Forced - Quick First Thoughts.

[Monte Carlo]

OK, so this is a co-op Diablo-esque arena game. I've not played LoL or DotA but wonder if this game is (sort of) out of the same mould.

 

I was attracted to it because it's an indie game, Kick-started and seen through on Steam on that Beta not-quite-finished deal (it cost me UK£9.00).

 

Appearance-wise, it looks like a more attractive Torchlight, maybe a tiny bit less cartoony. The graphics are crisp, colourful and appealing. The spiel is that this race of evil badasses kidnap humans and make them fight in gladitorial arenas full of traps and monsters. Yadda yadda. What it really means is that you have an endless set of co-op battle arenas where the four character archetypes can race to achieve the fastest times possible in different challenges. The puzzles and challenges are different from most MOBA / ARPG games, of which this seems to be a mash-up.

 

The four 'classes' (you can equip any in a ready-room before each challenge) are hammer-dude, shield dude, bow-dude and twin daggers ninja dude. All have big skill trees for modal and passive skills.

 

Then you have this little orb that flies around and helps you activate stuff. I know. This game is crazy. Movement is on a sort of complicated WASD system that allows you to combine keys to shuffle, strafe, run, retreat and generally dance around. Monte sausage-fingers is still working this aspect out.

 

In short, I can imagine this being a hell of a lot of fun. Plus, it's co-op which for me is much more fun that getting the snot kicked out of me by kids with nothing better to do than practice video games all day.

 

It's early days for me but I'm enjoying what I've seen so far. The game is developing a lively community and new features seem to be dropping in all the time.

 

If you like frenetic, light-hearted co-op mayhem this might be a good investment.