This review is going to be pretty emaciated, but that is because I am trying to give you guys a bit of look behind the current here as Total War: Arena is still in closed Alpha testing and I only got in thanks to +Rakan Aksoy giving me a key he picked up at Dreamhack.
As of September 11th though the folks at Creative Assembly did start allowing us to give up some codes to get the closed Alpha testing phase to a larger size, so the game might be transitioning into a closed Beta, or an open Alpha mode. I gave the three codes I got to +Ahmed Jadaa, +Hakeem Jomah and +Tasneem Salim so maybe we can get some kind of multiplayer going.
As of September 11th though the folks at Creative Assembly did start allowing us to give up some codes to get the closed Alpha testing phase to a larger size, so the game might be transitioning into a closed Beta, or an open Alpha mode. I gave the three codes I got to +Ahmed Jadaa, +Hakeem Jomah and +Tasneem Salim so maybe we can get some kind of multiplayer going.
The game as anyone familiar with the franchise can tell is another game in the line of Total War games produced by The Creative Assembly and once it eventually is ready for full distribution will be published by Sega. As of now, there is not announcement for a release date or the platforms it will be on. It is worth noting that I'm playing the game through Steam on my PC.
While the other Total War titles are for the most part essentially the same game set in different time periods Arena has a couple of unique features that really sets it apart from the rest of its franchise despite also still being very similar to them. As the game is still in closed alpha testing it would be unfair to be critical of the graphics and sound design. Its definitely not polished, but it looks and sounds good enough for an alpha and has very clear room for improvement left. Its also obvious that the improvements will be made as the game is just littered with placeholders and that is totally normal for the game at this point in its development.
Total War: Arena is creative assembly's attempt at breaking into the already very crowded, very popular and very profitable MOBA genre. However, they are doing so by sticking to their strengths in the Total War franchise. The matches will have two teams of ten players, each only being allowed to control three units, face off against one another in an RTS battle exactly like those in the rest of the franchise. The winners of these matches will be rewards with two kinds of currency to unlock soldier and general upgrades and then to actually buy them. The progression seemed fair to me and the unit diversity for the factions in the game seemed impressive in my opinion. Currently there are two factions that are playable in the game in the Romans and Greeks each with three generals that each have their own individual abilities, passive buffs and tactical orders to give to their units. A Gaul faction is also planned as the placeholders for them are visible also with three generals of their own. While I do appreciate the diversity of generals, I would hope that more factions would be developed as three teams simply won't be enough to really create a diverse environment in the game in the long run when most successful MOBA's currently have rosters that sit around 100 or more characters.
The game play in Total War: Arena was rather disappointing for me to be honest. I did expect it to some extent but that didn't soften the blow much. Anyone who has played a MOBA I'm sure is familiar with the reality that in these type of games people for the most part do their own thing, yes there might be attempts at coordination and teamwork but they aren't that normal to see. This is of course aside from the outright trolls you find in any gaming community. Now imagine everything you have seen in other MOBA's where the teams were limited to three to five players and literally double that. Its chaos and not a fun chaos the strategy and flanking and holding firm lines to allow units to do maximum damage in other Total War games doesn't exist in the same way here as people are simply looking out for their owns units well being. People will abandon you, your opponents will be abandoned and the entire match will essentially turn into a few roving skirmishes all over the place. This is hardly the epic battle experience I would think that creative assembly is trying to create.
I don't honestly think this game is going to be successful. The game play honestly seems rather shallow with very little strategy going into most decisions in the game as both teams always seem to simply break off into two of three groups that fight almost entire separate battles without to much rhyme or reason to them. It doesn't have the same level of excitement that other more established MOBA's like League of Legends and Dota 2 have and yes it might be unfair to compare them since they don't have the same game play mechanics, but you have to remember that those games and many, many others are direct competitors for Arena and as of right now it just can't compete. If the game doesn't drastically change before its release it will be dead in the water as soon as it gets officially published and opens up to the public.
Total War: Arena is creative assembly's attempt at breaking into the already very crowded, very popular and very profitable MOBA genre. However, they are doing so by sticking to their strengths in the Total War franchise. The matches will have two teams of ten players, each only being allowed to control three units, face off against one another in an RTS battle exactly like those in the rest of the franchise. The winners of these matches will be rewards with two kinds of currency to unlock soldier and general upgrades and then to actually buy them. The progression seemed fair to me and the unit diversity for the factions in the game seemed impressive in my opinion. Currently there are two factions that are playable in the game in the Romans and Greeks each with three generals that each have their own individual abilities, passive buffs and tactical orders to give to their units. A Gaul faction is also planned as the placeholders for them are visible also with three generals of their own. While I do appreciate the diversity of generals, I would hope that more factions would be developed as three teams simply won't be enough to really create a diverse environment in the game in the long run when most successful MOBA's currently have rosters that sit around 100 or more characters.
The game play in Total War: Arena was rather disappointing for me to be honest. I did expect it to some extent but that didn't soften the blow much. Anyone who has played a MOBA I'm sure is familiar with the reality that in these type of games people for the most part do their own thing, yes there might be attempts at coordination and teamwork but they aren't that normal to see. This is of course aside from the outright trolls you find in any gaming community. Now imagine everything you have seen in other MOBA's where the teams were limited to three to five players and literally double that. Its chaos and not a fun chaos the strategy and flanking and holding firm lines to allow units to do maximum damage in other Total War games doesn't exist in the same way here as people are simply looking out for their owns units well being. People will abandon you, your opponents will be abandoned and the entire match will essentially turn into a few roving skirmishes all over the place. This is hardly the epic battle experience I would think that creative assembly is trying to create.
I don't honestly think this game is going to be successful. The game play honestly seems rather shallow with very little strategy going into most decisions in the game as both teams always seem to simply break off into two of three groups that fight almost entire separate battles without to much rhyme or reason to them. It doesn't have the same level of excitement that other more established MOBA's like League of Legends and Dota 2 have and yes it might be unfair to compare them since they don't have the same game play mechanics, but you have to remember that those games and many, many others are direct competitors for Arena and as of right now it just can't compete. If the game doesn't drastically change before its release it will be dead in the water as soon as it gets officially published and opens up to the public.
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