean up the mess.

The Division will have an RPG element mixed with an open world environment. The gameplay will be more of a traditional tactical third person shooter, with a heavy cover/peek-and-shoot type of fighting. There will also be a supplemental app that allows you to play with your friends as a flying drone.

Loadout

Loadout

2014’s not even in full swing, and already we’ve got a contender for best shooter of the year. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to Loadout. This carnage-filled frag-fest basically mashes Gears of War and Team Fortress 2 together into one giant, steaming pile of mayhem, with liberal amounts of gore, violence, partial nudity, and profanity. Basically, it’s a game that revels in the fact that it’s completely and utterly ridiculous, and ends up being amazing for it.

Those of you who’ve already heard of the game will likely have heard that Loadout’s main draw – aside from the impressively fluid gameplay, which combines third-person shooter mechanics with fast-paced platforming – is the sheer volume of customization you’re given regarding how you want to play the game. Truth be told, everything feels a little overwhelming, at first: you start the game with access to four different ‘types’ of weaponry: rifle, rocket, beam, and pulse. Each ammunition type has its own unique set of traits and capabilities, and as you complete matches, level up, and gain “Blutes” (Loadout’s primary currency), you’ll be able to access new parts with which to customize your weaponry.

Want a mortar that fires clusters of bouncing napalm? You can do that. Want a Gatling Gun that fires spiraling, electrified balls of doom? You can make one. A sniper rifle that causes an explosion on impact? That’s probably somewhere in the game, as well.

In addition to the weapon customization options, players also have access to a fairly diverse tech tree. Using Blutes, the player can choose to gain new combat gadgets (such as a shield or the ability to throw down a turret), unlock new parts and ammunition for their weapons, or upgrade weaponry that’s gained enough experience to level up. The system might seem a little confusing to new players at first, but by the time they’ve done a few matches, most people should have more or less gotten the hang of things. 

Loadout’s got several primary gametypes, all of which should be more or less familiar to FPS veterans. Jackhammer is your basic capture the flag, Blitz is king of the hill, and Death Snatch is your standard team deathmatch, with the added quirk of having to pick vials up from an enemy’s corpse in order to confirm kills. Perhaps the most unique gametype I’ve seen thus far is Extraction, which tasks a randomly-selected player with running across the map and grabbing Blutonium to return it to any of a number of drop points. Whoever gathers the maximum amount first wins. 

Regardless of which game-mode your playing, there will be blood. There will be gruesome death, gleeful destruction, and a general air of havoc and devastation. If you’re anything like me, you’ll love every minute of it.  

Of Loadout’s matchmaking, I’ve but a few complaints: Firstly I wish games allowed for more players. At the moment, the maximum players per match is eight; I feel like there’s so much mayhem below the surface just waiting to be unleashed if only a few more players were added. The lack of any sort of FFA gametype stings a bit, as well – but I’m sure these are two features Edge plans to release at a later date. Second, I noticed during my time with the game that the menus tended to be a bit buggy, suffering frequent communication interruptions. Again, this is probably something that’ll be fixed as we move forward. 

Oh, it’s also worth mentioning that Edge of Reality manages the freemium business model beautifully. None of the purchases in the cash shop really give you a noteworthy edge over other players; everything’s either purely cosmetic or purely convenience. You can’t buy items, you can’t buy blutes, and you can’t buy guns. In other words, everything is pretty much as it should be. 

At its core, Loadout may be a simple and somewhat crude frag-fest, but damned if it isn’t the most fun I’ve had with a shooter in well over a year. I’d urge you all to give it a try – you won’t be disappointed. 

Destiny

Destiny

Destiny is a highly anticipated first-person, Sci-Fi, shooter MMO developed by Bungie. It will be releasing for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on September 9, 2014. It is set hundreds of years in the future during a Golden Age where humans have spread throughout the universe and colonized different planets. A sudden “Collapse” causes tremendous chaos and leaves humanity in an isolated city. You must take on the role of defender and save your people from a violent alien race that threatens your already fragile existence.

Destiny will be set in an open world with a highly interactive environment. It will not be modeled after the traditional MMOs, instead it has been labeled as a “shared-world shooter.” The new Umbra 3 engine and updates to the matchmaking system will make this game unlike anything you’ve seen before. Bungie will also be incorporating Social media into Destiny, allowing players to stay attuned to living universe in Destiny as it will always be changing.

Keep an eye out for the beta as it is rumored to be launching sometime this summer!

Defiance

Defiance

Defiance is a third-person sci-fi shooter MMO by Trion Worlds based on the Syfy television series of the same name. It released on April 2, 2013, and is available on PC, PS3, Xbox 360. The game is set in the San Francisco Bay area, following a war between Humans and rogue extraterrestrials known as Votans.

