SMITE Review by ManicMetalhead

Having never written a review before, but always fancied giving it a shot. Of all the games I've sunk my time into, none really compare to SMITE: Battleground of the Gods.
Smite is one of my favourite games and I've sunk many hours into it. I absolutely love mythology, so this was what got me started on the game. While you'll usually find me complaining about it if you ever catch my Twitter feed, it's only ever loving complaints.

The Game
Smite is a free-to-play MOBA (think DotA 2 and LoL) with their own take on the genre, namely the position of the camera on your chosen character. Whereas in DotA and LoL where they have their own new sets of characters, in Smite you can pick from over 100 gods, goddess and mythological figures from what is currently 13 different pantheons (beliefs); Arthurian, Celtic, Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Hindu, Japanese, Mayan, Norse, Polynesian, Roman, Slavic and Voodoo. More gods are being released every couple of months, some part of existing pantheons, others starting new ones.
Choose your god and then battle it out against other players in a variety of different game modes, all to suit you own tastes.

Game Modes
Smite has a decent pool of game modes for you to choose, with each requiring different team strategies to enable you to win. The main game modes are Conquest, Arena, Assault, Joust, Duel, Siege and Clash. Conquest, Arena, Assault and Joust are the most played game modes. You also get a Match of the Day (which changes every day) and you can now set up custom games with specific rules to suit your every desire.

Conquest is the standard MOBA game mode, and usually the one where you'll find most players. It's a large 5v5 map that requires good communication and teamwork to excel. It's also the only game mode that is used for the thriving Smite eSports scene, which is currently in season 6 and is ever expanding (at the time of writing, the Smite Pro League has just restarted, Pittsburgh Knights are looking very strong so far). Conquest consists of three lanes and jungle area, and your aim it to destroy the enemy Titan.

Arena is also 5v5 and is essentially a large teamfight. All out combat in a much smaller area in comparison with Conquest. The strategies are much different here, they're usually non-existent depending on who you play with. This also tends to draw high populations of characters.

Assault is a 5v5 single lane game where you must destroy the enemy Titan to win. The main difference here is you get a completely randomised team of gods. You can switch with allies or decide to re-roll a single time, then you're stuck with the god you have. This makes for interesting match-ups, interesting builds and a good amount of experience in gods that you may not otherwise play.

Joust is a 3v3 game with a single lane and a jungle area. Once again, you must destroy the enemy Titan to win, there are just fewer people on each team, making the team fights have a slightly different dynamic.

Progression
Smite is free-to-play, but definitely not pay-to-win. You can happily play the game forever without having to invest a single penny in the game, and your chances of winning a game aren't diminished by doing so. You start the game with access to 10 of the 100 current gods, and these gods are yours for good. You also get a choice of 5 other gods for free, which rotate each week. You'll likely not see a brand new god for a good few months after being released, but they will eventually make an appearance.
If you wish to spend money on the game, there are two main areas, Gods and cosmetics. You can unlock every single god in the game, and every single god that will ever be released, with a one off purchase, that I highly recommend getting. They can be unlocked without, but I found when I first started that I took a few games to find a god that I was comfortable with while learning the game.

Cosmetic items are the only other thing to spend money on. Technically, you spend money on buying gems, then you use those gems to purchase god skins, voice packs, emotes, death marks, jump stamps, global emotes etc, either with a direct purchase, or through a chest roll (which some skins are exclusive to). The all have no effect on gameplay, other than changing a look of a god and their abilities.

Community
I feel as though I have to put in a fair warning. The Smite community is generally pretty good, with a good number of events, community skin designs being incorporated into the game, and many players acting as guides, working as a team and just generally having fun in unexpected places. Sadly, as with many MOBA's and games in general, you get those few players, especially since the introduction of cross-play with PC, who are toxic, salty and generally angry people that try to ruin the game for others, or blame others for something that the others have no power over.
Do not let these people put you off, although I'd say be open to those who give actual constructive criticism, without them being condescending.

Achievements
Surely, one of the most important sections for this website. If you decide to play Smite, you're in for the long haul. There are a lot of achievements, as you may have seen. There are the initial achievements for the base game, which revolve around playing the game. Many include playing a certain game time, destroying towers, winning games and levelling up gods. They aren't all that taxing and the vast majority will come as you play the game without trying particularly hard, possibly with the exception of getting a penta-kill, which will require some luck.

Where the achievements get harder are the god-specific achievements. Each god has two in-game awards and unlocking those rewards will grant you an achievement. With 100 gods currently in the game, we're up to 200 god-based achievements, and 2 more arrive with every new god release.

These achievements range from very easy, simply using an ability to do a bit of damage to someone (which can usually be achieved within the first minute of a game) to very hard, including stealing a powerful objective with an ultimate (Ra's Searing Steal) and killing three gods with a single use of an ability that doesn't have a big area of effect (Cupid's The Power of the Heart).

As an aside, the really hard achievements will mostly come with time, and maybe a bit of boosting. They usually end up popping when you aren't particularly trying to get them, it just sort of happens.

Conclusion
Smite was the first MOBA that I really got into, and I still am into it, more than many other games. It's one of the only two eSports that I watch regularly (second place goes to Overwatch), I play it almost daily and like to think I have a good understanding of the game. Smite holds a special place in my heart.

They game will likely take you a fair while learn every little piece of information and how to put it all together and use it, but it will come with time, and time is something you need to complete Smite (I'm up to about 1100 hours and recently reached 97% completion).

I recommend playing it, and I hope to see you on the battlefield.