After 20 hours of gameplay, I believe I have spent sufficient time to provide a first impression review.
[h1]Summary[/h1]
Crush Online attempts to synergize what we have come to enjoy about the MOBA genre and MMOs. Tower capture, lanes, loot acquisition, character development, crafting and territory acquisition all come together to create the perfect game...or try to. The idea on paper sounded really good and I looked forward to checking this title out. While the game concepts have potential, the implementation falls short of the vision. Rather than playing a hero like in most MOBAs, you create a character and level it up through a map containing many Battle Arenas. Some are PvP "war" setups while others are PvE. More on the whole territory acquisition elements later. What follows are the reasons why I've come to the conclusion not to recommend this game to others.
[b]RATINGS[/b]
Excellent, Above Average, Average, Below Average, Poor.
[h1]Graphics: Average[/h1]
Low texture and polygon counts provide for mostly cartoony characters, mobs and arena battleground sets. While not terrible by today's standards, the visuals are a far cry from those found in LOL, HoTS or SMITE.
[h1]Gameplay: Average[/h1]
To best appreciate my rating, I'll need to break it down into components from the various genre's.
[b]MOBA[/b]
The BA [Battle Arena] design is a single lane with a very small jungle area. The creeps are generic looking bobble heads and there are a few PvE objectives which provide very little benefit to winning the arena. Unlike other MOBAs, levels are not fixed to each map. The number of skills (4) are standard and based on both which of the 3 classes you choose to play and the weapons you can wield. There is no sense of progression as we've come to expect from the MOBA. This is principally due to the fact that this is an MMO and character progression takes place outside of the arena. The benefits of winning a match are reflected in the ranking ladder.
[b]MMO[/b]
Character creation choices are next to none. You choose one of three gender locked classes. Then you have a selection of 4-6 face and hair types which you can then customize with one of at least 20 colors from their pallette. The look of your armor comes from the use of a "transmog" item. There seems to be about a handful of mogs for each class, from what I've seen. There are no extensive customization options as found in today's MMOs.
Each class has 2 weapons they can slot (front/back bar) and switch between, Two other weapons can be slotted and while not used for combat can be required for "set" bonuses. There are about 5 different actual weapons for each weapon type. Each weapon is identical to every other weapon used by characters of the same class. So my guardian (think warrior/tank) can use a big 2H hammer and a rocket launcher type gun. Every other guardian also has these two types of weapons but we each can choose between a handful of actual weapons.
Character development is achieved through levels (30 Max) and spending of skill points. The class trees are limited to 2 segments (primary/secondary) with no more than 3 paths down through each tree. Requirements for subsequent tiers are the completion of a skill from a previous tier but are not linear. This allows for lots of different types of a given class. The skills previously mentioned come from the weapon employed. These weapons can be levelled up by obtaining spellstones. Each weapon has 30 levels before it can be upgraded to the next Rank. Item ranks in game are D, C, B, A, S, SS.
Further character progression can be obtained through the crafting of artifacts and upgrading of their ranks. The artifacts need to be leveled up for each zone cluster you enter. That is to say that each time you zone into an arena for PvE/PvP war, your character is at it's weakest. As you kill mobs, players, and take objectives you will gain spell points to power up your artifacts each to a max level. When all of your artifacts are maxed, you are as strong as you can potentially be in that arena. Once you leave that arena however, the artifacts are reset. This makes PvP interesting as the person who has been farming in the zone longer should have better artifact provided stats.
The meta-game is territory conquest through acquisition of map zones/arena either through MOBA like PvP arena battles or by conquering a PvE territory. Win conditions in PvP are exactly like other MOBAs. That is, destroy the enemy base. On the PvE side, win conditions can be met by either killing the boss mob or accumulating 10K spell points. Both wins grant the participants increased fame for both their nation (1 oof 3 factions), their legion(guild) and their personal ladder ranking. Acquired territories will have protected status for a time before becoming open to conquest by a competing nation and then defaulting back to a PvE neutral zone.
[h1]Music: Below Average[/h1]
The music is unobtrusive but is also not exciting nor mood supporting. It is standard by zone type and arena.
[h1]Community: Below Average[/h1]
Many have said it before, but a community does a game make. While the population numbers for this month old game are relatively low, the expected tight-knit community is nowhere to be found. There is a single server with 2 normal channels and one "Newbie" channel designed to limit power levels so new players can get up to speed without having to compete with much stronger characters. Questions posed in Nation chat are often left unanswered by more experienced players.
This may be due to the fact that AFK grinding is a thing. Not only does this result in an empty environment, but a caustic one as well. Those players who AFK grind feel entitled to the content they have decided to grind on. When a new player enters into a PvE arena where someone is AFK grinding the experienced player thinks the new player is stealing their resources. In a PvP competitive, territory grabbing game anyone who is AFK grinding takes on risk. With the way the territory system works, should they enter a territory that is a PvE territory, they are not at risk of being attacked by opposing nation forces. There is a limit to how long they can remain due to the win conditions previously mentioned. However, if their nation seeks to make a land push and enters that territory, the amount of time the player can AFK is curtailed.
Some in the community don't want to play the land grab game as it theoretically reduces the amount of time one can grind on their character. Should a nation acquire all the available territories there would be no lands to grind in for a time until they were flipped by a competing nation or reverted to PvE. New players are now forewarned of this selfish mentality and realize the type of players that comprise this community.
It may be a PvP centric territory grab game but the player base is made up of selfish PvE players not really interested in playing the game with their Nation but rather having the best stats, gear, etc.
[h1]Entertainment Value: Average[/h1]
With a level cap of 30 which can be reached in less than 20 hours of gameplay, many will find that their gaming time consists of grinding mobs for spellstone drops with no conversation in Nation chat and infrequent opportunities to PvP in the way we expect from a MOBA.
[h1]Overall: Average[/h1]
For a F2P title you can expect 10-15 hours of gameplay until the grind kicks in. Between the community shortcomings and other average elements like gameplay, graphics and entertainment value; I do not recommend this game. There are plenty of other titles to invest your time in.
