This year while at E3, the games that really stood out to me were of course the ones that really used some innovation and something new other than re-packaging the “same old thing” with some different characters or whatnot. Well, the last day of the show, I got to go out and interview a newer company called S2 Games and see their soon to be released title on the PC gaming world known as Savage : The Battle for Newerth, which was one of my top three favorite games of E3. Well, here we are in September, and Savage has finally hit store shelves. After my long wait to get my hands on the finished product, I have to say that overall I am still impressed.

Savage is an MMOFPS title set in a distant time on our planet, referred to as “Newerth”. In a time where it was a struggle just to survive packs of nomadic humans roamed the lands, stripping it of all of it’s resources. Beasts began to evolve during this period and change, and began to develop intelligence equal to that of humans. Humans still held the upper hand in the overall scheme of things though, and the small communities of beasts that had formed were still subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment that further instilled a deep hatred of humanity within them. The leader of the humans, known as Jaraziah, united the nomadic human tribes and began the re-development of scientific knowledge and the re-kindling of the art of war in order to declare dominance over the beasts. His sister, Ophelia, witnessed a brutal slaughter of a young beast one night and fled the Legion of Man … not to be seen again. Ten years later, still under the flourishing and dominance of man, reports of beast warriors moving in and attacking outlying settlements began to pour in, and rumors of a “beast queen” which led them emerged. The beasts were on the move, and had science and technology of their own (magic powers) to release destruction as man did. The humans realized that this was war, and their uncontested rule over the world had come to an end. The ultimate battle for dominance of Newerth has begun. 

Players of Savage basically choose to side with either the beasts or the legion of man during the conflict, playing through various levels and trying to annihilate the main stronghold of the enemy to win the map. The overall gameplay is reminiscent of games like BF1942 (only much more melee based and in a more primitive fashion), with both sides containing large amounts of online players that can coordinate attacks, defend positions, or launch strategies amongst one another in order to try and emerge victorious. The game is presented in a 3^rd person perspective during melee combat, and switches to an FPS style viewpoint while using ranged weapons. So what makes Savage so unique?

For starters (and the thing that really drew me into this game), each team has one player that signs on as a commander. While all of the other players get a 3^rd or 1^st person viewpoint, the commander actually gets an RTS style view, similar to games like Warcraft. The commander has the ability to research and build new structures for newer weapons or soldiers, tell workers where to mine for red stone and gold, and issues orders to the other players on the team to attack, defend, or assist in building or tearing down new structures. Commanders can also grant promotions to certain players to an officer rank, and can also approve or deny requests made by team players for gold loans in order to get new weapons or a different character (I’ll explain that here in a sec). Basically, the commander gets to play an RTS game instead of an FPS, but gets to use live people as his or her soldiers or workers.

Now, the gold that you may need to request from your commander from time to time comes into play with various characters and weapons that have to be bought rather than just used. For example, the human team starts out with a simple Nomad character that is free to select and comes with a hatchet and a selectable bow and arrow while the beasts get a scavenger equipped with two swords made of the bones of fallen enemies. As the commander completes research and upgrades, new characters start becoming available which are stronger and bigger (one on the beast team is so big, you can’t see his upper body or head if you are standing close to him), and new weapons like scatterguns and mortars for the humans or fire magic and even an ability to poison opponents for the beasts may be used. These things cost money though, and killing enemies or neutral creatures found throughout the land like Monkits (Intelligent, spear wielding monkey men) and Chiprels (smart chipmunks that hurl rocks) help to fatten your wallet and get new upgrades, but if you don’t have enough your commander has the power to let you have what you need. The moral of the story … always remember who’s in charge since you may need a favor later on.

On top of being promoted or getting gold if it’s needed, and aside from the obvious “there is no I in team” to win mentality, there is another reason to listen to your commander. Another feature to Savage is the fact that characters will level up as they do tasks like helping to mine or build, by killing enemies, and simply by following the orders given by the commander. Obviously, everyone has their own decisions to make and while not listening to the commander isn’t necessarily going to cause to get banned from playing ever again, leveling up allows you to start using armor, building or tearing down structures quicker, and awarding more health … so it only makes sense in the overall scheme of things to do your part.

While I really enjoy Savage, there are a couple of things that I felt could have been done a little better. For starters, the game really puts a lot of focus on the aspect of melee combat rather than ranged attacks. While this isn’t horrible, it does cause players to many times get out of the “element of surprise” distance attacks and instead go head to head with a charging enemy since it’s more effective and accurate, which can result in more dying. This also causes the action to get a little repetitive, since most run-ins result in a flurry of furious left clicking of the mouse while opponents dance around each other until someone lays dead.

