【China Archives】

In the current landscape of multiplayer video games,China Archives everything kind of blends together into only a handful of categories, as seen in recent weeks.

You've got your team-based shooters like Call of Duty: Black Ops IIII, your multiplayer online battle arenas (MOBAs) like Paladin, your fighting games like Dragonball FighterZ, and your battle royale games like Fortniteand every other game coming out this year.

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But amongst all those field-tested clones that refuse to break the mold, one game has had the courage to try something new and stick to its guns, offering up a rare, refreshing take on competitive multiplayer: Awesomenauts.

Awesomenauts, a little hidden gem for PC from 2012, is one of the most fun competitive multiplayer games I've ever played in my life and the one I've played more than any other. Probably because I'm not actually that competitive and Awesomenautsdoesn't frustrate me like other hardcore multiplayer games.

Since 2012, I've poured hundreds and hundreds of hours into Awesomenautswith its nuanced take on the MOBA genre. It takes the ideas laid down by League of Legends and Dota 2, simplifies them, and puts its own 2D spin on them to create a perfect and unique game with one of the best theme songs ever imagined.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

How it works

Awesomenautsis a 3v3 game with a single objective: destroy your enemies' base before they destroy yours.

Of course, it's not quite that simple. On all the maps, both teams have turrets that enemies need to get through first before getting to their base, plus droids that spawn every few seconds and walk like lemmings toward each other's bases.

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Using your chosen character's unique abilities, you want to kill enemy players and their droids in order to push your own droids up to their turrets, basically using them as cannon fodder while you attack the turret and open up a path to the enemy base.

The core concept is very similar to popular MOBAs like League of Legendsand Dota 2. But instead of three lanes lined with turrets on flat, top-down maps, Awesomenautsturns the whole thing on its side with vertical maps that allow for more fluid, platforming-based movement and action.

As you kill enemies and droids, you gain a kind of currency called solar which you can save up and spend on improving your abilities. As the game goes on, certain aspects of players will get stronger depending on their decisions and you'll have to adapt to counter them.

Why it's so fun

Many arena-type games feature a multitude of characters with different playstyles, but Awesomenauts' colorful cast feels truly special and every character feels like a completely different experience. Some can fly around and drop bombs, others are better suited for close-quarters combat, and some can pick off runners from a safe distance.

The characters pair perfectly with the movement in the game. Dodging projectiles with a quick jump or using a boost pad to fly up and surprise an enemy player or two is infinitely more satisfying than clicking on the ground to move around in Leagueor Dota.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Managing upgrades is also pretty simple, and with a hard cap on how many times you can upgrade your abilities there isn't a lot of resource management to worry about so you can just focus on the action.

Each game usually lasts about 15 minutes, give or take, so you don't have to lock in for a 45-minute match, but games aren't so short that you feel like you don't have a chance to make a comeback even if you have a rough start.

The community is small, which is certainly a benefit as it seems to cut down on the overall level of hate, harassment, and general toxicity that can make other competitive games so unappealing.

And best of all? It's free to play, just like many other MOBAs, so it's no risk at all to give a shot and see if it's to your liking.

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