Saturday, July 5, 2014

CloneTrooper1019's Murder is the best "Murder" game, and here's why.


Loleris' Mad Murderer continues to dominate the front page, only sometimes dethroned by the rare gem or usual run of the mill free modeled, front page game. Murder Mystery has started to lag behind, but still maintains a dedicated user base. But what about the last of these three, CloneTrooper's Murder? While it definitely has lagged behind in comparison to the other two, he has put in a lot of work, along with making the claim "The best looking Murder game on ROBLOX". Now, that may sound crazy but it's actually true. How? Allow me to explain. This should not be taken as a review, it is simply an explanation/praise of the additions that have been added since then.





If you don't know the basic premise of a Murder game then it's not too complicated; Innocents, Murderer,
 and Sheriff. The innocents are the ones unarmed and the primary targets of the murderer, and who the sheriff should work to protect. The sheriff is armed with a revolver and has the ability to kill the murderer, if they can aim, and shoot the right person. If they somehow manage to kill a bystander they will automatically be booted into spectate and an innocent will be able to pick up their revolver and take over for the role of the fallen sheriff. This also is in play when the sheriff is killed, they will drop their revolver which an innocent player can pick up, or anyone without a revolver already. Murderer, the traitor of the group, armed with a knife their goal is to kill all of the innocents, either one by one with discretion and silence, or make the server erupt into chaos by starting a bloodbath, chasing down the innocents run for their lives, away from the maniac with the knife. It should also be noted the murderer has this "heat signature" thing in this incarnation of the game, when the knife is taken out it shows silhouettes of the remaining players, allowing for them to be tracked down with ease. Evidence is also a new thing in this game, finding five random objects around the map will grant you a revolver. Said objects are marked in green, and can be collected by anyone, even the murderer.


Upon actually entering the game you're greeted by a rather fancy intro, along with a bunch of knife-shaped buttons and one of the game's many logo variations. For even ROBLOX standards, the menu is definitely one of the best I've ever seen. If anyone is actually curious about the music playing in the menu, I'll just leave this here. Anyway, let's first take a look at the options menu. Yeah, a game with an options menu, crazy huh? After opening it up, there is a lot of changes that can be made here, from an experimental first person body option that works very nicely, to a "spray" function, like seen in many source games. It allows you to have a unique decal (which can be customized!) that can be sprayed onto various surfaces in the game.

Not too long ago a matchmaking system was added in the "Universe Update" which, you guessed it, utilized universes. This is also the same update all of these overhauls and other things came into but we'll get to those later. There is a simple quick play button which will send you to a game currently going on in the map you chose, since all of the maps are in separate places as part of a universe. Or, you can create a party, choose the map, and have friends join up with you and queue into the game, quick and seamlessly. Parties can also be joined from a list of the current ones going on in the "hub" place. Another point for CloneTrooper, since the other games he's competing against lack this feature.

Now, we get to probably one of the things this game definitely does better than the competition on; it's currency. Yes, even this game has unfortunately gone down the route of a currency, in the form of "murder cash", or something along those lines. The thing is, though? It's actually implemented very nicely, you can earn cash for winning each round, getting evidence, or going on a killing spree as the murderer for the most guaranteed possible. I do think it's nice that Loleris did the "daily login" reward thing, but that's mostly spent on useless accessories, and skins that cost you to use them per round. Also "powers" which are either really good, or really useless. That's a rant for another day, though. Still, though, Clone by far has found the best way to do currency in his game, give people some for doing stuff in the game, and if you really want to buy some? There's a Tix and Robux option!!! Insane, I know. You also get decent discounts if you choose to purchase bigger amounts, which is again, awesome.

What can you buy in the store though? Revolver/Knife skins which are a one-time purchase only, no paying per round garbage. Outfits for your character, ranging from the ionic HEV-Suit to a stylish vest. Hats, hats as far as the eye can see, most of which are user submitted. After buying something form the catalog, you can go into the inventory tab to add it to your character. You can also customize your gender, hair, and face here too. All of these things you can buy are purely cosmetic, and don't contribute to any accusations of "pay2win".


I won't spend too long on this, but new maps have also been added. Things like Samaxis' Compound have been adapted into maps to be used in the game, with unique quirks to some of them. Mostly weather effects though, like sandstorms which obscure your vision. There are five maps in the game currently, with more quickly on the way going by how fast it is being updated. I'm pretty sure I have covered most of the major additions to the game, from the well done currency system to the excellent matchmaking. As far as GUIs and menus go, this game is basically the standard that most "professional" ROBLOX developers should be at. It is simply impressive at how well done and professional this game seems.

CloneTrooper1019 has definitely outdone himself with his take on the Garry's Mod game mode Murder, staying somewhat authentic to it while giving it his own ROBLOX spin. These games may be done to death at this point, but Murder has definitely given it some new life for the time being. If the game ever gets popular, Loleris and Nikilis are gonna have a lot of work to do if they want catch up to how advanced this game has gotten since then. I eagerly await the release of Prop Hunt 2, and any other future releases by CloneTrooper. Play the game here.


Extra Stuff: If it isn't obvious already, the game takes cues from many Valve titles. The map "Nuke" is a reference to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Many of the hats featured in the game are a reference to Team Fortress 2. The "spray" feature has also become a feature of many Source games. The Garry's Mod game mode "Murder" itself inspired all of the "Murder" genre. I also neglected to mention there is a chat menu similar to the one in the actual game mode, with pre-determined phrases in four categories. 




No comments:

Post a Comment

Write your comment here... OR Flingi will eat you