A strong contender to Overwatch: Paladins

*A Founders Pack was provided on behalf of Hi-Rez Studios for this coverage. A humble thank you to them.*

I remember trying out Team Fortress 2 originally, it was a blast with intense gameplay. Its key element of being strong in terms of objective based combat. Over the years the game has died down a bit. Sure still a pretty fun game, but since then many games have never gotten that magic down quite like Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, or even TF2. Battleborn got announced, shortly after Blizzard came out with Overwatch. Both being great games, with compound innovation where games of old shined. Surely the term of “if a idea is good, then let others follow” is not shy in the gaming market. With good reasons, or bad outcomes. Paladins is a mixed pot of sorts mixing ideas that work well in the already existing genre we know as FPS-MOBAS. This time around it is not a sixty dollar game to yank out your money from, that is if you do not mind supporting the devs for a job well done. Otherwise to simply play. So far the only mode shown through the experience for us was Payload. Which I personally enjoy quite bit in any kind of game. It was one I really loved in Overwatch too. Before a Blizzard or Overwatch fan boy states “well Overwatch did it first!” you would be greatly right, as well as wrong to bash any other game for using the game mode. As it is a staple for most good FPS games without a shroud of doubt. Would you criticize Overwatch for adding Team Deathmatch, then label it as a COD rip off? Or would it just be a game mode to the already connecting formula? Of course it is easy to find one game that does it well for your own needs and call it good. That leads down to who or what game can innovate or do it better. That is the major statement. I do not go around saying TF2 or even Overwatch are in the wrong for borrowing or using inspired ideas for this, mostly taking food for thought and making it better or flatout fun! I digress.

In terms of its current state so far I was overly impressed with the heroes provided, surely inspired by another games hero lineup, but with their own charm, as well as their own style. The Founders Pack provided to us for this meant that we can cover any other new heroes in the future as well We received 20 crates of gold pressed .. I mean mostly cards used for loadouts for certain characters and cash to purchase skins for weapons or characters. As the founders pack itself gives you all the access to every new hero to come out, and current. Which is a hell of a deal if you ask me. That bang for the buck I hope for when I browse the steam market, or PSN, or what have you. You get a ton of passive cards to mix and match for each champion/hero in the game. After playing fifteen hours into the game I discovered the play-style that suits you best is great, but does not always help other players, as others do not meet the same survival-ablity or even set up you do. So having characters like Groover is awesome for holding points down with other upfront characters. Some of the supports are not as damaging, but do after some great backup for many of the main heavy hitter.

Champions are a clever thing to note here. Each having a few compounds of useful abilities, then other bits seeming wasted. Let me explain my reasoning behind some of it. You have a good mix of hybrid support classes, like PIP, and Grover. Both feeling like they exile excellently at being solid characters. Others like Barik feel a bit underwhelming up close, not quite feeling as useful in a one versus one. Heck his turrets at times feel underwhelming as well so far. This is a beta so stuff like that can be tweaked, adjusted, and fine-tuned. I found myself overly addicted. Sure a few things can be compared to Overwatch, TF2, and battleborn, but so what. If a game can do something well, and or better then the one its emulating then that is a good thing. But with that said there was a pretty darn good read on behalf of evidence that maybe Overwatch looking over the shoulder then just Team Fortress 2 for its inspiration and development.  I will leave the link here for you to read(Click the word HERE if you didnt notice you could. In the sentence before this sentence.) It went deep into supporting evidence and even some pretty cool backstory in the development of Paladins. Honestly I am looking forward to more game modes to dive into like a conquest mode. The idea of the mounts(horses) seems sound. Maybe give us more use for those? Like moving about larger maps and taking over objectives. Sort of like a Rush game mode. The game itself is still holding me, and the staff’s attention beyond our window for sampling time.

In Closing:

Paladins is a great game starting out so far. With only one game mode to test the games waters, it is shaping out to be a solid and fun to play game. With fair micro-transactions.  It is currently free to download, give it a test drive. It looks great, plays solid, and can work on many earlier or mid range PCs without a flinch.

– Recommended!!