🎮 Game Review | Master X Master (PC)
Master X Master is a new relatively new MOBA game for PC and while most of the games in this genre more or less look and play the same, Master X Master tries to differentiate itself a bit harder. The immensely popular League of Legends and DOTA2 have been released some time ago, but the market for MOBA games is definitely still alive and kicking. Developer NCSoft, known for titles such as the Guild Wars franchise and WildStar, wanted to try their hand at the MOBA genre by releasing Master X Master, or simply MxM. Read RebelHeart’s review below.
Preface
The characters and heroes in Master X Master are called – you might guess it – Masters. A game of MxM is played with five masters on each side, which means that we’re dealing with the traditional 5 versus 5 teams. Master X Master focuses heavily on the main game mode, which features the traditional MOBA gameplay. The game does have other game modes as well, however, including a sort of dungeon crawler and a battle royale game mode.
As a player, you need to try and push your team’s towers further into enemy territory, defeat enemies and try to infiltrate the opposing base. Victory is achieved by destroying a particularly well-protected enemy building. Of course, the same thing applies to your team as well.
How fair is the free to play mechanic?
As is the case with most MOBA’s, Master X Master can be played for free. Not all characters available from the start, and you’ll be unlocking additional heroes in MxM with in-game currency. Some games rely heavily on cosmetic micro transactions, and I will admit it isn’t always easy for developers to find the right balance of a sort of revenue model. Master X Master does a pretty good job at that, but unfortunately, the game’s servers will go offline soon. Therefore, it will no longer be possible to purchase micro transactions to purchase additional heroes.
The game features its own in-game currency which is earned by playing matches, and under normal circumstances, can also be bought with real money. You can unlock both new masters as well as cosmetic skins and items for your unlocked characters.
As a beginning player, you’ll likely be a bit disappointed to see that two of the four skills your character has, are locked, you’ll have to unlock the other two skills for yourself. You might think that experiences players or players with a lot of currency have a large advantage on the battlefield, but that luckily doesn’t seem to be the case. It’ll cost you 1000 gold (in-game currency) to unlock the abilities/skills, which isn’t particularly a lot. You’ll easily get this amount of in-game currency by playing a few matches.
This relatively fair free to play model keeps on returning to the game. If you’re expecting to have a major disadvantage for not paying anything, you’re plain wrong – just play a few games and you’ll quickly match your opponents’ strengths and abilities. Master X Master is a rare case of ‘Free to Play Done Right’. Unlocking new master also won’t require you to grind hours and hours.
Gameplay
MxM offers a surprisingly varied choice of different masters, each with their own strengths, weaknesses and characteristics and gameplay element. Every Master plays remarkably different, and not every hero has a use for the mana-meter, for example. MxM isn’t your average MOBA and the added depth of the characters is definitely appreciated.
You can also switch masters in the middle of the game, albeit with a relatively large cooldown period. Except for the cooldown, there’s nothing stopping you from just ‘tagteaming’ your way through a game and strategically plan your moves with two or multiple masters. The cooldown period ensures that battles don’t become overly chaotic.
NCSoft certainly has a large imagination and creativity when it comes to character design. There are a bunch of mythical figures and monsters, but the game also features less standard hero designs such as basketball players and photographers. Ah well, why not?
Every game in MxM will take a maximum of 25 minutes, and the game is pretty addicting. If there’s one thing that could’ve used a little bit more depth, it’s the use of items. Sometimes, a match can go quiet or calm for a while.
In terms of controls, the camera doesn’t always move exactly the way you want it to move but focuses on your Master instead. I’m pretty sure you’ll get used to it – but it would’ve been nice to have a little bit more freedom of movement for the camera.
Graphics and audio
The soundtrack of MxM is pretty great and it definitely adds to the atmosphere of a match. Graphically, Master X Master isn’t particularly different from other MOBA’s on the market. As you know, the MOBA genre isn’t exactly known for its fantastic graphics, but MxM is a visually appealing game.
Conclusion
Master x Master is a refreshing take on the MOBA genre with a particularly good free to play model. There are a few shortcomings, but the gameplay is decent and NCSoft’s creativity shines. Unfortunately, the servers will close soon after just a few months of release, so if you’re interested in the MOBA genre, be sure to check MxM out before then.
Master x Master is available on PC. Image sources: official press kit.
