By Valeisha Jackson
Noob – The Factionless is about two characters, Adam and Martin, yearning to become pro gamers in the Horizon. While the two friends exist in the “real world,” the Horizon is the game the characters play passionately. The upcoming Horizon 5.0 is a multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that will consist of battling with other players and competing to win at Esports.
Unfortunately, Adam is a noob so he believes that his dream of being a professional gamer will not come true. A noob, of course, is a person that does not have a lot of experience in a certain activity. In the beginning of the game, Adam and Martin are in a store talking to Max, Elena, and Anna about their dream to be pro gamers. Max told Adam that if he would like to pursue his dream, he needs to start playing now before the new Horizons 5 gets released.
After they spoke about this, Adam and Martin went to go buy the latest Horizons game before the new version came out and started their journey of becoming better gamers.
What I love about this the most is that I did not expect this game to grow on me so quickly. As Max informed Adam and Martin, the goal is to reach level 100 before the release of Horizon 5.0. This new Horizon is supposed to bring a whole lot of different changes, and they want to use the current game as a change of pace to reach the top in a different area.
Adam and Martin bought Horizon 4.2 and they started to play together over the phone. Horizon 4.2 is about a moon at the center of the universe, one that is ruled by the Sources of Life and Death. Life and Death are the angels who are responsible for actual Life and Death. The world was once ruled by Void Source (an army whose leader has intentions for the world to remain evil and under control) until it was defeated by Life and Death, and promptly sealed away deep within the moon.
The world was renamed Olydri, then plants, animals and the various other species that roam the world were created. While Life and Death allowed everything in the world to tap into their magical energies, also known as Manastreams, an unexpected event disrupted the balance of Olydri when a mysterious ship crash-landed. So, a new divide was created between Magic and Technology. It’s complicated but cool, too.
The battles occur when two players accept a quest, then the skills of the two players will pop up on the screen, showing what they are strong in. Next, the characters get to choose how they want to attack and what object they would like to use. In the beginning of the game you have fewer options such as the Hungry Cleaver, but you get better weapons/items as you level up.
However, Noob – The Factionless has a few aspects that I am not a fan of. This game has a lack of direction. Most of the time when I played, I had to guess what my next move would be, hoping to be correct. The game doesn’t give any indication to the player of where to go next. The map has no icons or pointers, such as an arrow head in this direction.
Although I loved the graphics, it reminds me of a game I played on my Wii System, Super Mario All Stars, when I battled the opponents. All of the colors are vibrant and the designs of the characters while in combat give more of a retro game look. The controls are very simple when fighting as well, they step back into position, standing still in a stance before they run forward and slash.
There are side quests you can do to gain XP and money aside from the main quests. One side quest is helping the villagers and soldiers by fighting the bandits who are bringing danger to their home. As you gain XP for your character, you will be capped at every 10th level. What I found tedious was that you cannot lift up your cap until you reach that point in the storyline before completing the next floor of the tower. You can only lift up your cap after you finish the next floor of Galamadriabuyak, the tower, and it took me some time to actually beat this level.
This is a very cute RPG game even though it can be a little dull from the start or during the time I was stuck on a certain level. Noob – The Factionless runs very smoothly on PC, it takes about 50 hours to fully complete the game but since I kept getting stuck on certain levels it took me about a week. I’ve played this for 42 hours so far. Noob is also available on Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4 and 5, Xbox, and macOS, but whatever format you choose, you’ll generally have a fine time with the Horizon.
Valeisha Jackson is an NYVGCC intern who lives in the Bronx. She will be attending Hunter College in the fall.
