So this week Xevrin and I were taking a look at Pagan Online, (for those you who don’t know, we’re a husband and wife duo) and in most areas, we came out with some pretty similar impressions of the game. Since this is a preview, we’ll keep it pretty brief. Though we’ll be doing up a review later in the month, so stay tuned! This is our Pagan Online Preview.
Pagan Online is an ARPG-like offering from the Madhead Games and Wargaming.net (famed for World of Tanks). It features a bright aesthetic, a nordic like mythology (perhaps “inspired” would be more accurate) and rather simple controls with a roster of character Heroes to choose from. During the tutorial, you can try any of them you want, but you’ll have to pick one to start with. All the rest have to be unlocked as you go.
Xevrin’s Impressions
It’s a fun game with a lot of potential, but it has a few things that I think are holding it back. I like the art for all the characters, but it’s definitely stylized, and while it will appeal to a number of people, others might not like it so much. Animations are smooth and fluid for most of the abilities (and movement), but the voice acting is a bit cheesy, which, honestly, fits the setting. Between the art, the voice acting, and the scenery there’s definitely a solid unified feeling to the game world. While I did enjoy it, there were two things that made what might have been a more enjoyable experience less so-the disparity of character power levels and the WASD movements which could be a bit clunky at times. That being said, the controls may be something that, given time, I could adapt to.
Dkonen’s Impressions
It’s a fun little game. The characters are ridiculous and the animators really should look at anatomy lessons after glancing at Anya’s spherical chest tumors. I have no issue with eye candy but they really reminded me of soccer balls glued to her chest, not breasts. Most of the other characters are fine though, for stylized over the top stuff, which probably is one of the reasons it feels vaguely MOBA ish to me, besides the need to unlock heroes and the way a lot of the maps are structured. The click to move is less of a headache to manage than the WASD movements overall, which was all they intended to originally include (and you can still use if that’s your preference). There’s a lot of monsters, a decent amount of loot explosions and bright flashy attacks. It won’t replace a standard ARPG for me when I’m feeling brainless, partly because it has a higher level of skill required, but it’s a good offering nonetheless.
Summary: It’s not a bad game, but it isn’t what I’d call great either, but neither was LOL or Diablo. It fits about there, with a popcorny feel to it that you can’t take seriously and bright colors and flashy lights. I could see it doing quite well in specific crowds of gamers, but the general feel may not work for some.
