Hi-Rez Studios' fast-growing MOBA title SMITE recently launched on the Xbox One and now the free-to-play game has managed to expand to Valve's digital distribution, Steam. Gamers looking to get in on the action can do so right now.
The five-on-five title landed on Steam with a smattering of positive reviews from users. They seem to be enjoying themselves and have taken to Hi-Rez Studios' free-to-play MOBA with keen interest.
The game sees two teams consisting of five gods going head-to-head. The game features 60 playable gods, each with their own skills, traits and abilities, and the objective is to work with fellow teammates to capture points on the map in order to overthrow your opponents.
Now a lot of people may know about MOBAs but not everyone is familiar with the intricacies of how they work. For instance there are some slight differences in how teams and characters level in a game like Heroes of the Storm compared to League of Legends or Defense of the Ancients 2, just the same as there are item and talent differences that separates Dota 2 from League of Legends; so on and so forth.
The separating factor that SMITE has from its fellow competitors is that the game is more of a third-person melee shooter as opposed to an isometric real-time strategy or tower defense game. A lot of the characters in Heroes of the Storm or Dota 2 can be played like a standard tower defense game, but in SMITE you actually have to move the character around and focus-fire your skill shots just as if you were playing Gears of War or Uncharted.
Due to the necessity of reflexive skills and teamwork, SMITE has been able to distinctly separate itself from the nature of the current crop of MOBAs out there, and a lot of gamers are loving the title for that very reason.
Also, given that the game is free-to-play it easily makes it susceptible to the possible machinations of microtransactions. However, many of the reviews point out that SMITE actually manages to maintain a very healthy cash shop ecosystem; you can't pay to win.
While there are some complaints about balance issues, the main discussion is centered around the fact that the game allows you to purchase only cosmetics for the heroes, which does little more than give players a more distinct and personalized look on the field.
Speaking of the field... there are some complaints about the lack of map variety in the main Conquest mode, but otherwise the complaints are kept to a minimum.
I think if you're the kind of gamer who may not fare so well with the RTS elements of some of the more traditional MOBAs on the market it's easy to lose interest in the genre. But Hi-Rez Studios took their talents and capabilities that they honed in Tribes: Ascend and Global Agenda and then combined that with the traditional 5-on-5 tower setup of a MOBA game. It appears to have worked out well for them.
You can get in on the action right now by checking the game out over on Steam.
