Rusty Hearts Beta - Hands-On
Perfect World's latest free-to-play MMO, Rusty Hearts, entered the closed beta stage of development today. Those who have been lucky enough to get a beta key can now test out the fun, frantic and fast-paced game. Perfect World Entertainment, particularly known for its unique MMOs, knows how to make quality 'freemium' products - be sure to keep Rusty Hearts on your radar, MMO enthusiasts! Tina Lauro and I were kindly given early access to the Rusty Hearts closed beta, and both of us have been having fun blasting enemies while rocketing through dungeons. Find out what we think of the beta so far - I promise that MMO fans will be excited!
Arcade Vibe Meets MMO Interactivity: Rusty Hearts in a Nutshell
From my previous playthrough of Rusty Hearts at Anime Expo, I went into the beta expecting a generic dungeon fighter with stiff animations and nothing to set it apart from the competition. While I had seen some of the character customization and had heard about the varying back-stories that each character has, I didn't think they’d come into play at all during the story, or that they'd even matter after you chose that character. I had seen enough, however, to captivate my interest and make me want to know more about such a novel game.
The beta starts off with a feeling of urgency right from the tutorial; this pace doesn't lessen as the game rolls on, making Rusty Hearts very unique in the world of MMOs. You can expect an epic sense of scale when it comes to enemies in the beta. The MMO sports a cel-shaded style that's reminiscent of games such as Borderlands. This works incredibly well with the concept, which contributes to very unique characters and distinct environments.
The visuals are accompanied by one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in recent years. Taking some cues from Final Fantasy, the soundtrack still manages to set itself apart from most by blending in with the action due to its arcade feel. With each new song, my enjoyment at ensuring endless hoards of enemies met their end at the edge of my sword was rejuvenated. Perfect World Entertainment, for my sake, please put the Rusty Hearts soundtrack up for download!.
MMOs: An Experience That's Better Shared
I've already mentioned that Tina Lauro joined me for the long-awaited beta. Any MMO enthusiast will agree that you simply cannot enjoy such a social gaming experience to its fullest unless you play with a friend. Tina and I partied together to check out the dungeons the title had to offer. The cardinal MMO rule I mentioned above remains unbroken; dungeons were much more enjoyable with company. At one point, we managed to find two others who were brave enough to join our party. All four of us rolled, slashed and cast our way through the dungeon zones, moving at lightning speed while taking no prisoners.
We were crazily excited to secure early access to the beta, and wasted no time in taking notes to report back to you fellow MMO-heads. I had my own notions and feelings on Rusty Hearts, and Tina had her thoughts on her beta experience so far. Below, you can read our separate musings on how we found the beta, as well as our opinion on whether or not you should be excited for the title's release.
Nino's Notions
Unlike most MMOs in which you start with a default character to mold in your image, Rusty Hearts features three characters; each with their own back-story, motives, purposes, and combat styles. While there obviously is some overlap between the quests, the replay value given by having three distinct characters available (with a fourth to come) assures me that players will have quite a bit to do in Rusty Hearts.
Rusty Hearts starts rolling with a cinematic tutorial in which you and your partners (the other two current playable characters) are being chased by a monster. While you go through the tutorial, you aware of the tense chase and feel the need to keep moving, which brings us to one of Rusty Hearts’ major strong points; the combat and action pacing.
In most dungeon-crawling MMOs, the combat feels static and unsatisfying; you can tell that you’re a bad-ass, laying waste to waves upon waves of minions that pose no real threat, so you don’t get the feeling of satisfaction from all that decimation. Luckily, Rusty Hearts greatly improves on the norm, offering satisfyingly devastating attacks along with incredibly fluid animations. Combat is zone-based and puts Streets of Rage in your mind; performing combos which flow smoothly one after the other is the key to success, rather than reusing the methodical, contrived attacks we've come to expect from dungeon crawlers.
Dungeons must be completed on Normal mode before you can advance the difficulty, which gives the MMO longevity, which is a vital characteristic of the genre. Players have a slight incentive to see parties through to the end of a dungeon, since one dungeon is not a big demand on your time and ditching prematurely gves you the dreaded Slacker debuff. The party interface is an excellent way to connect to many other players, since it provides a list of registered parties that are accepting extra members. This overcomes personal shyness, since people are more likely to use a process like this that requires little effort and proactivity.
