Ett arbete i Block 1
Arena:
Cyber Evolution
Genre: Sports
Overview
Arena:
Cyber Evolution is a free to play team based sports game on Steam, developed by
Spearhead Games. This game is currently early access and hasn’t been fully
released so it is very likely there will be more content to come with the games
development. The game doesn’t seem to have a particular age group that it is
aimed at or gender, it could easily attract anyone of any age and gender but
I’m not sure if the sports game aspect would have a bias towards male
audiences. The game so far has five characters: VexWrecker, The Negotiator,
Vengeful Star, The Stalker and The Nitrogen Queen. Throughout playing there is
no character development of any of these characters – they are just players of
the sport that compete, the different characters are meant as a class system.
The Negotiator is more built to handle defending the goal while Vengeful Star
is meant as an attacker to score goals; having a good balance of these
characters is key to winning a game. Each character has different abilities
they can use, for example The Negotiator teleports back in front of the goal
using his ultimate while Vengeful Star will gain a speed boost. There is no
storyline to speak of within the game at the current moment other than an
outside team challenges the home team. The tutorial could be considered a bit
of development as The Stalker teaches Vengeful Star how to play but otherwise
there’s no interaction between characters or storyline development; the game
purely focuses on playing the sport.
The game
plays with two teams of three going up against each other in a standard arena
field with two goals, one friendly and one opposing. Each game is five minutes
and a queue to find a game takes at maximum 120 seconds. Half way through the
game some kind of situational hazard will take over the field which can make
things harder on the players and in general change how things are being played.
Much like hockey, teams score goals by putting the disk in the enemy goal. The
player can only hold the disk for a limited amount of time so passing to team
mates I extremely important so you don’t give the disk to the enemy, you can
move just as fast backwards as you can forwards which is the most important
thing to consider when attacking. You can face backwards so the disk is facing
away from the enemy so they can’t take it from you. The game is extremely fast
paced with only five minute games, even within that short space of time goals
can reach over 10 for each team. The game also features implants which gives
you and your team buffs which is unlocked through a leveling progression system
– in my opinion this should not be in the game as it gives an unfair advantage
to the players that have been playing longer over someone that is a low level
and has just started playing the game.
Graphics
The game
has a very pleasing cell-shaded art style, very brightly coloured in all areas
and in general quite beautiful. The game doesn’t go for realistic looking
graphics and in this way the art style really suits the setting which is a
futuristic world. The art style compliments this very well with bright, typical
colours which is shown off amazingly by the arena lights and the stadium in
general. All in all the graphics of the game seem ageless because of this, no
matter how old the game gets because its went for this kind of art style it
will always look good.
Difficulty and Learning Curve
All of the
mechanics in the game are incredibly simple, each character has two abilities
which change depending on which character you have. The objective is always the
same: score goals. Because the game is so simple to play learning how to play
is incredibly simple so there isn’t much of a learning curve to get in to
gameplay wise. Managing team compositions, getting good attackers, defenders
and supports as well as picking appropriate implants to compliment your team is
a little bit of a higher learning curve but still isn’t much at all, it’s a
simple matter of just picking what’s best which is generally quite obvious when
you read what they do. When playing bot matches things are quite easy as the
A.I. is extremely good, even though you may lose a few goals it is most likely
you will be able to gain them by working with your partners.
However, because the game is easy to learn doesn’t mean it is easy to master – versing enemy players is where the challenge is in the game as they have much better play styles and can communicate and strategies in a way the A.I. cannot. In this sense it is much better to play with friends so you know when to pass or when to shoot and defend as well as putting together your team with characters and implants. Depending on the skill of the enemy team th4e difficulty will change with each game (which doesn’t happen with A.I. opponents). Playing the game relies heavily on fast reactions
and
reflexes which can prove extremely challenging when going up against a well
composed enemy. Otherwise can be quite simple and extremely fun.
Map Design/Size
Due to this
being an early access game there is only one map, a simple arena stadium with
two goals and nothing else. You can go behind the goals and the amount of space
you get is quite limited as the arena is quite small. However, I think this is
a strength of the game as the smaller space makes you need to communicate more
as well as think more about your movements and when to use your abilities so in
this way the map design is actually quite good.
