Smite is an excellent example of a hardcore MOBA with all the expected nuances and it builds upon it. Aside from some UI and interface adjustments that are being worked on, the transition from PC to Xbox one is seamless. The controls were tight and mapped exactly how one would want to play without a mouse and keyboard. Some of the item/shop clicks and hero upgrades were mapped to a combination of face buttons and triggers that felt natural, not forced. Overall, the combat and graphics felt identical to the PC version, but where Smite really stands out is it features that will help new players test out the genre as a whole.
Though I dabbled in the MOBA genre before I have really fallen out of love with the concept. Being a DOTA player back when it was a mod for Warcraft III and Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, I saw how the genre grew and really hit its stride. Shifting from the mod to the standalone concept that is League of Legends was one of the best things that happened to the genre. League was able to experiment with payment options and customization that the mod could not. Their success would lead the abundance of MOBA’s we have today including DOTA 2.
However, after the release of DOTA 2 I distanced myself from the genre simply because it is a genre where one need to play the game consistently. Consistently in the sense of know balance tweaks, reading patch notes, knowing item builds for the character you like to play or even characters you do not even attempt to touch. The MOBA genre is so off-putting to new players because of the learning curve. For that reason, I am interested in how the new generation of MOBA’s will fare especially on consoles.
