by Jason Maxfield
Infinite Crisis is a DC comics hero based multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA). Developed by Turbine Inc., in conjunction with Warner Brothers Entertainment Inc. This is sure to get DC comics fans pumped!
Currently the game has servers in North America, Europe, and Russia. I’m not sure on future plans for expansion in Asian or South American regions.
Infinite Crisis is currently in beta, and does not have a release date at the time of this writing. I’m kind of glad to see this. I hope this means time will be taken to take care of issues properly before release and not rushed like some other games have been in the past and have had several teething issues attached to them because of deadlines or other problems.
Menus and Options
The main gaming screen is laid out with a few options: A scrolling window of champions, practice mode window, training videos, and a set of icons at the top right of the screen for shop, home, options, stats, help, and log-out. Also, at the bottom of the screen is a friends and notifications tabs for managing all of your social functions.
The options menu covers your video, game-play, audio, key-binds, interface, etc. etc. Interestingly, under the general tab, there is a twitch.tv check box. At the moment I can’t confirm if this is going to support streaming with their own client or not. I’m assuming that’s what it is for in the future, but checking the box currently appears to do nothing.
I do want to point out that the home page is in full screen, so while waiting in a queue minimizing the game will not alert you when your queue is ready. The only thing you will see is the icon flashing yellow at the bottom of your task bar. This is something I think many have complained about and Turbine might change how the home page is done in the future. This is beta after all, so things are always subject to change.
This is where you can purchase champions, costumes, crisis coins, stolen powers, and bundles. The shop is laid out fairly well. Everything is packaged and categorized in similar fashion to League of Legends (LoL) and is straight forward.
As with LoL, you have options to use 2 types of currency, in this case, crisis coins or merit. Merit is earned by completing PvP matches. Wins and losses will help determine the amount that you earn. Merit can be used to purchase most items.
Take note: Bundles can only be purchased with crisis coins. Stolen powers can only be purchased with merit.
There is a host of DC favorites here. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Joker, and variants from the 52 worlds of the DC Multiverse.
You begin with a small champion pool. This is a rotating champion selection (I believe), not unlike LoL you can purchase new champions and champion costumes with crisis coins or merit. So far from what I can tell, you have your mix of bruisers, ranged, and support type of champions. There are currently 27 champions available to purchase at the time of this writing.
My first impressions of the game is, it is like LoL. The interface and gaming style are very much alike. You queue for your selected match, which has varying play modes: Dominion, or a 3-lane style map, and a practice map. These maps are based on iconic locations in the DC Universe. Layout from a topographical point, would seem to be very much the same for the Dominion style in LoL, but the 3-lane style map is different. It’s laid out horizontally, rather than corner to corner like LoL is. The bases are centralized at each edge of the map.
Purchasing items is done at the base and has two tabs to situate items for ease of browsing. The game also recommends items for those that are new to the game and would like to jump right in without having to read the items in details.
I used a completely recommended build for Mecha Wonder Woman in my match in Gotham Heights, which is the Dominion style map. I did really well with it. I had a Kill-Death-Assist (KDA) of 16-4-14. I was able to handle two champions diving me at one point to defend a tower. Needless to say, I was ahead on items and levels at that point of the match.
While moving you have minions that populate the lanes. Referred to as ‘creeps’ in LoL. These minions drop gold once killed with a last hit. This is pretty normal fair for MOBA’s. Although Infinite Crisis adds a twist. If a minion last hit by another opposing minion a coin will drop on the field where it died. Anyone can pick this coin up and get gold with the value of it being less than if you had last hit the minion yourself.
This adds a new dimension to the laning phase since these coins can be picked up by anyone, including enemy players. This can allow players to deny gold if you are quick enough to gather them up yourself. Also, this is a nice perk to players that are not as skilled at last hitting as others.
I’ve haven’t run across any bugs at this point. The game from that standpoint seems to be doing really well for Beta. I did, however, notice some slight movement issues. It seems while you are moving there is a definite lag. Granted, this could be just latency issues, but at this time, it is a known issue and Turbine is working on a fix for this. Also, I noticed that when moving, your character seems to want to face in directions of 45 degree angles rather than a full 360 degrees as if it was being played on an old 8-way gaming pad rather than being moved by a mouse. Despite these issues of movement, if taken into account, there isn’t much of a problem moving and doing well in combat.
Now as far as items go, this is an area I’m pretty lost on. I try to read items before purchasing them, but during a game this can eat away at time and give your opponents an advantage. Also, there is an issue for me, the text and icons just seem a bit too small to read and see comfortably. I have noticed other players complain about this as well. I’m sure Turbine has taken note of this will look into it at some point.
Objectives of the match are pretty much the same as LoL. You move your team across the map, take down enemy turrets and push your way to the enemy base to take down their core. There are options to have a person jungle as there are several neutral monster camps. This opens opportunities to gank lanes and create chaos and confusion.
The jungle has several ‘bushes’ to hide in like LoL, but are technological cloaking areas from what I can tell. These allow you to hide and ambush fairly well. I didn’t get an opportunity to do much of that as I played in a lane rather than jungling. At this point, I do not know of any current dominant meta for the game. I see some people conforming to a meta like LoL. Trying to have a good mix of tank, support and ranged carries seems just as viable as any other MOBA.
The tab key allows you to keep track of what your enemies are buying, just like LoL. This is a nice feature. The downside to this feature is that it’s smallish and the icons and text are hard to read, just like the shop window.
The graphics are nice, and a bit cartoon inspired, but perfect for a comic book inspired game. Nor do they hinder your site while in combat. Animation and frame rates are really smooth with high settings on my HD 4870 graphics card. You can clearly see your ability markers, although, they are smart cast-able, if enabled, they do not really line up properly with your cursor center point. You have to aim a little higher than expected. Infinite Crisis should run well with a variety of systems.
Infinite Crisis, while being in beta, things are sure to change. So keep that in mind after reading this review. I can’t wait to see where this game progresses in the future and the opportunity to watch this game in tournament has me keeping an eye on Twitch TV. I suggest to keep an eye out on the forums for more information on that and other upcoming changes.
I admit this game also feels a bit streamlined. It feels like it’s meant to not only please existing MOBA players but entice a whole new crowd to the MOBA scene with iconic DC Heroes.
Turbine and Warner Brothers have a nicely done MOBA on their hands. I liked the overall layout of the game, and the play style being familiar with LoL made it easy to adapt and play the game even without in depth knowledge of the items and differences to LoL.
