Pseudo-Preview: Smite Xbox One Alpha

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, a lot of MOBAs are trying to work their ways to consoles. On the forefront of this movement is the relative PC veteran Smite. The Alpha is in full swing, and I've had an opportunity to play several matches. My initial reactions after the break!!


Smite is a relative newcomer the MOBA scene that does a lot to differentiate itself from the typical structure of other games in the genre. While the typical 5v5 match on a 3-lane map with turrets and neutral buff-giving monsters exist, as well as the ARAM variation (5v5, one lane, all characters chosen at random), Smite really shines in the Arena mode and it's daily rotating special modes.

Arena is incredibly fun on PC, and is equally fun on Xbox One. In this mode, two 5 player teams meet in a circular arena with neutral monster buff camps and no turrets. Each team starts with 500 points and loses some each time a god on that team dies or an enemy creep enters their portal. The first team to 0 points loses. This mode does a great job of getting players in the action and keeping the momentum going. There's no laning phase or ganking phase. Just in your face action and team fights. It's also a great way to get people who don't care for the 5v5 mode a chance to play and have a lot of fun.

Spin to win!!

While not featured in the Xbox One Alpha, PC players currently have access to a special mode each day that changes regularly. One day it may be an ARAM where each player is randomly given one of three gods to play. Another day it may be an Arena match where everyone can only be Ra. While these special modes tend to toss any semblance of structure out the window, they certainly add a great amount of variety to Smite.

"But, how does it translate to console?" you may ask. Well, I'm glad you ask. The short answer:

VERY well.

Visually speaking, the Xbox One version looks great, certainly a lot better than my crummy PC can handle. Framerates are strong, generally speaking, but may struggle rarely during large team fights with a lot of abilities being triggered. I really didn't see much of that at all, but it does happen. Considering it's an Alpha, I suspect some graphical tweaks will be made for stability anyway.

Get outta there!

As great as it is, this Alpha isn't perfect and there are things that will need to change. My primary complaint so far is the UI. As of now, it's indistinguishable from the PC version. That means a lot of fonts are waaaaaaay too small to be read from a couch several feet from the TV. Unless you own a monster of a TV, you are likely going to be straining to read a lot of details on items, abilities, etc. This is the primary thing I want Hi-Rez to change. It simply won't cut it in final release.

However, the major concern with brining a PC title to console is control. How does it translate from a keyboard to a controller? From my understanding -- I'm somewhat ignorant in this area as I do not have a gamepad for my PC -- the PC version of Smite currently supports gamepads. So, the jump to Xbox One isn't as far as a stretch as one may suspect. When I began my first tutorial, I was immediately prompted to choose my preference of four different control configurations. I experimented with a couple before deciding on having my abilities mapped to my triggers and shoulder buttons. The default keymap has abilities mapped to the face buttons, but that would require taking my thumb from the right analog stick which is used for aiming. But, suffice it to say that there is some flexibility for adjustment, which is a good thing. PC players who are used to a keyboard and mouse may struggle with adapting to a controller.

What really makes Smite work well on a console is the 3rd person camera. If this was a traditional isometric view like with Dota2 or League of Legends, it would not work. At least, not easily. I still hope someone can prove me wrong some day...

Just doing Guan Yu things...

Overall, the Smite alpha has left me feeling incredibly positive. After several matches, I stopped playing because it felt so much like the PC version that I didn't feel the need to test it any more. I already knew it because I had played it on PC. That's a strong testament to the quality of the conversion.

Smite still does not have an official release date for Xbox One, but should be available to all later in 2015.