Question: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play DotA (Defence of the Ancients), HoN (Heroes of Newerth) or LoL (League of Legends) in the third-person perspective; what it would be like to purchase a front row seat to the action, and control your character as though it were an avatar from an MMO; what it would be like to jump, and dodge, and sprint, and dive, and… dodge in real-time action packed in-your-face graphically up-to-date gameplay?!

Short Answer: Yes, you have.

And so, the heavens parted and LOCO was born -- the first true third-person ‘Aeon of Strife’ Action MMORPG. And the world of gaming rejoiced. “No longer must we suffer the gruelling grind of the MMO,” they cried. “No longer must we wait decades for our PvP,” they shouted. “No longer must we,”… you get the point. LOCO was the answer to a lot of prayers, and soon, it might be the answer to yours. Why? Well, because it’s good. Here, I’ll show you.

In the case that some of you haven’t actually heard of DotA, HoN and LoL, let’s go over a few core gameplay elements first. The idea behind the Aeon of Strife style of play is simple, but in order to get a picture for it, I’m going to need some help from you. First, I need to you picture a Warcraft III map with two large bases at either end, and three long lanes connecting them. In each of the bases are various structures, some that heal you when you stand near them, others that sell items that can be combined together to create more powerful ones; the lanes are lined with defensive towers that attack when you approach. Now, imagine that the game has just begun. You’ve been asked to select a hero from a long list of possibilities, each with their own specific playstyles, pros and cons; you select your hero and appear in your base. Small groups of NPC allies are charging down the lanes to meet in glorious battle with your opponents NPC allies; and your job is to help them. You kill the NPC enemies, destroy the towers, and eventually, after levelling up, gaining new abilities, purchasing new items and killing enemy heroes, you destroy your opponent’s base and win the game. That is, unless the enemy heroes kill you first, thereby making them stronger, in which case they destroy your base and you lose. Wither way, that’s more-or-less how you play DotA, HoN and LoL. And it’s more-or-less how you play LOCO, too.

Normally, I’d criticise a game quite harshly for so closely resembling another; however, nowadays that’s the norm. You don’t ‘create’, you ‘improve’, or you ‘add’, or ‘change’, and while I personally find the whole concept distasteful (I’m old-school), that’s just the way it is. Fortunately, while LOCO has closely followed the ‘Aeon of Strife’ concept, the ability to play it in the third-person changes the outcome entirely. It is, for the most part, unique. Well, almost. Savage 2 is also very similar, sans the AoS implementation, but by combining the two concepts together, it certainly does feel fresh. And hell, it’s barrels of fun to play.

So then, LOCO. Let’s take a look. For starters, it’s obvious that LOCO wasn’t a budget job. Graphically, it’s missing that ‘next-gen’ flavour that we’ve all come to expect, and it’s not something I’ll let go of easily. WoW graphics have been and gone. Even WoW has seen tremendous updates in the graphics department, and it’s time the F2P developers came to realise this. Engines that look like they first appeared in 2002 (and most likely did) are no longer viable options for newly-released titles -- and I’d really like to see this stop. The environments are clunky, foliage is 2D, and the character models look like they are made out of plastic. Not acceptable in 2010. Not. One. Bit. Everything else is top notch.

When you first begin playing you’ll be offered a choice between one of 12 heroes. Each of them is entirely different, and as such, caters to entirely different playstyles. Some are ranged, some melee, others are spellcasters and the like; all of them are cool, and all of them look like they were plucked out of an Anime. Radness. Of course, there are more than 12, but in order to access them you’ll need to win a few games and earn some cash… or buy it from the in-game store. Either way, once you’ve chosen it’s time to learn the rules.

The tutorial in LOCO is, in a word, magnificent. It covers every detail, from basic movement, combat and skills to the rules of the game and item creation, and it does it quickly and with minimal errors in grammar. It’s also fully voiced, which is a nice touch, and it ends by allowing you to play a mock-game against the AI that ensures you’ll be more than ready when your first game arrives. And when it does, they’ll continue to help. Should you choose it, the computer will automatically choose your skills and purchase items for you, so that in the first few games you can focus solely on combat and gameplay. Pretty cool, huh? I thought so.

 

And with that, you know the basics. There’s more to it, such as additional game modes, the intricate details surrounding the lobby system and the in-game shop -- but if you need me to tell you how that works, then you’re not playing enough MMOs. I will, however, briefly mention levelling, as if you hadn’t already guessed it, you begin each game at level 1. During the game, you level, you get new skills, you die (in my case, a lot), and then you finish and return to level 1 again. But there’s still an element of overall progression: weapons and armour. Depending on your skill level (which acts as an experience level like it would in an MMO), you’ll be able to equip new weapons and armour that can be obtained either by winning games and bidding your gold, or by purchasing them in the shop. It’s not much, but it does allow you a slight advantage as you progress, and better yet, it makes you look much cooler. Everything else is up to you. Go give it a crack; you really have nothing to lose with this one. 

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