Defiance has five different DLCs planned for release, with Castithan Charge Pack and Arkbreaker already available for sale. Defiance is loaded with dynamic events, main story missions, side quests and challenges. Players are given a large amount of control over character appearance. There are no pure classes, you must chose an “Origin” and fill the role of either Veterans, Outlaws, Machinists, or Survivalists. Veterans and Outlaws are survivors of The Pale Wars who roam the land and seek opportunity. Machinists focus on scavenging, while Survivalists are simply trying to get by.

You don’t have to be a fan of the show to like this game. Check it out through Steam or play it on your console for some good ol’ third person shooting.

Nosgoth

Nosgoth

Innovation is a funny thing. In this modern age game developers are often blasted by critics for their refusal to develop new, innovative ideas instead of continuously pumping out mass-produced soulless experiences designed to do one thing – convince as many people to spend as much money on a product as possible taking the fewest risks. Nosgoth proves to be an interesting beast that kind of flies in the face of typical convention and how we judge innovation. What’s up guys? This is Zac with Attack gaming bringing you a first impressions video for Nosgoth a new team-based third-person shooter published by SquareEnix and developed by Pysonix – a company specializing in outsourcing talent to work on multiplayer modes for games based out of the Unreal Engine.

As the name might suggestion, Nosgoth takes place in the famed Legacy of Kain universe. This is both the source of heightened interest and disgusted contempt, hence the rather interesting predicament Psyonix and SquareEnix have found themselves in with this title.

In a genre positively inundated with massive amounts of multiplayer everything, do we really need yet another cash-shop infused multiplayer shooter? Likewise, there hasn’t been a legitimate sequel to Legacy of Kain since Defiance and even that game was so far removed from the traditional titles in the series that some would argue it shouldn’t even be considered a part of the main series.
The decision to take a series known for its emphasis on exploration and story and to turn it into yet another multiplayer shooter rightfully sets off alarms in the head of many jaded gamers, but let’s think about that for a moment.

Innovation is defined by creativity and a willingness to take risks with no guaranteed payoff. I think it’s safe to say that morphing a third person adventure title into a multiplayer shooter is a pretty huge risk, and when you actually judge the game on its own merits, it’s pretty awesome.

Unlike generic modern military shooters such as Call of Duty and Battlefield, Nosgoth pits humans versus vampires in a battle for utter survival. Oh sure, you say. Tons of games offer multiple factions. Well, there’s huge variety in how the two factions play and within each faction, various classes excel at different things so the game remains fresh throughout. Some classes are good AoE damage, others excel at single target with others still specializing mainly in crowd control. Some of the vampires are illusive and can jump long distances. Others are huge tanks which can bulldoze through enemies. Others still are demon-like creatures which can fly in the air, snatching up humans and dropping them to the ground for massive damage.

The game is asymmetrically balanced which is basically a fancy way of saying there isn’t parity between the vampires and the humans. The vampires are ridiculously overpowered—at least you feel that way when you first start playing. Featuring the ability to run and jump across rooftops ala Assassin’s Creed and the ability to pounce on enemies from insane distances, vampires are a force to be reckoned with and tons of fun to play.

Playing as a human in many ways turns the game into survival horror as you are just trying to survive, keeping the score as close as possible until it’s your turn to play as the vampires. While Vampires can scatter across the map and often succeed at taking out multiple enemies at once, humans are forced to band together sticking close to shrines which grant ammo and health attempting to fend off as many waves of vampires as possible before finally becoming overpowered.

The individual classes in the game can be kitted out with special weapons, abilities, and perks. Each character can possess three abilities which function like special attacks in an MMO that are bound to various hotkeys. Perks are added bonuses like increased speed or increased health that last for a game or for a round.
The variation in play across each faction as well as the various ways in which you can min-max the individual classes leads to tons of theory-crafting and lets itself well to maximizing teamwork through strategies tailored for the strengths and weaknesses of each class.

There are essentially 2 game modes currently available – Team Deathmatch and Siege. Team Deathmatch is your standard 4v4 battle to the death. To keep things fair, both sides receive the opportunity to play as both factions, meaning you spend one round as a vampire and one as a human. The winning team has the most kills at the end of both rounds.
Siege mode is available after level 10 and offers different objectives for each faction. Humans must capture and hold various strategic objectives scattered throughout the map while vampires earn points for killing humans and preventing them from capturing objectives.

Like I mentioned previously, the game does have a cash shop, although I wouldn’t clarify it as pay-to-win. While it’s true that you can spend real-money to purchase items, you can also do so with cash earned in-game. Some items like additional classes can’t be purchased with in-game currency but can be unlocked via artifact tokens which you receive every five levels.

Graphically, the game is beautiful. While it’s not as technically advanced as Killzone or Destiny, the art direction is excellent.
All in all though, after singing this game’s praises, it’s not all roses and sunshine as you just can’t escape the fact that while this is a very fun game, it just wasn’t the game that Legacy of Kain fans wanted, and I’m not sure the game has enough mainstream appeal to warrant much of a player base. Yes, I realize the game is still in beta, but it can be hard to find a match where often times you spend quite a while doing this……instead of doing this.

