TheClownster

I would like to get the point across that this is definitely a Smash Brothers-esque platform fighter. however, calling Rivals of Aether a "smash clone" wouldn't be doing this game justice. This is a fighting game, which captures both the competitive nature of Melee, and the ease of access that the newer Smash Brothers games focus on. Though the game has many of the techniques that were prominent in Melee, the difficulty of executing these moves has been toned down a bit, allowing for less technical players to enjoy the game, as well as those who have honed their technical skills. Another factor that makes this game a lot easier to access than the Smash games is the tutorials. whereas the Smash Brothers games have no real tutorials, other than a few videos showing what the buttons do, Rivals of Aether has extensive tutorials that cover everything from recovery to combos, and even character specific tutorials to better help players understand how their favorite characters function. Fair warning, Rivals of aether has a pretty steep learning curve, that creates a rift between the casuals and the competitive level players, so don't be surprised if you find someone online who is leagues better than you the first time. Mastering this game takes dedication and effort, which makes improving at it significantly more satisfying. The game features singleplayer and multiplayer modes. For the sake of this review, I will mostly be talking about the multiplayer modes. The multiplayer modes are pretty straightforward. Exhibition mode allows you to search for a player online for a friendly match. Ranked mode finds you a player to fight against in a more competitive environment, and ELO is on the line. if you're familiar with any elo system, you know how this works already. The only real problem with this mode is that the game's community is still in it's infancy, so finding another player with good ping in certain areas of the world is rare, though this isn't much of a problem if you live in the USA or Europe. There is also a friendly match mode, which allows you to invite a friend for a 1 on 1 match. this is usually how online competitions are held, by having a bracket set and then having players fight each other in the friendly match mode and having the players tally their results. there's also a team match, but no one really plays it. This is where the game's biggest flaws are showcased; the team match mode, and the size of the community. Firstly, team mode, though fun with friends, is downright useless to people who are playing online alone from their house, and it frankly felt like something to pad out the size of the game, an afterthought, if you will. The second problem is the size of the community; it's pretty small. the online modes aren't exactly bustling with players 24/7, but more like every few hours there is a sizeable amount of players online, and for the rest of the time being, the game is completely silent. This makes it so that people with certain schedules are less likely to find matches online, and are limited to only being able to play the story mode, abyss mode, or with bots. The final thing that I think is worth mentioning is the community itself. Despite its small size, It's a cozy, unbelievably nice and diverse community from people all over the world, united by their love ****. if you'd like to meet these people for yourself, I suggest you check the discords for NA, Europe, Australia, and RoA academy; a discord specifically created by the players of the game to help newer players become better. North America Discord: ****/RoA Europe Discord: ****/eurivals-discordapp Australia Discord: ****/aus-smash RoA Academy: ****/mentor overall, this game has already eaten up hundreds of hours of my time, and I doubt it's going to stop doing that anytime soon. I recommend it to any fan of the Smash games, or anyone looking to get into Smash games.