GetAmped 2 is a fighting MMO set within the city of Wingdom. Players choose from five classes, and are given a chance to try out their selection in the game’s tutorial before committing to it. After a mock battle against their trainer, players are free to decorate their personal room, explore the various areas of the city and, most important, fight. There are two general match types in GetAmped 2. Those that take place in the GAT Stadium (which involve players fighting one another), and co-op missions initiated within Mega Force HQ. GetAmped 2 is a huge improvement over its predecessor, which many may know under the name ‘Splash Fighters.’
Classes - Soldier, Knight, Hero, Spy.
GetAmped 2 was released on December 27th by CyberStep, and is a huge improvement over its predecessor, which some of you may know as Splash Fighters. As a free-to-play fighting MMO, GetAmped 2 offers a wide selection of game modes including both competitive and cooperative play. The game is dialogue-heavy, and even allows players to decorate their private room, giving the game an RPG flavor.
Amped Up Warriors
With a client size of only 240 mb, GetAmped 2 is almost guaranteed to work on even the oldest machines. Downloading and installing the game is fast, but players should remember to manually ‘activate’ the game after registering an account. GetAmped also publishes HolyBeast Online, and players can share a single login for these two games. Players use their email address as their username, and only a single character is allowed per account. After logging in for the first time, the character creation menu will appear. There are currently five classes in the game and each is available in two forms. The five classes are: Soldier, Fighter, Spy, Hero, and Knight. There are also five stats in the game including: Str, Tec, Spd, Jmp, and Def.
Learn to Play
After selecting a class and choosing an avatar, players must run through a short tutorial that introduces them to the game’s basic controls. All movement and combat is done with the keyboard in GetAmped 2 – the arrow keys control movement while Z,X,C,V along with the space bar make up the rest of the game’s keys. The ‘c’ is used to perform weak attacks while ‘x’ executes a slower, but more powerful blow. Hitting both keys simultaneously uses a ‘special’, which depletes the character’s mana supply. The ‘v’ key is used to jump, and players can perform aerial attacks while doing so. The space bar will use the character’s special weapon, which varies from class to class. Soldiers start with grenades, but these special weapons can only be used a few times per battle. Double-tapping an arrow key causes the character to dash, and ‘z’ is used to set a target. In chaotic matches, with up the eight players battling on one small arena, quickly switching targets becomes a necessity. GetAmped 2 even allows gamepad functionality for those who prefer to play with a controller.
Tutorial Redo
After completing the tutorial, players are given the option to try a different class before accepting their current one. Since each account only has a single character slot, it’s important to pick the class you’re most comfortable with. An additional trial battle is available after the tutorial, but is not required. Before moving on, players are rewarded with about a dozen items (including furniture and clothes), along with 2k in cash to start their adventures. A young, pink-haired girl named Sparks gives new players a short tour around the floating city of Wingdom, where GetAmped 2 takes place. The ability to explore the game world and visit such locales as the Prime Market (a giant shopping mall) and SpinSquare (a community park) is definitely one of the most distinguishing features of GetAmped 2. No other fighting MMO to date has the same level of immersion. The original Splash Fighters and other online fighters like Rumble Fighter are limited to a lobby, and thus remove any sense of a living virtual world.
Home Sweet Home
When the tour ends, Sparks drops players off in their own room. All players are given a small, instanced room, in which can be decorated and visited by others. New players can spend a few moments arranging the three pieces of furniture they received from the tutorial, and even change their room’s background color. A skin editor option is also accessible from the player’s room, which offers a nearly limitless set of customization options. Players can literally paint any design onto their avatar’s clothes using a set of tools that resembles those found in MS paint. It is even possible to save designs onto your desktop and upload ones downloaded online. Not being the most artistic individual, I went about vandalizing my avatar with splashes of blue and green paint that just made my outfit look worse, but for those who want to put in the time, GetAmped 2 offers the best customization options of any fighting game.
A Fist Full of Dialogue
The RPG elements of GetAmped 2 are most apparent in its use of dialogue. When first visiting any area in the city, players are given an introduction via lengthy NPC chats. For some reason, I was reminded of the GameCube title Custom Robo while playing the game. Both are mainly fighting games with customizable parts (or weapons in this case) that contain single-player/story elements. The brightly-colored environments and NPCs definitely improve the overall package, but at times they can get a little annoying. A lot of the translations are off, and there are many flat out misspellings in the dialogue. These may not of been a top priority during development and testing, but hopefully they are patched up soon. Mercifully, all the dialogue scenes can be skipped for players who are not interested in joining the Mega Force Unit and saving Wingdom from the evil forces of the Val Shark Army.
Fighting With or Against Us
GetAmped 2 offers players two major gaming options, each in a different part of the city. Mega Force HQ is a great place for newbies to start since it offers co-op missions, which reward points (experience), cash, and items. Up to four players can participate in a co-op mission, of which there are dozens available. New stages will unlock as players level up and complete previous maps. Once inside the Mega Force HQ, players will generally receive invites to various games hosted by other players. Navigating the lobby menu is simple, and hosting your own game doesn’t require and special rank or privileges. For competitive play, the GAT Stadium is where the action is. Here again, players can join or create matches. There are currently two match types – Private and Team. Both modes support up to eight players. In Private matches, players fight in a large free-for-all with the goal of being the last man standing. Team matches group players into two teams, and the last team with a member left standing is declared the winner. Co-op missions generally consist of one ’round’, while competitive matches are made up of three rounds.
And… Action
Even with all the NPC dialogue, community features, and appearance customization, the most important part of a fighting game is the actual gameplay. Luckily, GetAmped 2 offers plenty of improvement on this front as well. I wasn’t a huge fan of the original Splash Fighters because the fighting always felt a bit rigged or buggy. In this latest iteration, combat just feels more ‘fluid.’ Matches are still fast-paced, and its still easy to find yourself dead within moments if you’re not careful. Newbies should be especially careful not to fall off ledges or hit their teammates. Get Amped 2 tracks players’ rankings and stats. It’s always fun to see where you rank and how you’ve improved from the previous day. The game does a good job of slowly giving out rewards in the form of cash with which to purchase new costumes and weapons. Even so, the game’s premise isn’t much different than before. It doesn’t have the same level of detail as newer looking fighters like Lost Saga, but the graphics are better than the side-scrolling Mini Fighter Online. In the end, this is a casual game specifically made with ease of play and low-end system settings in mind. If you’re looking for a simple action-oriented MMO with no upfront costs, you would do well to check out GetAmped 2.
Erhan Altay
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