Savage 2 Review, Continued
One commander slot exists for both the humans and beasts, and cannot be driven by AI. This means it is crucial that a skilled player acts as the commander and remains in that role. If the commander quits, the resources gained remain unspent and efforts to expand and place structures cease until the spot is filled once again. While the majority of the team will be on the ground pushing the frontlines, the commander's role is very important although he never really sets foot on the ground as a grunt for as long as he remains commander. Commanders not only control the entire progress of technological advancement and expansion efforts, but they also have access to a variety of Buffs, Debuffs and Utility Powers to aid their teammates through a pool of Mana.
For example, the resurrection spell allows the commander to resurrect any player anywhere although at a high Mana cost and with a very long Cooldown period after use. A cripple spell is another example of a commander ability, which can cause an enemy player to become extremely sluggish in movement and typically results in them being pummeled by mobs from your team. Without a commander, or with an incompetent one, these powers will not benefit your team and will leave you at a severe disadvantage.
Since most servers allow up to 32 players, the reality is that you'll typically be playing in the FPS role with 29 others unless you've built up a reputation for yourself or get lucky in a vote. While playing on the frontlines instead of in the high chair of the commander, most of the mechanics of standard FPS games exist, with the exception of item usage and hand-to-hand combat. A number of character classes exist on both sides, of which about half are free with others costing gold to access. At the start of a round, only a few basic classes are available for use with the others locked, while they only become available after the commander builds the required tech building. Each class has a variety of unique weapons and abilities, with typically all of the non-siege units having at least one melee weapon to use and one ranged weapon. Certain abilities allow units to buff themselves or become corporeal, while others are direct offensive abilities like a blinding puff of noxious breath or a double knife backstab.
Savage 2 has a steep learning curve with its hybrid RTS-FPS gameplay, but it should please fans of both genres.
Ranged combat is usually straight forward and simple, with everything from a bow and arrow to a mini gun and grenade launcher available for the humans, to lightning rods and throwable fireballs available for the beasts. Melee combat is where things can be tricky, though, as melee is completely based off a counter system which is always hard to predict, especially in mass encounters with others. Each player has the option to choose between a standard attack, a block which stuns players and a block breaker.
While some players will happily swing around with you to their hearts content until someone dies, those with a little bit of intelligence behind them will constantly be trying to fake you out with blocks and block breakers, in between attacks. As such, melee combat can get especially frantic, and the ding of hitting a block is always painful to hear, as you can rest assured that you're about to get pummeled while you recover. Landing a block breaker on an over defensive player, however, is very satisfying as you really teach them a lesson, which usually results in their death.
To assist players with survival, an item shop is available to all players universally at the spawn screen, where a player may purchase a number of potions and items depending on how far the commander has advanced the team's technology. Boots of Speed come at a small cost, but allow for a very large boost in movement for fifteen seconds. Healing or Mana potions provide benefits over time or immediately, depending on how much gold you have to spend and your specific need. Armor and even placeable stones are also for sale, and can benefit not just yourself but even teammates nearby. The one downside of this system, however, is that dying while on the battlefield results in the loss of the items purchased. So if you've spent a large chunk of gold on some fancy armor to cover your butt and an ammo bag for your ranged weapon, consider yourself out of luck if you meet the sharp end of a blade unless your commander or a support character is around to revive you.
Gold, the universal currency in Savage 2 (with the exception of "Souls"), comes from killing enemy players, builders and buildings. Gold can also be earned from killing a number of AI-based "creeps," which defend various hotspots and nooks and crannies throughout the map. As gold is earned and enemies or creeps are killed, experience is gained and players can add universal buffs to their characters. The experience and level system allows for players to buff four different statistics: Strength, Agility, Intelligence and Stamina. Players intending on focusing on melee-heavy characters may choose to go with a heavy strength emphasis, while those wanting to play speedy assassins or suicide bombers may wish to go with Agility boosts. Buffs carry over to each character type, but a Spellcaster class, for example, would not be as likely to gain much of a benefit from strength buffs as the melee classes would.
Where things really get interesting is when the new siege and Hellspawn units begin to emerge. The game suddenly goes from a battle of infantry melee and ranges weapons to more intense conflicts where heavy frontline destroying units forge ahead. Even sneak attacks are typically abound with the goal of destroying the enemy teams' technology level. Ground troops working in unison will put their lives on the line to defend siege units, and head-to-head clashes with a group of enemies typically results in a very frantic and intense battle, with the siege attempting to bust through secured garrisons either up close or from a distance. Of course, the enemy is doing every single thing in their power to stop the assault and save their garrisons and technological buildings, even if it means throwing themselves at the siege units like lemmings.
