Prime World – Preview
MOBA games, a genre most of played so far or will play in the near future. A genre that pretty much came to life after the original DotA was released as a mod for Warcraft III. Games like League of Legends, Heroes of Newerth and others made sure MOBA games became one of the most popular types of games there currently are. Of course this makes it harder for those wanting to create their own game, to break through on this well loved market. Nival’s Prime World happens to be one of those, trying to break through. The question is – what does it offer us, those others don’t?
The main question when another MOBA game is released is of course ‘Why should I stop playing the one I love?’. This can be answered with a simple response, you shouldn’t. Having played a decent amount of MOBA(like) games, some may grow tiresome at some point or unbalanced and what not. At times like these it’s fun to try out existing or new ones to broaden your horizon or to simply find that one game, that has the balance or refreshing gameplay you are looking for.
Storylines are a thing that pretty much all MOBA games lack and in a way there’s no need for them either. Still Prime World offers a refreshing way of introducing a storyline to this platform. At the beginning of your first session you are able to choose between 2 factions, one being more advanced than the other when it comes to appearance. Each of these factions have their own storyline that is presented to you with a series of tutorials and simple objectives like, win a certain amount of matches, and so on. Each of these tutorials is brought to you with a decent cast of voice actors and gives that little extra to the normal MOBA games that lack that little bit of story value.
While other games in the genre only focus around playing matches against each other, Prime World has a small RTS side to it. Each player is in possession of his or her own castle. These will of course differ in look, depending on the faction you chose. You will be able to construct several buildings, be it for production purposes, decoration or to develop your heroes. Most of the production buildings can have an increase in efficiency if you happen to have a lot of ‘friends’ on Prime World. Each friend can be added to a building once – to increase its production. A fun feature in a way but also an annoying one for those who rather have a more selected friendslist. In the end the RTS portion of the game offers those who love ‘sim’ games or those who simply want to enjoy building stuff during waiting periods a great extra.
Like most free to play games, Prime World also has options for those who wish to make a contribution. These are pretty much the standard one we already know – experience boosts and skins when it comes to the normal gameplay that involves your heroes and matches. The RTS portion however also has a lot of features on which you can spend real money, like special buildings and speeding up ongoing production in your buildings. Like most games they are not needed but sadly some heroes and building may feel a little as if they are overpriced with the in game currency, free players earn.
Developing and changing your heroes is a feature Nival has put its effort in. Each hero has a set of talents which are pretty much his base active and passive skills. A lot of these skills however can be changed and replaced by other active and passive abilities. For example you can equip your Priest with some extra healing skills you developed or earned through the many battles you’ve fought. These are in essence the ‘items’ a lot of other games offer you during the course of the matches, but the system in Prime World offers a lot more options than a lot of those other games. Having too many spare talents might earn you a few in game credits or even upgrades for other talents.
At the beginning of the match it’s already clear Prime World is going for a bright and colorful look and the puzzle board in the middle of your own base simply adds up to that setting. The puzzle board can be used during the match itself, to earn special scrolls (consumables) to help you and your teammates. Of course this can be a tactical advantage at certain points, you will also need to consider is it’s worth having one player less on the battlefield.
As mentioned earlier talents replace normal equipment but will also cost a ‘fee’ during the course of battle. Your character will not earn money and experience, but a combined ‘substance’ called prime. When you have enough Prime you will be able to level up your character by choosing one of your talents, by which it will go in effect (passive) or become available for you to use (active). You will have several rows of talents available for your character and each row will only unlock if you’ve invested enough prime in the row beneath it. Having the option to choose which ones you level will also help you change the course of battle if you need more tanky talents instead of those that deal extra damage.
Even though the map lay-out it roughly the same as other MOBA games, Prime World introduces neutral and native terrain. Each lane has a fixed amount of ‘banners’ you or the opposing team can take control of. When having control of a banner, it will create a small area that can be considered as native terrain. Some skills will add extra effects on native terrain, thus making the gameplay a lot more interesting if you also have to consider capturing points and try to defend them.
Seeing the game is still in closed beta, I did not have the chance to test everything the game threw at me. For instance the clan system is still something to be looked at and a lot of smaller features as well. All I can say is – Prime World is off to a promising start and I’ll be sure to keep an eye on this diamond in the rough.
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