Castle of Heroes
Castle of Heroes is a browser- based fantasy MMORPG and strategy game, which the Chinese developer Suzhou Snail Electronic Co., Ltd.. Is ( Snail Game ) developed and distributed in Europe by Gala -Net via the gPotato portal. In the U.S. the game under the name Heroes of Gaia was published and marketed by Snail Games USA.
Game scenario
At the beginning of the game players will be asked which people they want to choose. The choices are elves, humans, orcs or undead. Each race has different advantages for this player - so you can train very early ranged units, for example, the people and the units of the undead are cheaper to train than the other nations. As the game progresses there is more to discover people's specific benefits. After the people is selected, the player will leave the choice to play through a brief introduction, which brings him closer to the game, leading him through the basic steps of the game and explains how to build buildings, units and forming takes daily quests. Once the introduction is complete, each player starts with a blue heroes ( the same name as the player's character ). More and especially higher Heroes can be hired from the in-game currency gold in the tavern once it is built.
When you first enter the game world where players Gaia a single castle of the chosen people is first made available, which only has a great hall, which serves as the administrative center of the castle. Other Castles of other nations can be taken during the game. In order to form units to increase the production of raw materials to participate in battles and to hire additional heroes, the player must construct various buildings. Each building has a level cap of 10, and increasingly requires more time and resources to be built. There are 5 game raw materials which are used for construction of buildings and forming units: gold, wood, ore, sulfur and quartz. The raw materials are automatically regenerated, but the process can be increased by the taking of mines and exploration of spells. Other online games that use a similar model of the building construction include, among others Caesary and Travian. A similar gameplay can be found among others in the PC game Heroes of Might and Magic.
All actions that are executed outside of a castle that require so-called Action Points (AP). Action Points regenerate at a rate of 10 % of the maximum AP per hour. The maximum number of action points can be raised by an increase of fame. The fame will be making the most decisive factor of the rank system of Castle of Heroes dar. It is mainly increased by fighting and the construction of buildings and units. After the appropriate number has been accumulated to fame, a player receives a new rank, by which the maximum action points and corresponding hourly regeneration are increased this. Castle of Heroes is a MMORPG and a server typically has a few thousand active between several hundred players. Like most MMORPGs has Castle of Heroes to a persistent game world. Units continue to be built and continue building erected, even when players are logged out.
Combat system
Most of the contents in Castle of Heroes are battle- based. Fights are necessary to get to equipment and experience to fight NPC monsters, taking new castles and mines to attack enemy players and to defend themselves against this. The hero will be allocated by the player units, after which it is sent to monster, player or other objects to attack on the world map. The more powerful the player's hero, the bigger is the advantage to get the units commanded by him. Heroes can be additionally equipped with equipment to increase attributes by him or his units, as well as be equipped with spells to support the units in combat.
Once the fight has started, starts a 20 second countdown, which gives players the chance to command the battle itself or the AI to let the game fight. A hero after the end of the countdown three minutes time to destroy the enemy units. The combat surface includes a limited number of commands such as " attack ", " retreat ", " focus " (only the selected unit is attacked ) and "wait " ( keeps the unit on / waiting ). Players can also use so-called magic, previously learned in the mage tower, and then the hero can be taught. The hero can always hold only a certain number of spells at the same time. In case of victory the hero gains experience points, based on the number of the defeated enemy units, and possibly items or raw materials, depending on the defeated enemy. If the units of the heroes fail to destroy the enemy units, is one of the battle as lost and the hero gets nothing. In both cases, 60-80 % of the defeated units to be revived (part of the arena building ) of the player in the hospital and can be healed for a small amount of gold.
Aim of the game
In Castle of Heroes, there are, depending on the preference of the player to achieve several goals. In the early stages of the game, players aim first on the achievement of 1,000,000 glory to the maximum number of heroes, mines ( which produce raw materials) and action points to achieve. Players will also be measured against the total size of its army ( unit size), the hero with the best martial attributes and the number of destroyed enemy troops. For many players, the most important goal is to be part of a large / powerful guild and to control most major cities.
Guilds
In Castle of Heroes the common interaction of the player with one another is promoted by so-called guilds. Each guild will start with level 1 and increases as soon as the members of the guild to increase their own glory. As a member of a guild can be together with his guild friends conquer the five major capital cities of Castle of Heroes and protect them from other guilds. In addition, often great wars between the various guilds are held to weaken the dominance of the enemy player or alliances to consolidate his own. It can be thought of as part of a guild defend together against enemy attacks against the hero or castles of members, which benefits the community effect of such a game.
Tower of Babel
The Tower of Babel is a world- building that can be accessed by each player once per day. The tower was introduced as part of the Babel extension. The tower heroes of level 30 or higher to fight through 40 floors of the tower can, with a stronger opponent waiting on each floor on the hero. With every battle won, the player is rewarded with experience points and all 10 floors it will also receive a valuable piece of equipment. Each floor is more difficult to survive for the hero and it always lurking dangerous monsters on it, the higher he climbs the tower. After each encounter mastered, the player can decide to leave the tower, or to visit the next floor. Will the hero but was defeated in one of the fights, before he leaves the tower, then he loses all experience points and items collected up to that point in the tower.
Reviews and Awards
2009 received the Castle of Heroes Jing Ling award for "best online game " in China.
- Thirteen1.com: Score 12/13
- Onrpg.com Score 8.0/10
- Ben Biggs: Castle Of Heroes. for: Total PC Gaming # 30/2010, p 68