For those who don’t know what Smite is, I don’t blame you because Smite is such a minority when compared to the two main powerhouse MOBAs and for those who don’t know what a MOBA is, you have to be living under a rock or someone’s parent to not know it. In short, a MOBA (or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) is at its very core, a game focused on 5v5 team tactics where the goal is to push into the enemy base and destroy the main objective to win the game. This is achieved via each person push a lane which is a pretty much a path to the enemy base and you kill the opposing enemy in that lane and the towers that are found in that lane. You also level up and earn gold from getting objectives like the tower, minions or enemy champs to upgrade your skills and buy items to make you better throughout the whole game. Now, I was going to list and compare what Smite does right to prove my original point in my original review; “Smite is evolving the MOBA formula” but with a three year gap between now and this review, I have found a better way to sum up Smite: “Smite is MOBAs for dummies”. I will get to explaining what I mean by that later but I should explain what made me reach my original conclusion.
To begin with, Smite uses a third person camera view. You may be saying right now “Well isn’t that the standard?” and I would probably respond with “You must of really been living under a rock” because the standard for MOBAs is a top down view because the MOBA genre could be considered to be a sub species of RTSes (Real Time Strategy), a genre of games known for their top down views. By using a third person camera, it’s not only bring a new perspective to the genre, it’s also making the game more accessible to people from different genres because it acts like a basic third person shooter with MOBA elements and what makes this more accessible which just the fact this is the first ever multi platform MOBA and it’s the first ever MOBA to appear on a console platform. Smite is not only available on PC but you can now find it on Xbox One and PS4 and although I can’t comment on the control scheme since I have no experience with the console versions of the game, the fact this is allowing those who have no idea about the PC Gaming sphere due to any multitude of reasons, have a chance to try out the MOBA genre.
What also makes the game easy to access is the playable characters it uses since unlike other games of this genre like League Of Legends (we will talk about this one later) who use original characters or DoTA who (I think) uses generic fantasy characters, Smite uses actual gods and no, that doesn’t mean you can play as Jesus. The line up are interpretations of different gods from different mythologies. Right now, the line up covers Egyptian, Japanese, Chinese, Greek, Roman, Aztec, Norse and recently, Celtic mythology and this not only makes some champs recognisable such as Ra and Loki, the players can also learn about the lore of each of these gods and comes with a added perk of their abilities are faithful to their lore, which makes interesting kits.
For example, Bellona is the Roman Goddess Of War and her lore talks about her versatility in war and her efficiency with weapons which then translate to her playstyle as her abilities change up her basic attacks after using them. Bellona defaults to using a sword but after using her dash, she can then gain a shield and sword combo which gives her the passive of blocking damage with it. She can then use her hammer for a AoE (Area of Effect) swing and slam which not only does the most damage, but she now can use a hammer so she can hit multiple targets at the cost of a slow attack speed. She also can take advantage of a ranged whip attack which adds extra range to your basic attacks and makes it a great chase tool or a great engage when doing a basic combo of Whip -> Shield -> Hammer. It’s things like that which I think is what gives this game life plus this means most champs are very easy to pick up and play because if you understand the lore of the god, you are more likely to learn their kit faster and that’s great for MOBA newbies. I also like how all the maps have different aesthetic which breathes more life into the game but unfortunately, that’s all the positive comments I have for this game and I do have three major gripes with this game.
Let’s start with what I said we were going to return to since it ties in with my first problem: The game isn’t good at explaining the more in-depth tactics and mechanics. When I say “Smite is MOBAs for dummies”, I seriously mean it’s for dummies because the game, at best, explains the very basics of a MOBA and nothing else. When I first played this all those years back (three years ago), I would stick to Joust because that’s all I knew because the game never explained tactics like split pushing or counterpicking and team synergy. I didn’t learn any of these until I moved onto League where I was taught by other players about these things. If you aren’t smart enough, have previous experience with MOBAs or aren’t lucky enough to meet a player who is willing to teach you a thing or two, you are going to get no where when playing the competitive side of the game and that leads me to my second problem: The inflexible meta.
For those who don’t know (and I yet again, don’t blame you), a meta is how you describe the current state of the game, from what items is good or bad or what champs should be banned/not picked and it’s usually shaped by three factors; New Items, Buff/Nerfing of Items/Champs and New Champs but a problem Smite has is how inflexible the meta is. Smite is very dead set in what types of gods goes in which lane which makes off meta picks in different lanes, considered trolling and that what kills a lot of interesting team comps and meta defining picks. This also means the player base way more closed minded compared to other MOBAs which means no one has the courage to defy the meta because they can be easily pointed at and laughed at for trying something different.
My final problem is the micro transactions. As a rule of thumb, I’m going to deduct points for any games that features micro transactions based on the use of it, a price/amount ratio and how much you can get with the basic $20 package. So in Smite, you can use real money to get gems, something you can earn from doing quests or logging in daily which does mean it’s a grind fest for certain things. In this game, the basic $15 package gets you 800 gems which means you can either get four Voice packs, two 400 gem skins or one 600 gem skin. You can also spend it on loot boxes to have a chance of getting exclusive skins and oh boy, they aren’t worth it. The loot crates range in prices, from 400 gems per a roll to 600 per a roll and there isn’t any other way you can roll any of these special chests. They have tied other kinds of chests to progression but they don’t drop the same loot as these special chests so either pay up or just grind enough gems to have a chance at getting the skin you want from a chest. This is a free to play game and it is just cosmetic at times so I’ll be a little lenient with it.
Ultimately, Smite is a evolutionary MOBA but it has its setbacks but as a free to play game that can introduce new people to a MOBA experience in a very beginner friendly way, I will give it a 6/10. It lost two points due to the micro transactions and the game doesn’t feel as rewarding because of these elements, you can miss out on limited skins if you don’t want to throw in loads of money and I did find that off-putting as a newbie and even as a veteran now. I do still recommend this game because like a good MOBA, it’s fun to play either solo or with friends and it comes with the added benefit of being very easy to pick up and play so go download it off Steam or the Xbox/PS4 store and try it out for yourself. I hope to see you on the battlefield of the gods.
UPDATE: I was about to upload this but as it turns out, the game has Adventure mode now and there is limited edition bundles with limited edition skins which gives you keys to unlock one limited edition skin of your choice and the word limited edition was said 3 times but I’m knocking the game down to a 5/10 now because of it.
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