Recent reviews by Jitaki

Junk that wont even launch. "No response from server" - I have absolutely no screen sharing software installed. Can't even attempt to play this trash.

Yes. This is the game you wish you had. This is the one you really hope it's going to be.

It wont let you down.

Best city building sim around, you can micromanage the heck out of literally everything, if you wanted. Or, you can just paint a city and let it dry without touching any of the finer details, and it will thrive.

Taught me how to pin up and drop trailers while using my mirrors to back up.
10/10
Seriously though, best casual game ever.

There is a lot of potential with this game. It's not really at a point where I would say it really captures my attention or makes me want to play it. It does make me want to play whatever is going to grow out of this (or what this is going to grow in to).

My initial experience made me wish for a few things, such as:
- Better camera control, less steep locked camera and/or more zoomed out.
- A mini-map
- The ability to hover over items to see stats and value, before picking them up (from the ground, or in your inventory)
- Mouse targeting is nice, but holding space-bar to do combat feels detached and uninvolving. (Not sure how to change that, I feel like the author is attempting to create a different mechanic in fighting, but currently it's just a matter of holding spacebar, which is meh.)
- Dialog needs cleaning up and to have a bit more depth. It runs from silly and childish in one sentence, to cussing and childish in another. (Mild cussing). Some continuity in writing style would help. As would a more fleshed out character and npc backstory.
- More "intense" combat animations.

Having said all that, I totally get what stage of development this game is currently at, and I knew ahead of time what an early alpha game can bring to the table. I will keep checking in on this, and playing more because I have already formed my own 'wants and desires' and 'hopes' for where it goes.

I recommend trying it out, and seeing if the potential is enough to keep you interested in the future development of this title. You probably won't be loading this up for a weekend of binge-gaming, but it's worth a few minutes to take a look at what really amounts to a "playable idea".

tldr;

- Open Alpha state = functional and playable proposal for a game that could be awesome.
- Click to move, spacebar to attack, press "i" to view your inventory and equip items.
- Recommended to check out the concept.

I have not played a game so well rounded and fun in such a long time. I tried TF2 and a ton of random shooters and squad based games, but Paladins is seriously fun and has kept me wanting to play. Even when it feels like you are losing, it's still super fun. The champions have enough variety and different abilities to keep it interesting, nothing feels repetitive or "the same" between any of them.

You can create different builds using the card system to make your characters play way differently, and save your builds to load up depending on the map, team composition, and enemy composition. For example, Ruckus (a front line tanky champion) can be built to have high mobility (normally he's relatively slow), or you can build him to be a super tank with sheilds that load quicker and cover more area etc.

Being able to plan loadouts for your champions is really great, (you create your loadouts outside of matches, so you can take the time to think them through). The items you buy in the matches with points you earn from playing/killing are well balanced and allow further versatility for your champion. (Heals too strong on enemy? Buy cauterize to reduce effectiveness of enemy heals when you shoot them).

It's still beta, but there are no serious issues. At first, certain champions will seem impossible to counter (Fan favorites include Torvald, Evie, Ruckus) - but once you figure out their weaknesses you can feel the balance shifting as you get better at playing. (Sure, Fernando has a huge sheild that people can stand behind, but he cant attack while using it - and your flankers can get behind him to snipe away anyone standing behind it)

The teamwork involved in winning really comes into the limelight when you reach competitive games (requires 12 champions at level 4 or higher to enter competitive) - And the limit of 2 in a party maximum to queue for competitive means you won't be fighting a 5 man premade uber-stomp group as a solo que.

If you want something that is honest fun, check this out. You won't regret it.