Bloodline Champions
- Area: Europe
- Official Site: Bloodline Champions
- Publisher: Funcom GmbH
- Developer: Funcom GmbH
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
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Overview
Bloodline Champions is an Action MMO similar to many beat-em-up console games, that combines current-generation animations and visuals with impressive controls to create a truly unique MMO experience.
While on the surface Bloodline Champions appears only as an action title, beneath lies a MMORPG system not unlike the Wold of Warcraft Arena, requiring quick reflexes and a sharp mind to perform combos and spells at the right time in 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 player matches.
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Features
- Next-Generation Combat
- High-Quality Animations and Visuals
- Action-Orientated, Strategic, Fantasy PvP!
- Area: Europe
- Official Site: Bloodline Champions
- Publisher: Funcom GmbH
- Developer: Funcom GmbH
- Platform: Microsoft Windows
Like this game? Tell your friends!
Review
Bloodline Champions is an Action MMO similar to many beat-em-up console games, that combines current-generation animations and visuals with impressive controls to create a truly unique MMO experience.
While on the surface Bloodline Champions appears only as an action title, beneath lies a MMORPG system not unlike the Wold of Warcraft Arena, requiring quick reflexes and a sharp mind to perform combos and spells at the right time in 2v2, 3v3 and 4v4 player matches.
Bloodline Champions is in essence a ‘beat-em-up’ style action-MMO that redefines the genre by incorporating coherent and logical controls with innovative characters, abilities and concepts. At first glance is takes the form of any other action MMO -- you select a character, jump in the ring and beat the crap out of the opposing team.
However, things start to get interesting, like any game of significant quality, not in the first or second or tenth game you play, but in the fiftieth and sixtieth, once you’ve mastered the system and begin to understand how it all fits together.
Normally, we call this style of learning curve ‘easy to learn, hard to master’, but I was feeling creative and took the long route. Though regardless of terminology, that’s exactly how Bloodline Champions works. You might get a kill or two in your very first game, depending on how long your opponent has been playing and how many other games you’ve played, but it won’t take you very long to realise how deep this particular rabbit-hole goes, and how intricate the system works when you finally reach the bottom.
One of the most prominent features of Bloodline Champions is its ‘old and true’ WASD movement system. The Internet has been recommending this game to fans of both the ‘Aeon of Strife’ and FPS genres for precisely this reason. It looks like an RTS, but plays like an FPS. Or so they say. In reality, it’s nothing like either; these Internet folk don’t know their ankle from their elbow. It’s a lot more like the arena in World of Warcraft, really, except that you play from a top-down viewpoint and don’t have to level your characters for a bajillion* hours before you can play. Though, yes, the movement system is certainly familiar, and fans of all of the above genres should feel right at home.
WASD control movement, and QERTF and SPACE are used to cast spells and abilities. From there, it’s a simple matter of kicking the crap out of your opponent with one of the many heroes on offer, and making it look good while you do. Speaking of heroes, Bloodline Champions has more than a few available to use (which is likely why it’s being compared to DotA, HoN and LoL), except that once again, the Hero templates are much more like the one you’d find in WoW (or any other MMORPG, for that matter) than anywhere else.
*Yes, a bajillion (A.K.A five to seven years of your life; it’s a lot like a prison sentence when you think about it…).
In the ‘Aeon of Strife’ titles you often select a hero based on their governing attribute (Strength, Agility or Wisdom); however, in BC you choose based on their role (Melee, Ranged or Healer). See the difference? It’s the MMORPG staple of class distribution, and happily, it makes the jump to the new genre almost seamlessly.
Now, I say almost, not because the system is flawed (as once you’ve tried it yourself you’ll see how well it works), but because of the players that fail to utilise it. You see, it’s great to have a player on your team that can heal you, and it’s even better when they know how to do it; however, most players want to be in the action, and opt to play as the melee or ranged classes instead, resulting in an all-out-mash-fest of awesome abilities and fast-action gameplay. Which is cool. It works in MMOs, so why wouldn’t it work here? Well, there aren’t any dungeons in action-MMOs, so there really isn’t any need for people to play as a healer. So for the most part, they don’t. And as a result, the tactical, intricate, enjoyable play that could be on offer is often a mash-fest instead.
But that’s not a bad thing. In fact, bring a few friends in with you and it’s a non-issue entirely. So, as you can probably already tell, Bloodline Champions is a pretty cool game, and at the time of writing, it’s still in closed beta. Sure, there are a few balance issues with a couple of the heroes, but for the most part it’s one of the finest quality betas I’ve ever played. There are plenty of maps, 3 game modes, 16 heroes, an in-game region selection system (are you reading this, Blizzard?), game options for everything from 1v1 to 5v5, a level and grade system that helps to put you against players of your own skill level, and each game is split up into multiple rounds, which allow for some amazing comebacks.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: Bloodline Champions is a lot of fun. It’s fresh, challenging, often unique, and definitely something you should keep an eye on over the coming months. Funcom, you’ve done it again.
