Review Score
Gameplay
Combination of action-RPG with RTS elements makes for a unique gaming experience.
Replay Value
Unless you enjoy fast-paced action-RPG style gameplay, this game can get somewhat repetitive with all the grinding.
Graphics
The graphics have a nice level of cartoony detail that gives some decent atmosphere. Flashy special effects are also decent.
Audio
Passable music with some solid sound effects to accompany the graphical effects makes for pleasant action.

Overall
Unique blend of RPG with RTS makes this a must-try.

Soul Master Official North/South America Website

Introduction

NOTE:  I am conducting this review from playing the North and South American version available at Games Campus.

Soul Master is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game, or MMORTS for short.  It blends RPG elements with real-time strategy.  You have a persistent hero character that levels up and can equip items you earn from completing missions, buy from a merchant or other player, or crafted yourself.  The heart of the gameplay is in the PVE missions and PVP matches.  Missions and matches play similar to DoTA, which has you controlling a single hero character while your armies fight by themselves without any interaction from you.  The difference in Soul Master is that it has an RTS component, albeit a light one.  You can gather resources and construct buildings in order to summon creatures called Souls to help you fight.  You can also give your Souls simple commands like staying at a particular spot or to attack a particular enemy.  Thus, Soul Master blends RPG and RTS elements together for a unique gameplay experience.

Gameplay

Cities

In between playing co-op missions or PVP matches you’ll be able to explore the not-so-large world of Soul Master.  You’ll essentially only explore the different cities and use a teleport to get from city to city.  Each city has a different minimum character level requirement before you can go there so players of different levels are essentially divided by city.  Not that more experienced players can’t visit the newbie city.  Now it is possible that the game world be expanded some more as Soul Master is currently in beta.  Each city has several NPCs that sell basic items, allow you to level your skills and Souls, and let you access solo and co-op missions. It’s in the cities that you chat, party, trade and otherwise interact with other players.  It’s also where you manage your inventory and gear up for your next mission.

Missions (PVE)

You will be introduced to the basics of the game through story-driven Training Missions.  Initially, these will acquaint you with the game’s mechanics.  Later on, you’ll undertake Field Missions, which are  co-op missions with varying objectives such as escorting an NPC, defend your base for a certain amount of time, defeat a boss monster, or defeat an AI opponent.  You can always take on missions solo, but its always more fun when you party up and play with allies.  You’ll also be able to fulfill quests you receive from NPCs in town such as defeating a certain number of monsters and other typical quests found in MMOs.  Missions can played at different difficulty levels as well, although you will have to complete the mission on an easier difficulty first to unlock the next difficulty setting.  Playing the same missions on harder difficulty levels yields better treasures when you successfully complete the scenario, so it is beneficial to players who party together as all party members will receive better goodies at the end.

PVP

PVP game sessions are available on the lobby list which is accessible via a button on the upper right corner when you’re in a city.  Once in the lobby, you will notice that game rooms are divided into three skill levels.   As I was a newbie, I chose the tab labeled “training”.  There usually aren’t many newbie rooms, and usually there are players with fairly powerful, glowing equipment for some reason.  At least that’s the way it is on the North and South America servers.  Anyway, you can have free-for-all or team based matches.  Frankly, most people opt for team games as its more fun since you get to play cooperatively and competitively at the same time.  So basically it is like any multiplayer match making system:  players make rooms, other players join, and the havoc begins.  Oh, I have also found that multiplayer is still somewhat unstable.  I have been disconnected from a game I was setting up and also crashed before a different game started.  Guess that’s why they’re still in beta.  However, I have not crashed or been disconnected during a match yet.

Fighting

So how does a PVP match play out?  You start with just your main building and there is always an unprotected resource crystal nearby.  You spend a few seconds claiming the crystal, and soon it becomes a resource generator that also behaves like a defense tower.  Then you run quickly out of your base area searching for more crystals.  You will soon discover that all other crystals outside player’s bases are protected by NPC monsters.  If you’re brave you’ll attempt to defeat the monsters and claim another crystal for yourself.  Soon, you’ll have enough resources to build new buildings and actually start summoning Souls.  The more advanced buildings allow you to build stronger types of souls, but building weaker buildings is a perquisite to building the more advanced structures.  Unfortunately, I did not have access to the more advanced buildings in my PVP matches, probably because they were newbie games.

I soon realized that I was completely underpowered when I encountered the massive armies of my opponents.  They quickly slew me and my few weak Souls, and replaced my resource gathering buildings with theirs.  Apparently PVP is really competitive in this game from the get-go.  It didn’t help that I was still learning all the keyboard shortcuts required to tell my souls what to do.  There aren’t many, but efficient use of shortcuts is a must as the fighting is fast-paced and managing soul summoning, strategic soul movement, and controlling your main character in a fight can get quite frantic.

Fighting with your hero character is mostly done with the mouse.  You left click to attack in the direction you are facing and left click several times in succession in order to pull off a several hit combo that finishes off by hitting your opponent into the air.  Depending on which character you are using, you’ll be able to use different combos and special attacks.  The Valiant Knight uses some rather high damage close range skills.  The Bearcat of the Harmony Tribe has some sneaky skills like going into stealth mode and planting mines on the ground that pursue enemies.  The Priest(ess) is able to buff Souls under her team’s control and focuses on long range attacks.  Thus, Soul Master plays more like an action RPG with some RTS mechanics during matches.

Graphics

If you watch the trailer above, you’ll see that the graphics are cartoony, but are pretty decent.  Characters, buildings, and the environment are detailed enough to make the world come alive.  Animations are smooth, varied and just look right.  The area of effect of attacks are mostly accurate and coincide well with attack animations.  Also, there’s plenty of special effects.

Audio

Everything sounds right.  Sword swings make a whooshing sound, explosions sound explosive, and ogres sound big and less than intelligent.  Soundtracks are nice but passable.  They don’t grate on your ears or overshadow the sound effects.  The audio meshes well with the Soul Master world.

Conclusion

The gameplay gets a bit repetitive since PVP matches generally play the same.  Also, the superior equipment of existing players clearly give them an edge against newbies, even if they’re skilled.  You will also grind the same missions several times in PVE in order to earn experience and in-game cash.  You could spend some real world money in order to expedite your character’s growth rate so you won’t have to grind as much.  The connectivity issues and crashes in PVP can be a bit annoying as well.  However, the game’s overall presentation is really well put together, and if you don’t mind some of the connectivity issues (which might be minor as I have not played PVP extensively), and find the action RPG style of play enticing and addictive, you’ll probably enjoy Soul Master for a long time.

Where to Download and Play

The open beta for North and South America is available at Games Campus and closed beta for Europe is available at Gamigo.