The main
strength of the map design is whenever hazards come into play 3 minutes into
the game which can change the map and how things work. For example, one hazard
freezes the floor of the arena making the players slide a lot more and lose
control over movement more as well as giving the disk less grip and therefore
more speed. This kind of design really changes the tactics of the game and
since its random each time and there is a good variety of hazards this is very
well designed and thought out.
Length
Since the
game focuses entirely on PvP the length of the game is limitless, each game can
play out way differently than the other and with the mixture of hazards and
characters it will only add to that experience. Leveling up your account to
unlock more features does take some time, I have played for 1.4 hours and
reached level 5 – the maximum is level 20 and the amount of xp needed increases
with each level.
Playability
As
mentioned previously the learning curve of the game is minimal with very simple
controls and mechanics so it is accessible to anyone. During the game I have
experienced one glitch where the disk had gotten stuck inside the bars of the
goal and wouldn’t get out no matter what – this did break the A.I. and I needed
to wait for the game to end before I could do anything else. However, due to
this being an early access game a few bugs and glitches are bound to happen and
despite this I’ve had a very smooth game time while playing.
Entertainment
Since the
game focuses entirely on the gameplay this is where the entertainment of the
game can be found, and in my opinion it is a very great game to play
entertainment wise due to its smooth playability, art style and simplicity. The
game is very enjoyable when playing by yourself against bots and against other
players however other players can prove to be frustrating especially if they
are a higher level than you and have access to implants that you to not. The
game is certainly more fun with friends as you can talk and communicate better
than with random people. Otherwise the
game is very entertaining and well designed.
Sound and Music
The sound
of the game is minimalistic, there are sound effects for each ability as well
as the crowd cheering but little else so this might be something that they will
add more to with development however as it is right now works well especially
combined with the music. The music in the game is phenomenal, it as a great
beat for getting the player hooked into a competitive play mood as well as
capturing the futuristic setting extremely well. The music changes whenever a
hazard is released onto the playing field which makes the gameplay more
dramatic and changes the way the player feels – the soundtrack for inside the
game makes a player feel epic, however the downside is that there are only
these two soundtracks. The menu music is minimal and forgettable compared to
the in game music but at the same time the music in the game only has two
tracks that play at the same time each and every game. With the talent that
they have for the other music they should certainly include more tracks.
System Requirements
The game
requires either Windows Vista, 7 or 8 as an operating system as well as a
processor with at least 3 GHz (for example an Athlon 3400). 2GB of RAM is
required as well as 256 MB of video memory with Shader Model 3.0 support (an
Nvidia GeForce 7800GS or better is recommended). The game requires Direct X9 as
well as an internet connection. Although the game does not say this in the
recommended setting before downloading it also requires 1.5 GB of Hard Disk
space so it can install local files.
Performance and Demand
The game
performs spectacularly, every animation is very smooth as well as movement that
feels very responsive and never one has the characters done anything I didn’t
tell them to. Controls are tight and well designed, FPS drops never happen and
it runs at a smooth 60 and there has never been any lag during the game either
so it doesn’t impact the game. So far there has been minimal bugs and glitches
aside from one that I previously described so I think this game performs
amazingly – especially for an early access game, there are full retail releases
that perform worse than this. The game has a 679000 KB demand on the processor
which is fine, it doesn’t clog up the processes too much or slow any parts of
the computer down.
Because of
this I have experienced no annoyances while playing the game whatsoever.
Rating
This game
is currently in early access and therefore does not have a PEGI age rating or
any age rating for that matter of fact. However, once the game is rated I do
not think that it should be anything above a 3+ game. The art style is very
attractive to children as well as the simple mechanics would be so easy for
them to understand and so I do not think there needs to be any restrictions on
this. The game is easily understood and doesn’t have any adult themes, a simple
sports arena game that is perfect for any age.
What class could this game be
used in?
The only
class I think this game could be used in would be a sports class and this is
because I think this could hugely improve teamwork and communication when
playing in a real sport. I think it would give any sports players an
improvement in communication as well as seeing moments that would be ideal for
passing or shooting and implementing any similar experiences into a real life scenario.
Even though the game is not that realistic is many other terms a similar
scenario could easily happen while playing a real sport – so in my own personal
opinion I think it could improve both their awareness and their communication.
