Review For The Werewolf MMO Shooter, Wolf Team

Review For The Werewolf MMO Shooter, Wolf Team
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No Full Moon Needed For These Wolves

After downloading and installing this game, I had my reservations going into Wolf Team. I mean, let’s face it; a first-person shooter called “Wolf Team” isn’t exactly a highly original name or an entirely enticing sounding one either. It sounds like a bad PG-13 action flick aimed at angry, testosterone driven young males.

However, the game is surprisingly good and well balanced enough to take hold of any shooter fan and keep them locked at the keyboard for many hours on end with nary a complaint about imbalance, hackers or a deficiency in weapon selection. In the same way, though, it’s still a shooter popular with angry, testosterone driven young males.

Concept 5/5 (5 out of 5)

Bringing out the heavy firepower

The game developers decided to combine a third-person wolf-melee game with a fully-functional first-person shooter and dump the entire thing within deathmatch style maps and call it an MMO. Brilliant!

Sarcasm aside, I really have to commend the designers for investing so much time into making sure that the game showcases a heck of a lot of quality within its functionality and execution. One of the noteworthy aspects about the game is that in addition to the standard deathmatch modes there are classic human vs human modes, werewolf vs werewolf modes, human vs werewolf modes, a capture the base mode, and a bomb mode where one team defends while the other team plants bombs at designated areas.

One of the really high points about the whole thing is that it actually works and works well. Usually games fall flat when implementing crazy cool ideas and trying to get them to work effectively just doesn’t meld right. However, this is probably one of the few MMOFPS games out there where it aimed for something big and it paid off in a big way.

Gameplay (5 out of 5)

They’re stalking their prey

The gameplay in Wolf Team is just surprising…very surprising. Going into this game I expected faulty controls, difficult button combinations and everything else in between. However, the mix of playing as a wolf or human was handled with exceptional care by the developers and translates into a very smooth and well-rounded gameplay experience.

When playing as the werewolves players can run horizontally on walls, jump far distances and perform a number of melee maneuvers on foes. At first I thought it wouldn’t be much fun playing as the werewolves but it’s quite the opposite; the wolves are designed to add an almost arcade thrill to the gameplay and it works like a charm. There are even various classes of wolves that can be unlocked or earned as players level up or take down foes, which adds even more depth and a hint of strategy to the overall gameplay.

On the human side the weapons all pretty much work like a dream. Well, most of the weapons. I couldn’t seem to get the rocket launchers to behave well, but then again I’ve never been the kind of gamer who did well measuring targets up with the vertical reticule when lobbing grenades out of a launcher. Nevertheless, there are various weapons within each category so even if you can’t get a hit in with one kind of gun there are several other types within each class that’s bound to suit your playing style.

I was also pleasantly surprised at the amount of weapons that are available in the game and how well each one is finely tuned. I would probably have to say that Wolf Team has some of the best, evenly balanced weapon mechanics available in an MMOFPS, rivaling the likes of Cross Fire and Mercenary Wars.

Maps (5 out of 5)

When all else fails…whip out the pistol

There’s no sense going into Wolf Team expecting military facilities or rustic villages with quaint old cottages, such as one might find in games like Alliance of Valiant Arms, Soldier Front or Sudden Attack. Instead, all the stages in Wolf Team are specifically designed to be fun. Is that not new or what?

Every stage has a fair share of camping spots, cover points, suppression segments and hidden routes for sneak attacks. I really loved the map layouts and designs because they were also finely tuned for maneuvering around as a wolf. It’s like the developers threw out all forms of MMOFPS convention and solely focused on making an all around fun game. I can’t say that the map designs found in Wolf Team would work for every kind of game but they’re all pitch-perfect for this original first-person shooter.

The thing I liked most about the maps is that they were usually spacious enough to allow for flanking and team work, yet contained enough compact scenarios within a stage to allow for close-quarter combat as well. Literally, each stage is designed to afford for every kind of FPS gameplay situation and this is what made the maps so darn fun.

Graphics And Sound (3 out of 5)

One of the coolest looking shotguns around

With everything else expertly designed for the game, Wolf Team was bound to have a drawback somewhere at some point. The drawback (although a minor one in comparison to other MMOFPS games out there) obviously falls within the realm of its graphics and visuals. While Wolf Team is obviously better looking than a game like Crazy Shooter Online or Mission Against Terror Online, the main problem is that it lacks a lot of lighting detail, so everything looks kind of bright and, dare I say, unpolished.

Nevertheless, gamers who aren’t hung up on graphics probably won’t have any issues with the visuals in Wolf Team. Added to this, the graphical presentation is moderate enough so gamers with low-end PCs should be able to run the game easily.

The sound doesn’t standout particularly all that much but the commentary, wolf sounds and weapons all add moderately to the overall gameplay experience. What little music the game does have sounds pretty good and is well done.

Overall (4 out of 5)

Running on the walls is a great way to get the jump on opponents

Gamers accustomed to MMOFPS games that focus heavily on imbalanced gameplay and cheating weapons or skills won’t find any of that in Wolf Team. This is an outstanding feat for a free-to-play FPS and the consistent gameplay model coupled with lots of fresh and fun content makes Wolf Team a must-play for any fan of the first-person shooter genre.

And while the game may not have a custom-gun builder like Operation 7 or an innumerable amount of modes and features like Combat Arms, Wolf Team manages to distinctly set itself apart from the competition with a great selection of maps, unique combat skills and generally fun game modes.

If you thought Underworld made werewolves fun to watch, Wolf Team makes them fun to play.

Official Wolf Team Website