E3 2012: Core Blaze - A new action MMO on the horizon

There’s another big MMO on the horizon called Core Blaze. It’s being developed by Red Gate Studios and published by Gamania. It uses Unreal Engine 3, and the game does look lovely with the weather system, the lush forest and its creatures. They have done something very different for their E3 presentation. Instead of getting a booth inside the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center, they decided that it would be better to showcase their latest online MMO inside the loftSEVEN Penthouse.

To get there, we had to enter a marked black van with a Russian driver. Sounds innocent, doesn’t it? Once we arrived, we were greeted by the staff and beautiful cosplay models. I was sad that the food wasn’t ready for us, but we were treated with a trailer for Core Blaze. The trailer featured a hero character that reminded me of Asura from Asura’s Wrath.

We then got a chance to play the game, and I was given a choice of using a controller or a keyboard and mouse. I opted for the latter. There were 4 types of characters to choose from, each with their own unique weapon. Gone is the class system. The weapon you choose will determine your abilities. You can choose to wield a sword and shield, two small swords, bow, or a big-ass sword. We won’t be seeing the standard MMO classes like the traditional mages or healers.

For my adventure, I chose the sword and shield. I teamed up with 3 other players including NR’s Mike Villarreal. Jumping into the game is easy if you’re familiar with MMOs. The feature I noticed is the quick-item/power selection. Instead of using the numbers on the keyboard to trigger your skills, you hold the Q and R button and navigate using the mouse to select your skills/items. Just think of an RPG console game that has you holding the shoulder buttons to make the menu pop up while you navigate using the left analog stick.

The story I didn’t get into, but our first mission was to find a boss at the end of a trail in a forest. Crossing the forest was pretty cool as the weather dynamically changed. As it was raining, the water droplets splashed on the computer monitor, creating that rain-on-window effect. The weather will affect battles, so that means that you’ll have to use a different strategy depending on the situation. Let’s just say fire and rain do not mix.

Once we got to the boss fight, that’s where teamwork and strategy come into play. I was automatically the target of the boss, and it tried to actively bum rush me. The other players took the opportunity to attack it with all their might. Since it’s an action MMO, you’ll be actively attacking. Using the Q and R button to use your skills felt a bit cumbersome. Like I mentioned before, you’ll have to hold the buttons and use the mouse to either right or left click a power attack, potions, etc. Assigning them to numbers would definitely be beneficial. This is when I found out that using a controller would have been a better idea, but it was already too late. I attacked, evaded, and healed until the boss was defeated and was happy that I got the final death blow.

The one thing that Core Blaze needs work on is the design. It needs something bigger to make it stand out from the rest of the MMO games. The character and world design don’t feel unique enough for me to get me all excited about its universe. Once the game comes out, I’ll test it out again though to get a better grip on the game.

Core Blaze is expected to be released in 2013.