SMITE 4.15

The MOBA space is one of the oddest in games. It is, by any definition, highly successful. More people play games in the genre than almost any other. There are, however, only a handful of truly successful games. League of Legends and DOTA 2 stand above the rest, closely trailed by Blizzard's Heroes of the Storm. SMITE came on the heels of a number of high-profile failures, and it was never certain that it could hang with the big games. Whether it has succeeded in its mission is largely up to what you are looking for in this sort of game.

Unique MOBA That Brings Something New to the Table

SMITE is a fantastic MOBA that does a few great things differently. First and foremost is the camera - you're in more of a third-person camera view than an eagle-eye view, which makes the game play more like a third person RPG. This makes the combat a little more frantic and really helps the game stand out. The hero selection, which is composed of a series of real-world gods, is also fantastic and just unique enough that it stands out. This is a game that really is trying to do something different in a space that is both crowded and already full of dominant players.

It feels a little unfair to go after SMITE for its biggest failing, largely because it's hammering the game for something that's perfectly common across the genre. The UI, simply put, isn't good. It's not broken and it won't stop you from playing the game, but you can tell that the balance between PC and console friendliness led to some compromises. Beyond that, the only real problem with the game is that it doesn't have quite the following of its competition. This game isn't LoL or DOTA2, and it probably never will be.

There's also the issue that this MOBA is clearly designed for consoles. In some ways, that's a bonus - XBOX has had several MOBA attempts, and they've been universally awful. What it does mean for everyone playing, though, is that the game doesn't look as good as it could. The graphics are definitively last-gen, something you'll really notice on a high-end PC. That doesn't make the game bad, per se, but it's definitely something that could've used an overhaul. Fortunately, most people don't play MOBA games because they are pretty - they play them for the competition, which SMITE brings in spades.

Conclusion

Is SMITE a League of Legends killer? Probably not. It's not going to compete on the same level as a LoL or even DOTA2, but it's carving out a comfortable niche in the MOBA space. The community is definitely worth joining and it's a great deal of fun to master the characters. If you can get past the art style and you can get used to some of the issues that might come with playing on a console, you'll find a game that's well worth playing. This is one MOBA that might not be at the top of the heap, but that's still worth your time.