(English website) So, just to make things clear, this is the China (CN) server which I just tried for the whole day. Developed by Webzen using the Unreal 2.5 Engine, it is the company’s first online shooter and published by Tencent Games in China. The Korean server actually started service late last year. Currently in Closed Beta 2, the only problem I had with it is the lack of maps. There are only 3 maps now! The 2 videos you see here are my very first few games by the way… pardon the play style…~
Being the ever carebear who hates online shooters, luckily for me there is the AI mode. Think of it as something similar to the bots found in Counter-Strike. There are 5 different levels of AI here, with me playing the middle difficulty most of the time. I tried the hardest AI mode, and the whole human team literally got spawn camped… Players will be gaining lesser experience points in AI maps compared to the others. Bummer.
Customization wise, character models are pretty standard, no females, you can’t really change your facial looks, and most of the customization will only happen if you get some stuff from the cash shop. However, weapons can be customized for free, including adding the nozzles, changing its color etc. While I am sure there will be cash shop exclusive stuff, for now it works fine for me.
That is not all! I think it is common nowadays for online shooters to have a skill system added, but nonetheless it is still something quite fresh to me. Players will have the option of equipping their character with 1 active and 1 passive skills. For the active skill, it will take a number of consecutive kills before it is activated. If you are killed, the count will reset. I am guessing as characters grow, more slots will be available. Of it may be a cash shop thing.
There are quite a variety of game modes, but not none we haven’t see before. Planting bomb, demolition mode (kill each other), knife fight and team kill. Creator of each game room will be able to set if sniper rifles are allowed as well. There seems to be helicopters as well, but I really can’t find it anywhere or seen it. Perhaps they will be updated at a later date. Something which I missed out, there is a chance for any kills to drop some special crates. These crates may contain an option to call for an air-strike at the designated location or send out a scout drone to look for enemies.
While not the best looker around compared with games developed using the Unreal 3 or Cry 3 engine, BATTERY provides players a balance between mid-level (and good) graphics without needing an extreme PC system. Players who are not really skilled in online shooters will find the game easy to get on, but in the end it still takes some skills to hunt the experienced veterans down.
