With Steam's recent update for the addition of free-to-play games, I can be nothing but compelled to write my first review on The Escapist in two years because of it. I downloaded Alliance of Valiant Arms based off of some friend recommendations and the insane chatter over at Facepunch. After playing so many ridiculous Korean FPS games such as Combat Arms and Sudden Strike, I went into A.V.A. with a bad taste in my mouth. Determined not to judge this free-to-play book by its cover, I tried to remain as level-headed as possible as I entered my first Free-For-All match.
The first thing I noticed were the graphics. They weren't eye-gougingly bad, but they had a distinct low resolution to them. Almost as if everything was forced to a Medium-Low quality setting. The guns looked non-discernable other than shape and even the shape of them was very low quality. I personally am not the type of person to completely stop playing a game because of graphics, but it is at least worth mentioning.
Gameplay is pretty much rock solid. The game registers hits on other players very well and it is very satisfying to get the little kill marker at the top of the screen when you blast away at an enemy. You have a choice between three separate classes; Pointman, Rifleman, and Sniper. Pointman is a class that can run much faster than the other two, but can only carry light, bursty weapons such as an MP5k. Rifleman is the designated middle-ground and runs at medium speed, while being able to carry near every weapon in the game. Sniper is self-explanatory. The only nit-picking I had with the gameplay was that double tapping "W" to sprint is archaic and cumbersome to complete in the midst of battle. There is a distinct difference in shooting with different guns, however recoil is so bad that aiming from the hip is more accurate than aiming down the sights. Another thing that irked me was that if you don't save your "points" from getting kills in-game, it is very hard to beat challenges to get more as you go on.
Maps were varied enough to be fun to play, although it seemed as if it were mainly "here's your spawn, there's your opponent's spawn, get at it". There weren't very many path variations and it was indeed rushing into the opponent's spawn. (only to be obliterated, as there is a 3-second invincibility upon spawning)
A.V.A. also includes a staple of any and all free-to-play games ever published: microtransactions. There is an in-game shop where you can purchase different weapons (most are level-restricted) and accompany them with useless attachments such as an ACOG scope. Per usual, the best looking and nicest weapons and attachments can only be bought with ijji's own currency known as G-dollars. These are, of course, real-life-money purchasable dollars.
All in all, the game was much better than expected and I might load it up between matches of Counter-Strike and brain-bending puzzles of Myst: Uru. It's worth the download, and with a price of nothing, is a good bet for some good shoot-em-up fun.
The first thing I noticed were the graphics. They weren't eye-gougingly bad, but they had a distinct low resolution to them. Almost as if everything was forced to a Medium-Low quality setting. The guns looked non-discernable other than shape and even the shape of them was very low quality. I personally am not the type of person to completely stop playing a game because of graphics, but it is at least worth mentioning.
Gameplay is pretty much rock solid. The game registers hits on other players very well and it is very satisfying to get the little kill marker at the top of the screen when you blast away at an enemy. You have a choice between three separate classes; Pointman, Rifleman, and Sniper. Pointman is a class that can run much faster than the other two, but can only carry light, bursty weapons such as an MP5k. Rifleman is the designated middle-ground and runs at medium speed, while being able to carry near every weapon in the game. Sniper is self-explanatory. The only nit-picking I had with the gameplay was that double tapping "W" to sprint is archaic and cumbersome to complete in the midst of battle. There is a distinct difference in shooting with different guns, however recoil is so bad that aiming from the hip is more accurate than aiming down the sights. Another thing that irked me was that if you don't save your "points" from getting kills in-game, it is very hard to beat challenges to get more as you go on.
Maps were varied enough to be fun to play, although it seemed as if it were mainly "here's your spawn, there's your opponent's spawn, get at it". There weren't very many path variations and it was indeed rushing into the opponent's spawn. (only to be obliterated, as there is a 3-second invincibility upon spawning)
A.V.A. also includes a staple of any and all free-to-play games ever published: microtransactions. There is an in-game shop where you can purchase different weapons (most are level-restricted) and accompany them with useless attachments such as an ACOG scope. Per usual, the best looking and nicest weapons and attachments can only be bought with ijji's own currency known as G-dollars. These are, of course, real-life-money purchasable dollars.
All in all, the game was much better than expected and I might load it up between matches of Counter-Strike and brain-bending puzzles of Myst: Uru. It's worth the download, and with a price of nothing, is a good bet for some good shoot-em-up fun.