Realistic views of Agora include peaks, valleys, waterfalls and of course the jungle (Shadow) area. Lush trees with soft pastel blooms and bright blue water serve as a perfect backdrop for the towers that you and your team are trying to destroy. Hero abilities slash and fly through the air at their intended target all in an effort to protect and maintain your teams core. The announcer fills silent air with words like “Epic”, “Your skill grows”, and “Enemy has been slain” boosting you and your teams morale through battle.
This Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) is currently in open beta exclusively for PS4 and Microsoft Windows bringing a whole new energy to the MOBA genre. Epic games welcomes players to Agora with lush scenery and interesting heroes and encourages each player to start a fight. As of right now there are 21 heroes to choose from with a promise of a new hero being introduced every three weeks the fights will remain entertaining for veterans and new players alike!
Paragon is a third person view MOBA which allows the player to be immersed in the action compared to top down views found in other games of the same genre. Keeping in classic MOBA style the players choose a single hero to control throughout the game, and using specific lanes and strategies the player along with his team work to take out the enemy towers. A team that communicates and avoids “feeding” kills to the enemy will be a team that reigns victorious.
Paragon broke away from a traditional item shop and offers card packs to build decks specifically to a chosen hero. The cards can be tricky and time consuming to understand with only minimal tutorial or explanation on how to build the ultimate hero. In some aspects the difficulty of building the decks can be a good thing as it allows more freedom to play the hero to your individual fighting style. One downside to the deck difficulty is not all cards suit all heroes. In other words if I am using a Caster hero and do not choose Scouts Ward I would be losing out on mana upgrades and several of my casters abilities. The decks are built to support the start of a game and mid game levels. Upgrades are available through a point system allowing you to reach the mid game card levels. With some research into your favorite heroes, what their designed play style is and a cards specific purposes it doesn’t take long to build a heavy hitting fighter or support character. Cards are delivered as part of leveling rewards and range from Common to Epic Rare.
The mechanics of the game are fairly simple and vary only depending on your chosen gaming system. I have played Paragon on both PC as well as the PS4 and found it easy to identify the ups and downs to both. Team communication is easier with mouse and keyboard and more generic with the PS4 console. Movement through the map seems smooth on either system although it does have no aim assist which tends to be standard on a PC. In game play can run very long periods of time even when playing with AI. Some of the games depending on how well a team strategizes together can run close to an hour in length. One of the greatest perks I have found is that if using the same game id for either system then your level, cards and builds transfer between the two. No data wipes for switching systems!
Paragon certainly offers interesting heroes and battle to both new and skilled MOBA players. So far it has had fairly matched hero balancing and with a recent patch the excessive game times should be lessened slightly. I absolutely recommend playing a few AI games to get the feel for heroes and their card usages. I am sure that given time it will have a similar following as games such as League of Legends and Smite though I am unsure if Paragon will enter the competitive ranks that League has. Overall I would rate this game at an 8 for simple mechanics, great scenery and interesting heroes. The biggest disadvantage causing a loss in rating points for me is the difficulty in use of the card system. Paragon will be free to play, though skins and in game currency (coins) to unlock Mastery Challenges are available for purchase. With that said playing Paragon overall is a fresh and entertaining MOBA. Pick a hero, go with starter decks and go ahead and start a fight.