Another thing that I felt was a little off was the fact that the worlds were not as free roaming as I would have liked them to be. While maps contained open areas for big skirmishes to occur, many confined you to paths to get from one open area to the other which felt a little too claustrophobic for this kind of game. If humans and beasts both traveled down the same pathway, the action was great and heavy … but also didn’t leave much room to hide or run since the hills and sides of these ditch like paths could not be climbed. Again, not a horrible thing which killed the gameplay, but having more of a “go anywhere” kind of flavor throughout the entire level like some other MMOFPS titles would have really been a good addition and could have added a lot of additional strategy elements to the game.

Graphically, Savage looks pretty good for what it does. The characters looked neat and were well animated, and additions to armor or outfits as growth occurred would appear on the characters to enhance their overall looks. The levels were well designed in their settings, and levels contained some nifty scenery like waterfalls and ruined villages and took place in levels that consisted of such things as snow, grassy fields, and lush jungle environments. Some of the creatures found in the worlds looked much more like older programming though, and definitely didn’t fit in with a lot of the other nifty environments and effects that were added in. Also, the weapon and magic effects in the game weren’t the best I’ve seen … but were there to simply show what kind of magic was used or show some splash damage as they erupted on contact. 

The sound to Savage was good overall, and contained some really good music tracks that almost sounded like you were playing in some epic film. The sounds of war usually were made up of hatchet like sounds or clanging metal during melee fighting, and the ranged weapons had a thump – thump kind of effect or whooshing noises if a spell were cast. You could also hear the rustling of the grass and leaves or whatever as you rushed towards fighting or whatnot.   

Overall, S2 and iGames have done a good job for their first time out of the gate. While there is some constructive criticism that I would offer up, I still have a ball playing it and think that it is a very creative entry into the world of MMORPG/3^rd person/RTS action titles. Fans of games like BF1942 or other online shooter style games which aren’t quite as fast paced as UT2K3 will probably have a lot of fun with this, and it gives you a little something new to play if you are getting tired of the same old thing.  

Gameplay: 7.9
The game itself is a cool mixture of an FPS title with some 3^rd person action thrown in during melee combat. The addition of the FPS style of play, RPG style leveling up, and the RTS style for the commander was probably one of the neatest things I’ve seen done in this kind of game, and adds a unique and fun element in along with the ability for the commander to actually give orders and grant requests for promotions or gold loans. The weapon styles and different types for the two clans offered a good balance between the two warring factions, and helped to allow players to find what they could get comfortable with. The melee combat tended to get a little old after a while, since it was “run up to your opponent and keep hitting attack until you or they were dead”, and moving through many of the maps felt a little too closed in at times in ditch like pathways.

Graphics: 7.7
Overall, I felt that the animations of the characters looked good, even if they weren’t the most modern look on the market. The environments were well decorated, and attention was paid to details like the setting sun and even a day / night cycle that would change as you played. The blood and magic effects looked a tad generic in my opinion though, and some of the creatures that wandered around looked a little too flat and “old school”, especially in the more well designed or detailed areas of the game.

Sound: 8.0
I was really impressed by the background music in Savage, and thought that a lot of the music tracks that were added in really helped the overall environment. The characters didn’t make much noise, except for yelling, and the voiceovers for the commanders as they issued orders were done pretty well.

Difficulty: Medium
The game is pretty easy to grasp overall, even without reading the instruction book. The commander position takes a few tries to really get the hang of it, but isn’t too hard of a challenge (from the getting used to it point … not making your teammates happy part) for anyone who is a veteran RTS player.

Concept: 8.1
Personally, I thought that the whole creative blending of three different game styles really worked well here in Savage, and still remain impressed at what iGames did here … especially for their first title on the shelves. I thought there were some things which could be addressed for an expansion or new game later on though, but still thought it was a good idea overall.

Multiplayer: 7.9
Well, if you don’t have an online connection, there won’t be any reason for you to get Savage since it’s 100% online only. Even at low pings though, I periodically had a couple of issues with some delay times in fired weapons which of course hurt overall accuracy, but it wasn’t a constant problem that I saw that really killed the game for me or anyone else playing.

Overall: 7.8
Overall, I really would recommend Savage to gamers who are especially into online action titles like BF1942 or something along those lines since it has a somewhat similar feel to it set in an older and more uncivilized time period kind of setting. While it’s not the highest rated game that I’ve reviewed, and I thought some things could have been improved on, I still have a lot of fun with it and thought that S2 and iGames did a good job in bringing something a little new out into a market that can get flooded quickly. The non stop action, different sides and character options, and getting to play in or as the operator of an online RTS game consisting of other players was a great move away from the “same old stuff”, and this game definitely has some positive replayability factors going for it.