Smite is a third-person online MOBA game, developed by Hi-Rez Studios releasing on PC, Xbox One and due to be released on PS4. You play as the visage of a god from mythological lore and take part in different game modes against other opponents.

The major difference with Smite over other MOBAs is that you play from a third person perspective, and plays with the same sort of controls as other third person action games. The game is very arcade like in that the majority of your abilities are skillshot based rather than selecting a target and having your character auto aim for you. The game has over 70 different gods to play as, each having their own unique play style, abilities and characteristics. There are at least seven different game modes to play in, Conquest, Arena, Joust, Assault, Siege, Clash, and Match of the Day. My favourite mode out of them all has to be arena. The matches take no longer than 20 minutes, and the players that take part in them are genuinely really nice to be around. Being a fairly novice player at Smite compared to a lot of people, I felt that Conquest, which is considered the main game mode, had a much more hostile community vibe to it with more abuse and flaming coming out of chat than any other mode I played in. As with most MOBA type games, your characters equipment plays a key part in how well you perform, and Smite is no different. There is a wide variety of different gear to choose from, allowing you to play your character however you choose.

Smite is built using the unreal engine 3.0 technology, which provides graphics full of detail and presenting a higher graphic level than most MOBA games. The character models are all high in detail and really well animated using rag doll effects. The game’s sound effects are OK, you have to pay extra for your characters voice pack, but you still get a little bit of flavour speech here and there.

The tutorial system at the start of the game does a very good job of explaining the games main mechanics and explaining the main game mode, and I felt it got me to a sufficient skill level in order to jump into the main online game. I have been playing for about ten hours so far, and I am at that point where I can quite often find myself at the top of the kills score board, and having the least amount of deaths too. I am not saying I am absolutely amazing all of the time, but I don’t feel as if I am being carried by my team anymore and doing more good than not. This is the sort of game where practice makes all the difference – the more you play the better you’ll get.

I can honestly say I am completely hooked on Smite, and have been playing it for the past week every night after work. The matches are a perfect length before they start to drag on, and the accessibility of any of the game modes makes it really quick to find a match online. The game would be even more enjoyable if you play with friends on coms, but even from a solo perspective, I can see myself playing Smite for hours and hours.

I did have a fairly annoying technical issue which I was unable to resolve, and that is really rapid frame rate drops and freezes. I started playing the game on 4k, with all of the settings maxed out; obviously I noticed the freezing – although it only happens when you open a menu, or a kill is announced on screen. So I dropped the resolution down to 1440p, although the same happened, reducing the resolution even more to 1080p only to find it still occurred. More so, even reducing the graphics settings did not cause the issue to disappear either, so it makes no odds whether I was playing on 4k max settings, or 1080p with low settings; the freezing happened regardless. Looking online the issue appears to be with the servers, so hopefully this can be resolved in a future patch.

Smite is one of the first MOBA games I have played for a length of time longer than 2 hours. I tend to normally stay away from this genre of game because I know how much of a time hog they can be, and I am the sort of person who will just find myself going down a rabbit hole with it, with that said, I do intend to keep on playing Smite, at least a few times a week due to how easy and quick the games are to get into. MOBA fans and even third person action skill based game fans will want to be checking this game out. The free to play model is done really well, with buying extra heroes rather than using the weekly rotation selection, and cosmetic items being the only things you can purchase. You can pay £20, 99 to unlock every single hero in the game presently as well as any future gods as well. Personally I wouldn’t purchase this as I was perfectly happy using the weekly selection of gods, but if you intend to get really stuck into the game; it may be worth picking up this pack to unlock all of the heroes.

Tom’s Score Card
1) Stay away
2) Not Recommended
3) Only recommended when on sale
4) Recommended
5) Highly recommended
6) This is a must play