Master X Master is supposed to be NCSoft’s version of Blizzard’s Heroes of the Storm. Because in the MOBA of the Korean publisher, numerous heroes from their own game repertoire are also gathering.
“What Blizzard can do, we can do long ago,” the executives at NCSoft must have thought when the concept for Master X Master was created. Because both games are MOBAs that take their heroes from their own portfolio. Instead of Diablo, World of Warcraft and Starcraft, the Korean publisher can rely on titles like Lineage II, WildStar, Blade & Soul and Aion and use heroes like rogues in the MOBA as characters. But does the concept work or is Master X Master just a lame copy of HotS? We were able to take an exclusive look at the beta and get an impression of the game.
Coop-MOBA?
A big difference to Blizzard’s MOBA struck us right at the beginning of our demo session. Because NCSoft employee Christian Vestol presented us with the exciting coop mode of Master X Master. Wait, a coop mode in a MOBA? Yep, Master X Master has that!
And it’s also fun, because together with Christian we start into the “Blackram Supply Depot”. Anyone who has played the Asian MMO Blade & Soul will know the instance well, as it comes directly from that game. And indeed, the area is really laid out as the template from the MMORPG, so that familiar things – like the boss arena – catch my eye again and again.
But before we reach the final boss, we have to fight through hordes of enemies and collect various power-ups. Because only then can we survive the sometimes tough battles, and during the final battle against Vice Admiral Poharan we also have to pay attention to the special boss mechanics known from Blade & Soul.
Thanks to the intuitive controls, Master X Master plays comfortably: We control our heroes with WASD and trigger actions with the Q and E keys, while we attack with left clicks and perform defensive actions with right clicks. The game almost reminds me of classic top-down shooters like Hotline Miami.
Take two
But the amusing coop mode is not the only unique feature of Master X Master. Because unlike the usual MOBA competition, we do not choose one hero at the start of a round (coop or PvP), but two.
At the push of a button, we then switch protagonists in the middle of battle and have both the hit points of the second character and completely new abilities. This allows for extremely cool tactics: If we unexpectedly get hit with a fragile assassin hero and then quickly switch to an ultra-tough tank character who can easily withstand the damage and thus escape. Only a cooldown prevents us from switching too often.
The hero selection needs to be thoughtful, and since there are 30 different characters – the so-called “Masters” – the choice is not easy. Unfortunately, NCSoft does not have as many characters from its own franchises as one might expect. Only 8 heroes come from NCSoft games, the rest are characters developed specifically for the game. That’s a shame because the recognition value of figures like Diablo, Thrall, Illidan, and Kerrigan made the special appeal of Heroes of the Storm.
The known heroes from the NCSoft universe (and yes, there are only seven, the eighth hero could unfortunately not be determined for the time being) are:
- Mondo Zax from WildStar
- Jinsoyun and Poharan from Blade & Soul
- Rytlock from Guild Wars 2
- Kat the Cat from Lineage 1
- Kromede from Aion
- “Death Knight” from Lineage 2
Titanic!
Do you know the map “Garden of Terror” from Heroes of the Storm, where you collect seed pods and summon a huge, playable plant golem? Master X Master also has such a game mechanic, because in the PvP map we played (where we faced off against some really nasty bots), we could also collect resources and summon a huge battle robot called “Titan”.
We could then control the Titan in battle and with its powerful attacks and skills we swept away the enemies in rows. At least until we met the Titan of the opposing team, who set a trap for us with a few bots and smashed us to bits. But we still had fun, and a well-planned Titan deployment can definitely decide the game.
Is it all just stolen?
Master X Master strongly resembles Heroes of the Storm, but that’s not a bad thing! After all, Blizzard’s MOBA is not a bad game. However, Master X Master is by no means a clone of the competition. Because the NCSoft MOBA has enough of its own ideas and a unique roster of cool heroes that can easily compete with most Blizzard heroes.
Only the (still) limited selection of known heroes struck me as rather negative. However, I really liked the controls and especially the system of switchable heroes. And the coop mode was even my secret highlight of the preview session. I’m really looking forward to more matches in NCSoft’s version of the Nexus!