Still, I urge you to check the game out if you can find a beta key or if you’re willing to spend money on a Founder’s Pack through steam. It’s an excellent multiplayer shooter whose innovation breaks the mold for what a multiplayer shooter should be. This game is really an object lesson in how sometimes even if a game developer cranks out a title that absolutely no one saw coming, demand can’t be ignored. You know what though. Having never been a Legacy of Kain fan, the game does draw me into the game world and makes me want to learn a little bit more about it. After playing it, I feel compelled to check out some of the other games in the series, and that has to count for something right?

If you want to learn more about the game, check out its official website at Nosgoth.com.

APB: Reloaded

APB: Reloaded

APB (All Points Bulletin): Reloaded is an action based third-person shooter MMO produced by Realtime Worlds. It takes place in the modern city of San Paro where the Enforcers (a well-organized faction of special forces, police units, and mercenaries) attempt to contain the activities of Criminals (bands of terrorists who prey on the city and its civilians). A player may chose to play either faction by creating a highly customizable character in the chosen faction and completing missions or participating in senseless cop-on-thug violence (or vice versa).

APB is a real time world that is as immersive as it gets. There is no offline mode, so yesterday’s game will be different today. The action is non-stop in this urban sprawl and opportunities for fun are endless. Play with your friends and form groups to beat missions, gain ranks, score some cash and unlock many of the hundreds of new clothes, guns, and cars available. The music is great, and there’s even a marketplace where you can sell music you’ve created for in-game cash. The game’s engine also gives room for tons of hilarious stunts, edge-of-your-seat battles, and death defying chases.

This off-kilter MMO is sure to strike a nerve with some, but this addicting title is must try. So ask yourself, “Do I believe in justice… or chaos?” and prepare yourself for the relentless onslaught that is the living city of San Paro.

World of Warplanes

World of Warplanes

An exciting MMO game that you can take to the skies! The game takes place in an awesome period of history during the golden era of military aviation. World of Warplanes will continue the “war saga” launched by its predecessor, the legendary World of Tanks, and will open up the skies so you can dominate the air with your friends online.

Project Blackout

Project Blackout, otherwise known as Point Blank in other areas of the world, is a tactical online first person shooter, developed by South Korean, Zepetto. Project Blackout has been a staple of the MMOFPS community since its release in Korea in 2008, and coming to the U.S. in 2010. This fast paced shooter has a similar type of gameplay to Counter-Strike, but features destructible environments, dynamic events, and a deeper character and skill customization system then CS.

In the game you choose to play as either a Free Rebel or the CT-Force. Each team will complete objectives based on the type of game chosen. There are four different default character models, with four additional purchasable deluxe character models. The game’s mission system gives you rewards when you complete given quests, which you can use to receive weapons, badges and exp. There is also an Advanced Combat Training system which can help you increase your characters weapon proficiency.

Project Blackout has 8 different game modes: AI Challenge, Search and Destroy, Sabogate, Demolition, Deathmatch, Escape, Cross-Counter and a Custom Mode where you can choose from various modes and restrict different weapon types.

Alliance of Valiant Arms

AVA is a high-octane MMOFPS that plunges you into the middle of a world at war. Side with the European Union (E.U.) or Neo-Russian Federation (NRF) and take up arms across vicious urban battlegrounds. Test your skills against your friends and see if you have what it takes to come out on top!

Powered by the Unreal3 engine, AVA offers immersive gameplay with HD quality graphics. Engross yourself in stunningly rendered battlefields and feel the heat of combat in lucid detail. Realistic actions and character movements bring the warfare to life as you fight to survive in the ruthless alternative history world of AVA.

Think you?re on top of your game? AVA provides a wide variety of game modes in which to prove it. Itchy trigger finger? Try your hand at classic gun-slinging modes like Annihilation or Escape, and mow your enemies down as they come your way. Master tactician? Try one of the more unique modes, like Escort, in which you must guard a tank and prevent its destruction as it trundles into enemy territory.

Dominate the battlefield and eliminate the competition in Player vs. Player missions ? or, if teamwork?s more your style, hook up with some friends and comb through intense, objective-based Co-Op missions. Endless challenges await you!

The right soldier for the right situation: Choose from three soldier classes with different traits and specialties to match your play-style ? then gain the edge you need to prevail by unlocking unique skills and upgrades for your soldier.

Combat Arms

Combat Arms

Combat Arms is Nexon’s new high octane MMO first person shooter game that allows you to play with the world’s largest online weapon arsenal. You can choose from over THREE HUNDRED weapons in the game! From assault rifles to knives and frag grendaes, there are numerous possibilities to customize your character.

Their improved rewards systsem lets you quickly gain experience so you don’t have to grind forever to uprade your weapons and abilities. They also have done a good job of keeping the game fresh with a big selection of different game modes, tons of maps and mercenaries to keep the gameplay continuous and most importantly, fun.