Savage 2

S2Games has released the followup to Savage: A Battle for Newerth, a remarkable multiplayer hybrid game bringing together first person shooter, third person melee and the overwatch planning of a real time strategy game. Savage 2 is bigger, better and even manages to squeeze in RPG elements and online achievements into the heady mix. Basically its PvP, Humans versus Beasts. You have a HQ, and must defend it at all costs. You have an army of players who can collect resources and fend off enemy attacks, with gun, spell or blade. You can have a Commander who is in charge and sees the whole arena in a top down RTS view and who can organise the troops on the ground and give them dynamic objectives as he sees the battle play out. Ultimately the Commander is very important to the success of your team, but also the willingness of the troops on the ground to follow his plans, do their best to stem attacks and keep their teammates alive. Total teamplay from the ground up to the commander is key to winning the battle. Each player can select a character class to play upon entry, depending upon the amount of personal gold they have and the tech buildings available. Classes vary between the two races, but you generally have a mix of melee and shooters and magic users through to demonic beasts and huge behemoths of destruction. Getting the balance in the team can be tricky, but with a clued up set of players you can bring a whole plethora of strategies into play, especially with a sharp Commander at the helm. The Savage format gives you choice, most have close quarters and ranged combat abilities, some can set traps and turrets, some can heal, some have pets, there is a lot of variety in there. And getting to grips with each class can be an adventure in itself. As the game progresses and you earn personal kills and gold, and as the commander builds up your base and remote outposts you acquire more tech and more classes open up to you.

In Savage 2, it takes the Savage formula, tidies it up graphically and gives you the added feature of an RPG-like progression of your characters within the match. You gain stats points to customise your strength or your speed, or endurance, you can even find or be awarded items that you can carry over on your player details, as well as earn experience. The metagame outside of the matches played is very polished and you can see all the stats for each match, and even download match replays to mull over your failed strategies later. You can even award kudos points to your commander and other players. Since Savage was always a niche fantasy based multiplayer game, I think strengthening the community features will secure its fanship for even longer than the first game. Its a crying shame that such a well crafted, multi-faceted team based Fantasy PvP game gets so little attention. You can download the game and play it for 5 hours straight on trial, before you decide to buy it. The only caveat I would add, is that your online experience will be affected by the people you play with.. play a game with a less than talented commander, or solo-ist teammates and you'll probably come away feeling frustrated. However, play with a Commander who has a bit of spirit, and players who are willing to accept his judgements and calls to arms and you'll see the glory of a properly constructed team game come into play. And you'll probably win. Since Savage 2 has just been released, now is a very good time to join the community and give it a try..