Reverb Games is
entering the massively multiplayer online gaming space and has picked an
Asian-influenced title to do it with. Outspark, the company behind online titles
such as Secret of the Solstice and Fiesta, is doing the work to translate Wind
Slayer for the North American market.
The game is
essentially a 2D platformer with side-scrolling capabilities. The whole goal, as
was discussed during a tour given on Monday by Outspark, is to create an
experience that is “very easy to pick up and play, regardless of your skill
level.”
There is ”no
cumbersome lead-in to the game, the idea is to get you in and competing quickly,
whether that is through PvP, or by gathering, crafting or fighting monsters.”
Players begin
by creating a character. As you progress in the game, you will get the
opportunity to customize the character through clothing items as well as your
character class. The first class decision players will face will be at level 10
and there are two subclasses per character class. There are six total character
classes – warrior, archer, mage, rogue, monk and priest. At level 30, players
can select their subclass. Here is the breakdown:
-
Warriors turn into either
berserker or paladin -
Archer goes to sniper or
beast master -
Mage evolves into either
elementalist or summoner -
Rogue becomes either an
assassin or trapper -
Monk breaks down to shaolin
or counter -
Priest can become either a
bishop or dark priest
The game has
just entered open beta, and for that the level cap will be 25.
The tour of the
game revealed a title that is extremely player friendly. Most of the action took
place on PvP (player-versus-player) maps. In the team-based action, players can
double jump up to platforms, descend to other platforms, all using the arrow
keys on the computer keyboard. Quickly tapping right or left will give a short
speed burst right or left. This is helpful when creating distance from someone
attacking or closing on a target.
All key inputs
can be remapped and skills can be slotted in the two skill bars available.
The game does
follow a familiar pattern in that you gain experience, level and can buy new
skills from a trainer. The game will have nine towns/cities, and there will be
areas for gathering, crafting and so on.
Outspark has
plans to keep the game fresh with regular content updates, PvP tourneys with
in-game prizes, holiday events and so on. It appears that this will be a very
active and well maintained game.
“The game is
designed to be one of the simplest games we have to date,” Outspark stated.
“We’ve been working on localization and customization,” and plans call for more
announcements concerning the game to be released as the game moves forward in
beta.
Wind Slayer is
geared to be very social, and will have a strong mentoring system to reward both
players in the mentoring partnership.
While the tour
of Wind Slayer was not very long, the game appears to have a certain amount of
charm that, when coupled with the ease of play, should have appeal to players
looking for an MMO that is light and friendly. There is still work to be done in
polishing elements and the title still has a lot of testing to go before
release.
