Massively-Multiplayer Online Game “Air Rivals” launches off!

A few weeks ago, Air Rivals had a final character wipe and started with their Open Beta period, a phase were final tweaking and testing will be done in preparation for the game’s full release. Air Rivals is an MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) that has Flight Action shooter gameplay incorporated with MMORPG elements, such as stats, equipment customization.

There are 4 types of aircraft known as “Gears” that the player can choose from:

• I-Gear - an interceptor unit specializing in air-to-air combat

• B-Gear - a gear which focuses on bombing, with air-to-air and air-to-ground capabilities

• A-Gear - a flying tank ground-to-air attacks with a powerful siege mode

• M-Gear - a support unit with tough defense and skills that aids comrades.

Each gear can be equipped with standard (guns) and advanced (missiles, bombs) weapons, and as you level up you can change it’s appearance by upgrading the armor.

There are a lot of items in the game ranging from standard vulcan-type guns to cannons, and guided missiles. The effects are pretty good, particularly the missile effects (which kinda reminds me of Macross). There are also materials that you can collect by killing mobs, which you use for upgrading armor and equipment later on. It’s best to hold on to those since you’ll need a lot of them when you reach higher levels.

The game gives a fair amount of missions and quests for levelling up, and once you hit level 11, you get to choose between the two nations in the game, the BCU (Bygeniou) and ANI (Arlington Rebellion). These two factions are in a constant struggle to control territory, and that’s the core of the game’s PVP system. If you’re more of a casual player and you don’t want the hassle of getting raided all the time, you can choose to go to a map’s “safe channel”… but where’s the fun in that?

The biggest nation vs. nation event in the game is the “Mothership War“, which happens every time a nation’s CP (Contribution Points, which are accumulated by fighting the opposite nation through raids or Arena battles) fills up to a certain level. A nation’s mothership will get summoned in an assigned map in their territory, and it’s up to the opposite nation to destroy it to attain victory. If the nation that had their mothership summoned succesfully defends it for 2 hours, then they win.

It’s pretty much the most exciting part of the game’s PVP system, and it’s also the time when most players are online so the lag gets pretty annoying. So far the first server “Helix” has the most of the game’s population, and during peak hours the lag becomes slightly unaccomodating, especially during MS Wars.

The game also has an Arena mode, where you can go with a team of 6 and fight with teams from the opposite nation. It’s a sure way of getting a fight if you’re not into raiding. It’s also good practice for dogfighting and coordinating with teammates.

And like other MMOGs, Air Rivals has a Brigade/Guild system. You can start making your own brigade when you hit level 20, and aside from that there are no other requirements. Having a brigade early on is essential if you want to have a strong sense of community within your nation, and your brigmates can alert you on incoming raids or conduct raids of your own. It’s also best if you’re in a brig with all sorts of Gears, since all of them play an essential part in battle.

You control your ship using your keyboard and mouse, with the standard WASD controls for thrust control+rolling and the mouse for directions. It’s a simple enough control scheme, though not that friendly for controllers/joysticks. Another thing I loved about Air Rivals is it’s inbuilt MP3 player. You can play your Mp3 files in-game as long as they’re in the game’s music directory, which is a good thing, since the game’s music is kinda meh. There’s nothing better than having power metal playing during MS Wars, it really gets your blood pumping.

Well then, I hope you’d give Air Rivals a try. If you’re into MMOs and Flight Action titles, you’ll definitely enjoy this one. If you’re on Helix BCU, look for my A Gear, Bulkhead and drop me a message. Over and out.