If the arcade feel has you wishing that Rusty Hearts was on a console, you'll be pleased to know that Logitech Gamepads work with the game. I have played Rusty Hearts with a controller, and it seems as though Perfect World took controller integration very seriously. The controls felt fluid and easy to use, making Rusty Hearts play as though it were to intended to be a console release. Button remapping for both the keyboard and controller is easy and allows for total customisability. The default keyboard setup uses the bottom-left portion of your keyboard, which may feel strange to your hand. If so, it is very easy to make the keys suit you.
Tina's Thoughts
Like Nino, I was immediately struck by how storyline and characterisation merged seamlessly into a compelling intro cinematic that doubled as a tutorial in blazingly fast combat. There is a nearly constant stream of dialogue that accompanies the ensuing battle; speed-reading the text while trying not to die is a skill that you quickly learn while playing Rusty Hearts. I simply adored this aspect of the game - it is one of the first MMOs that I've played that finds an innovative way to merge storyline and the frantic gameplay we enjoy from other genres. This adds a quirky sense of realism to the comic-like gaming experience; I don't know about you, but if a tentacled horror was trying to end my life, I doubt I would catch every snippet of conversation my comrades would offer!
I am a World of Warcraft addict, and over my years of playing, I have developed a slight obsession with maintaining a clean, intuitive user interface. The UI offered in Rusty Hearts ticks all the right boxes; even in closed beta stage, certain modules that would clutter the screen if visible when tons of monsters run straight for you disappear while you are in combat. The chat box can be moved or re-sized to suit your preferences, and a larger version of the map can be placed on your screen with a customisable transparency, should you be anything like me (I could get lost in my own house). No element of the UI seems unnecessary or bulky, which is almost certainly a product of Perfect World Entertainment's experience with the genre.
The arcade-like pace of combat works together with the excellent musical score to propel your leveling efforts and give this MMO a pace that we rarely see in this traditionally slow, punishing genre. When you are familiar with your character and its abilities, you quickly pass through dungeons. Levels do not come easily, though. Even though dungeons tend to go all-too smoothly and without much in the way of a challenge, experience is not given out as readily as candy at Halloween - you have to earn every point. Spell visualisations may be awesome and your attacks do feel devastating, but your feet are kept firmly on the ground by a very sensible experience flow.
PWE knows what makes for an enjoyable, professional gaming experience, and seems to have successfully delivered this to us once more. Rusty Hearts implements lots of great features from other MMOs - it has parties, guilds, a cash shop, an auction house, a mail system and no doubt more that I've failed to mention. The game menus are simplistic and well-structured, which should provide a relatively low barrier to entry for inexperienced players to deal with.
Our Experience in Short
During the beta, I got to see the distinct qualities of the current characters, as well as listen to the fantastic soundtrack. This game has personality; this is felt in its characters, their attacks and in the mid-battle conversations that propel the engaging storyline. The soundtrack and graphical style go hand in hand to provide an immersive, engaging and complete gaming experience. The fact that Rusty Hearts has a plot that grabs your attention within the first five minutes of gameplay is a testament to how well each aspect of the title merges with the other.
We were pleasantly surprised by how smooth the gaming experience has been so far. Apart from one random glitch where the dungeon didn't load properly for the party, resulting in a crash, there are no major bugs for me to note. When all the elements we have noted are brought together, you are left with a well-polished, unique and very enjoyable game that is completely worthy of your gaming time.
If we had to suggest one thing we'd like to see developed a little more, the dungeon encounters could be doing with a little more "oomph". SSS, S and A rankings were easily achievable, although this ease may be a deliberate measure to allow beta testers to get through content quickly in order to more thoroughly test the game.
Missed out and didn’t get a beta key? Don’t fret - the GamerGaia staff have you covered! We’ll be giving out beta keys to a few lucky souls, so be sure to stay tuned for more information! In addition, we’ll be hanging out in-game, so be on the lookout for GGNino and Tinabeans for your chance to explore and fight with us! Should you see the a party name with GamerGaia in it, feel free to fill the spots and introduce yourselves. I took more screens that I thought was possible by one man, so if this hands-on has you wanting more, check out the gallery here.
We’d like to thank Perfect World Entertainment for the warm welcome into the compelling world of Rusty Hearts, and we hope that you all find the game as enjoyable as we have.
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