Atlas Reactor
Rift was a game both Ban and I played a few years back. We stopped mainly because the each character have too many similar abilities (how do you decide which ability to use?) and too many abilities to manage, so much so that using macros were essential.
About a month ago, Trion, the game developer, invited us to try their new game, Atlas Reactor, during the short period of Open Beta. We tried but alas, it kept crashing mid-game. So we gave up. Last week, they once again had Open Beta just for the weekend and this time no crashes! Yay!
Atlas Reactor is a unique game to me: it's a simultaneous turn-based game. Sound contradictory? Let me explain.
Each turn, players choose an ability to activate. Free action abilities can be activated without utilising this quota of 1 ability a turn. There are 3 categories of abilities: Prep, Dash, Blast. After that, players choose where to move.
Once all players lock in their choice of ability and movement path, the game resolve those choices in phases: Prep -> Dash -> Blast -> Movement. Each phase is resolved simultaneously. So for example, Player A and B chose Blast abilities to kill each other. During Blast phase, although visually it appears that Player A shoots before Player B does and kills the latter, Player B will still shoot A and kills him. They will both be shown dead (lying on the floor) at the end of the turn. Obviously in this case they don't get to move during Movement phase.
I started playing on the first day of the weekend. Ban had incredibly bad experience with uninstalling it previously - it deleted some other files in the drive where it was installed - and so was hesitant in trying it again. However, he changed his mind on 2nd day, saying that the files were backed up from his external drive and he could do it again if it happened again during uninstallation.
Eventually, once launched, the game is free-to-play. However, other than temporary Open Beta periods, the only ways to play in the current Close Beta are upon invitation (random) or to purchase Founders Pack. Ban and I like it so much that we bought the cheapest pack: Access Pack (USD 9.99).
Next post, I'll talk about my current favourite Freelancer (character).
About a month ago, Trion, the game developer, invited us to try their new game, Atlas Reactor, during the short period of Open Beta. We tried but alas, it kept crashing mid-game. So we gave up. Last week, they once again had Open Beta just for the weekend and this time no crashes! Yay!
Atlas Reactor is a unique game to me: it's a simultaneous turn-based game. Sound contradictory? Let me explain.
Each turn, players choose an ability to activate. Free action abilities can be activated without utilising this quota of 1 ability a turn. There are 3 categories of abilities: Prep, Dash, Blast. After that, players choose where to move.
Once all players lock in their choice of ability and movement path, the game resolve those choices in phases: Prep -> Dash -> Blast -> Movement. Each phase is resolved simultaneously. So for example, Player A and B chose Blast abilities to kill each other. During Blast phase, although visually it appears that Player A shoots before Player B does and kills the latter, Player B will still shoot A and kills him. They will both be shown dead (lying on the floor) at the end of the turn. Obviously in this case they don't get to move during Movement phase.
I started playing on the first day of the weekend. Ban had incredibly bad experience with uninstalling it previously - it deleted some other files in the drive where it was installed - and so was hesitant in trying it again. However, he changed his mind on 2nd day, saying that the files were backed up from his external drive and he could do it again if it happened again during uninstallation.
Eventually, once launched, the game is free-to-play. However, other than temporary Open Beta periods, the only ways to play in the current Close Beta are upon invitation (random) or to purchase Founders Pack. Ban and I like it so much that we bought the cheapest pack: Access Pack (USD 9.99).
Next post, I'll talk about my current favourite Freelancer (character).
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