Smite – Beta impressions

Brought to you by Hi-Rez Studio’s who has also given us games like Tribes: Ascend and Global Agenda now comes another Free-to-play game. Smite, a game for those who are looking for an interesting spin on the MOBA genre. Still in beta but looking very promising though has a few rough edges that still need to be smoothed out before it is released for sure.

A very simple menu very similar to Tribes: Ascend.

In smite you play as a god on a team of 5 as a god in typical fashion having 3 lanes to choose with a jungle between with buff giving creatures as well as a cash giving boss each on a mirrored map except for the cash giving boss and the Fire Giant who gives cash and a long-lasting powerful buff who you have to fight over with the other team. The objective being to kill the enemy teams guardian however it it guarded by not only your enemy’s team of 5 gods but 2 towers and 1 phoenix in each lane not to mention the guardian is a Minotaur!

The god Hades showing off in front of the minotaur guardian inside the main base.

The gods come from different pantheon’s of Mythology including:

Hindu – Vamana, Kali, Agni
Egyptian – Anubis, Bastet, Ra, Sobek
Chinese – Ao Kaung, Guan Yu, He Bo, Sun Wukong
Greek – Arachne, Artemis, Hades, Zeus
Norse – Hel, Odin, Ymir

All gods having 1 passive, 3 abilities and a ultimate ability.

Odin’s ability screen

The list of gods while not that impressively long however for still being in beta it surprised me on how many were there at the beginning. When starting to play from levels 1-6 (the time it takes you to get 5500 favor to purchase a new god if you don’t intend on spending real money) you are locked to 5 gods being Ymir, Ra, Artemis, Kali and, Sun Wukong. Gives you a good chance to learn the basic gods though and they are all pretty good as well as fun.

The game if you are expecting amazing graphics you might be let down a little bit but they for sure aren’t bad at all. My major gripe with the looks has more to do with the animations. I’ve noticed quite a few not only clipping but just plain ugly animations with Odin whom i play mainly.

The Fire giant who rewards you with a powerful buff after being slain fills the room with lava.

Balancing in Smite so far is far from an issue barring one new God at the moment and while Hi-Rez Studio’s has recognized that the new god Guan Yu is overpowered in a recent forum post from a major reaction by the community. However it comes into an issue with Hi-Rez Studio’s with me in playing Tribes: Ascend previously EVERY single new weapon was overpowered and it seemed like they only made them overpowered just to nerf them to raise sales of gold in Tribes as the weapons were ridiculously expensive with in-game experience. So this is I hope not only from me, Please Hi-Rez don’t do that to Smite.

Though they lost and said Guan Yu is overpowered (and he is) the community is nice so far.

All in all the game play is very smooth with no lag or bugs that I have experienced and for a beta that is pretty amazing to me. The matchmaking will get you in a game within 2-5 minutes so you’re not waiting forever and the load times are maybe 30 seconds when loading into the start of a match. If you find yourself looking for a new game to play and you like the MOBA genre then this might be your game and it will cost you nothing.

I will also have a few beta keys to give out as well, make sure you are following @ESG_com on twitter because that’s where your going to get more info on getting them!