Arena of Fate is a MOBA game developed by Crytek. Senshudo TV went hands on with the latest build of the game, and we were one of the first people outside the studio to play the action oriented title. This article will included David West, Stewart Marsh and myself (AJ)’s unique perspectives of the game.

The first thing you notice about Arena of Fate are the characters. Drawn from both real and fictional histories you can play a wide variety of characters from Robin Hood to Tesla.

We got to choose between three characters, Jesse James (Ranged Pistols), Little Red Riding Hood (Melee), or Tesla (Ranged Electricity). I chose Jesse James as I wanted to see if the ranged guns worked similar to other games in this genre.

Upon loading into a match, you have every ability available to you from the start. Quite a nice feature versus something like League of Legends where you have to acquire your abilities as you level up. Instead of spending money on 5-6 different items to build one big item, you spend your money and points on skills and various things to help you become more powerful.

There are three ways to end a match:

• Get a total of 10 team points

• Destroy the enemy base

• Reach the 20 minute time limit.

Yes, you read that right. There is a 20 minute time limit per match. This is a wonderful feature because it means you can get in and out of matches quickly and still have fun.

The gameplay was so fast paced and engaging that I didn't bother to look at the timer. Helping other team mates is rewarding fun in its own right, and getting a enemy kill is as satisfying as ever.

I really enjoyed my time with this game and look forward to its release and I will be giving it serious consideration for addition to my daily gaming regimen.

David’s Perspective:

Crytek's Arena of Fate MOBA is in Alpha state, but Senshudo faced off against Nerd Junkies in a test of the game. Well, I did not participate, but watched the game from both sides.

I was impressed.

The characters of the game were both historical and fictional characters. The game saw characters like Baron Samedi, Red Riding Hood, and Jack of beanstalk fame face off against Jesse James, van Helsing, and Richard the Lionheart. Arena of Fate seemed very smooth for an alpha, though I think the characters needed to be a bit quicker. The game was very League of Legends-like, but the scoring was very understandable. The towers, however, hit very hard, causing a majority of the kills in the game I observed.

AJ and Stew caught on to the game, and eventually their side won the battle by figuring out how not to be killed by the towers while destroying them. Point scoring is first to ten, with one point gained per seven kills, killing a tower, or killing a 'titan', the powerful mobs who spawn off the three main paths. Other ways to win were having the highest total at the end of the 20 minute time limit or destroying the enemy base.

I think the game will be a worthy entry to the MOBA fight scene, though inevitably it will be compared to League of Legends and Smite.

Stewart’s Perspective:

Arena of Fate art style reminded me of SMITE another MOBA, but its unique user interface simplifies your purchasing of skills and breaks down the complexity behind most MOBA’s.

The towers hit extremely hard a couple of hits and you're dead, but if you can get the timing right between hitting them and dodging the enemies coming towards you, you can effectively take down the tower. But like all MOBA’s communication is key to performing an effective attack.

While the gameplay is currently a little slow during its early alpha stage it will no-doubt be increased later in development delivering a strong competitor for the likes of SMITE and other MOBA’s.

If you’ve not played a MOBA game before, Arena of Fate is easy to pick up from the get go and great to play with a set of friends, as playing against other members of the press was both extremely fun and extremely competitive.

We’ll have more details on Arena of Fate as they become available.