Imagine, if you will, this boardroom pitch for Closers: “We’re going to make an sci-fi brawler. Old-school style camera, but modern anime art style. Lots of combos, and each character will have his or her own personality and individual storyline.”
“Sounds great, but we’re an MMO company. How do we make this a multiplayer game?”
“Characters can group up for tougher missions? Maybe incorporate some end-game raids?”
“Ship it!”
At least, that’s how I’d like to imagine Closers being pitched. This Korean-developed MMO (or what North American publisher En Masse Entertainment would like us to refer to as an MOARPG for “Massive Online Action Role-Playing Game”, and known elsewhere in the world as Closers: Online) hit its official N.A. launch date in February, bringing its unique story-focused multiplayer gameplay to a whole new continent.
Right from first launch screen, it’s clear that Closers is not a standard MMO. Where most MMOs present players with a character creation sandbox to craft the online avatar of their dreams or nightmares, Closers presents a stark choice of seven (at the time of this review) available characters. There is no character customization available before launching into the game. The rational for this becomes clear as the game progresses, but the point is made immediately: Don’t expect a traditional MMORPG experience here. This is not a place for player-inserted avatars.
New characters are being added pretty regularly.
Characters are divided into two factions: The Black Lambs, a group of (mostly) teens who operate as a sanctioned Closer team under the auspices of UNION, and the Wolf Dogs, an unlicensed team managed by sometimes-UNION corporate ally Vulture Corp. While each individual character has his or her own storylines too, the storylines for Black Lambs and Wolf Dogs differ dramatically.
The world of Closers loosely based on the greater Seoul area, in a plot setting where aliens from another dimension invaded Earth several years ago. After defeating the initial invasion forces, ways were found to prevent most incursions, however, attacks do still happen, necessitating a unified global response force (UNION). As a side effect of the dimensional rifts, some individuals have become “phase positive” manifesting unique skills enabling them to fight the dimensional monsters and close the rifts as they occur. These individuals are known as “Closers” and it is from them both that the game gets its name, and from where it draws its playable character pool.
The Black Lambs (whom this writer keeps wanting to refer to as the “Black Sheep” due to prolonged exposure to the classic TV show Baa, Baa Black Sheep) follow a somewhat typical storyline. Treated as the B-Team and intended to be tasked with rear-echelon clean-up duties, they find themselves on the frontlines thanks to a combination of conspiracy and big-government incompetence.
The Wolf Dogs follow a much darker storyline, however. As a corporate owned (literally, each member is forced to wear a remotely controlled shock collar) cleaner team, they follow the orders of Vulture Corp. cleaning up behind sanctioned closers, picking scraps of downed enemies that corporate turns into weapons that are sold to UNION, and anyone else who can pay. In game terms, both storylines parallel each other, though it is often beneficial to experience an area with a member of the Black Lambs before trying it with a Wolf Dog.
Dialogs are all of the talking head variety, with the character image expressing a few different emotions.
The world is divided up into major areas, each with a theme-park of quests, a story-line to follow, and rewards for completion. Area appearances differ some between the Black Lambs and Wolf Dogs storylines. Each area contains a set of specific locations, which are unlocked linearly by completing missions. Locations do not differ between factions, though the in-game quest reasons for each visit may be substantially different.
Each area also has its own background music, and fights feature a thematically appropriate set of combat music. Sounds are inobtrusive. Appropriate for the game, no spectacular achievements in sound design here, but nothing that jarringly takes players out of the game, or is too repetitive.
Combat is where the game really shines. Characters have unique move-sets, and substantially different styles. Some, like Yuri of the Black Lambs, are range-focused, doing most of their damage at stand-off distances. Others, like Nata the Wolf Dog, are pure melee brawlers, slashing in with a whirlwind of blades. Characters have a set of unique specials which provide a cinematic feel to the fights.
The storylines are presented in talking-head format, and is entirely text based. All character voices are in the original Korean. How much the questlines in this North American version diverge from the plots of the original game is a question whose answer is known only to En Masse Entertainment’s writing team or bilingual players who have played both versions.
At its best, combat feels like what the Interlock system from the late, lamented Matrix: Online MMO should have been. Fast, frantic action that looks cool and lets each character’s personality shine through. Scything through hordes of weaker enemies is rarely a chore, while tougher enemies will momentarily telegraph attack locations giving players time to get out of the way, provided they notice the important information on the screen.
Outside of the various major areas around New Seoul, players have a chance to let their characters relax in a personalized, custom apartment and garden area. The apartment provides access to a set of offline, time locked missions that can be run by a single closer and up to three pets. Missions provide crafting materials, experience, and a nice way to have characters doing something while offline. The garden, meanwhile, can also be decorated, but primarily serves as an additional source of income and buffs from plants which can be grown and harvested each day.
The garden is pretty, and also quite rewarding.
Housing serves another important roll too, as increased housing levels (generated by running offline missions) increase the amount of allowable Account Fatigue. Resting characters in their apartment also increases the rate at which fatigue is reduced. Some players may be irritated by the inclusion of a fatigue system, which effectively caps how much time can be spent playing Closers each week. The weekly limits, however, are quite high, roughly a thousand fatigue for each closer, and close to three times the individual limit for the account.
Given that most missions only inflict ten fatigue points and average around five minutes in duration, reaching the weekly cap for a single character, much less an entire account, requires a level of time commitment that few players are going to reach. In addition, some missions, such as dailies and special events do not cause fatigue at all. These missions are, however, limited to a certain number of entries per day.
The apartment can be decorated to individual tastes, and all of the Closers that a player has created can sit together.
Crafting and gear enhancement also play significant roles in progression. Each character can equip a single weapon, three modules, six accessories, and a variety of costume elements. While some good gear can be obtained from loot drops, the best items are accessed via crafting and enhancing existing items with new buffs.
In many ways, the fatigue system fits thematically with the rest of Closers design elements. This is not a grindy Korean MMO. Missions are easy to access and quick to complete. While there is not currently a huge amount of end-game content (a single multi-part repeatable raid and boss fight awaits max level players now), players are incentivized to start new Closers and complete additional storylines. While the environments are the same, each story is different.
As a Free-To-Play game, Closers is surprisingly generous to players. Costumes, an elite status buff which confers a daily reward of crafting materials and a fatigue reduction potion, some additional inventory slots, extra crafting materials, and temporary buffs are all purchasable from the store for real money; but are also given away daily from the online store. Unlike many games, it’s perfectly reasonable to play Closers without spending a dime. Players who choose to do this won’t have the best looking characters in the game, but will have no trouble keeping up with money-hatters.
For more information on Closers, check out the official website. A Premium Starter Pack was provided for the purpose of this review.
