Cyphers

Cyphers is a third person action game that I ran across quite randomly. I was looking for something else and this just happened to be on the front of Naver today. They seem to be in open beta right now. It looks to be running until June 12, and it's their third test, so I suspect this is gong to be going live soon. This is hosted on a standalone site and comes to us from Neople. They're also responsible for Dungeon Fighter which I've heard of and feel like it may be popular, I'll have to look into that one more. Sign-up for the site is pretty standard, but when you try to use the I-PIN option it states that they're still enabling that feature. Currently foreigners can't type their full name into the name field. The best I could do is 12 characters which leaves me far short. If you've got a really short name, it might work, but I can't test that. I used a Korean ID to create the account. I'll test the I-PIN sign-up when it's finished. Installation is also standard for a game of this type. Just click game start after you're logged in, install the active-x and follow along. Make sure to uncheck the boxes which offer to set the site as your homepage and all that fun stuff.

As to the game itself. It's a character based game. Meaning that there are a set number of characters and each has unique powers and abilities. You choose one at the start of each match, but there can be only one, if someone else chose it, I think it's random who gets to use it and who gets assigned a different one. When you start you'll be forced into a tutorial. Follow along, it's pretty obvious and you get some cash rewards for it. After each match you'll gain level XP, and character XP. You gain big XP for the one you used and a tiny amount for the rest of them. Once you get into the settings, set your resolution and set everything to the "고" level, that's the high level on this one. It seems to be named differently than the other games.

The game is a team-based game where the object is to destroy the other team's base. There are some twists to it. Each team has some soldiers that are sent automatically and fairly trivial to defeat, but left unchecked, they'll pile up and can cause some serious damage. As well each team has a massive guardian that protects the base. He'll destroy you easily if you don't go in as a team. The map is laid out with 3 paths going between the bases and some crossing lanes. Along the paths are also barriers that you have to bust through that have cannons and the like mounted on them. You can walk through your own, but you'll have to bust down the enemies to get past. Also this game has a unique twist in that the more you die the slower you respawn. It can get quite long, even by the third or fourth death you can go from a 15-20 second respawn to around 45 seconds.

Your character can attack with a regular attack, but also has several special attacks built in. Don't worry about remembering the keys for it because they're simple and part of an overlay. I'm not sure how to get rid of it, but you really don't notice it after awhile and it helps you keep track of your cooldowns. As you destroy enemies you'll gain gold. This isn't permanent gold so spend it. During the tutorial you will have had an opportunity to try the item system. Basically you just buy things from the menu below by pushing 1-8. These are clothing items that boost various things like attack and defence. It should be mostly obvious what each one does. You can hold down TAB to get a more detailed Korean view of everything. If you push CTRL it will change your menu to a potion menu. Use this to get health potions and other things. Health potions are #1. As you do this your level will increase. Not sure what effect that has on things beyond having better equipment. After you hit level 5 you get access to the dollar store to spend all that money you've been collecting from games. I haven't opened that yet, but I suspect it to be fairly standard. You'll be able to buy permanent bonuses and things I assume. I'll comment on that when I get it unlocked. Shortly I'll attach a gameplay video showing a bit. Ignore the stutter, if it shows up. I find recording in fraps to sometimes induce lag which isn't there otherwise.

The game is not bad. A good little action game, something different which is never a bad thing. I find that it's easy to stun-lock people. I'm not sure if I'm just playing against bad people or what, but my first few games I've done quite well. I'm sure that'll change when I leave the noob area or however it's done. There is no lobby system in this game. You just push F5 to quick join a game or hit F6 to create your own rooms.