LOCO (Land of Chaos Online) Review

I still remember, after I saw the LOCO CG trailer I was cursed to play the game. Maybe it was because of the song, maybe the action, I don’t know. I JUST HAD TO PLAY IT!

First impression
So I downloaded and installed the client, I started the game and there was an opening video, it was the trailer. After skipping the trailer, there it was, the log in screen. I was happy I can’t deny it, but the log in screen seemed as a…… ‘Standard f2p MMO log in screen’, you know the little box where we fill in our id and password and in the back the ‘Standard’ background with the 3D environment. Of course, I don’t judge a MMO on the log in screen. So I logged in and I needed to choose one of the 12 heroes which were displayed. After choosing my hero I was taken to the tutorial. Ugh, I wished they made something so players could just skip it.

Overview
LOCO is the first game developed by Danal Entertainment. It is a tactical online RPG which combines tactics, MMORPG elements and a 3rd person shooter view. It is very rare to see MMO’s with these kind of properties. Players control their characters with the WASD keys and change their viewpoints with the mouse. It definitely gives a unique swing to it.

To start off players are able to choose one of the 12 unique characters at the beginning. They all have their own stats, special abilities and skills. You can think of them as different classes. However, It’s too bad you can’t customize your hero, apart from the cash items of course. You can have 3 hero’s on your account for free, you’ll have to pay for permanent hero cards if you want more.

Tha Playah....

I complained about the tutorial, but it is definitely needed. Players can choose one of the 2 different gametypes: Annihilation and the Battlefield. Annihilation is all about having more kills than the other team before the match ends. The Battlefield mode is about destroying the base of the opposite faction. The Battlefield mode really reminded me of DotA and Demigod-style games. The more you play this mode, the more you realize it’s all about strategy. In this mode you can take strategic points like mines which give you coins over time, these coins can be used to upgrade structures or buy items which will help you, like potions or temporary equipment. The map is also filled with npc’s which will fight on your side and the opposite faction also has its own npc’s. These can be killed by players to gain coins and experience.


Something you will notice after playing some time is that you won’t level up. That is correct. Players don’t have levels, but ranks. While in a match, you can level up, which means your character gets strong but after the round is done, you just have to begin over. What is the point of this? It certainly seems that they want to match up players with to same ranks and let them battle each other. This will prevent noobs playing against pro’s, who are experienced at the game I guess, which would be unfair. But why do we have to constantly level up in new rounds? This is because you could easily overpower the opposite faction and win the game easily if the same level remained. Let me give you an example. My hero was level 17 (the cap is 20) and I could easily destroy a structure of the opposite faction on my own. When I’m just beginning a round I get my ass kicked by guardians. So it requires teamwork and tactics at the beginning, the things LOCO’s unique genre is living up for.


I was talking about temporary equipment wasn’t I? Yes, by that I mean items which can only be bought during a match. This can be a potions or a charm or anything else. These are temporary just like the coins and levels you’re earning during the game. The skills you learn during the game are also temporary. Every time your hero levels up it gets 1 skill point which can be used to learn a skill or upgrade a skill you already have. I could give the same argument for this one, so your character isn’t too overpowered. To make it balanced and fair as possible, players can only carry 8 temporary items and they can only learn up to 4 skills with one ultimate skill.

The equipment window

Beside the temporary equipment you can also have permanent equipment. This part is interesting. You can equip armor or weapons with different stats on them, which suit your playing style the best. You can equip armor and weapons from the levels 1,5,9,13,17. Question mark? I’ll explain it. The equipment of level 1 will stay equipped till you hit level 5, after you hit level 5, the level 5 items will remain equipped till level 9 and so on. You can also upgrade your weapons. The upgrades and stats on the permanent items however, are not that great of a number.

Opinion
The gameplay is very unique, the combined elements of tactical games, MMORPG’s and the 3rd person shooter view makes it a very unique game in these genres . The character details are great, the graphics are certainly stunning for a free to play game. I also want to point out that the balance of power is great. The sublevels and ranks help a lot and there is no such thing as “if you have cash-items you’ll just PWN”, at least for now.

LOCO surely lacks content. It needs more equipment, more maps, more game modes and more missions (it doesn’t have any in the beta). Also there are not that many heroes to choose from. It was mentioned that there would be like 30. But hey, they announced new heroes in their new trailer and the game is still in a beta phase. Give them some time and hopefully it will be a great game with more content. The game is definitely worth a try!