T3 Arena – Quick Look

Sometimes it takes a while for the developers to realize that Google Play Store and the Android platform in general, are perfectly fine platforms for game distribution. That is the case with XD. Inc and their popular shooter T3 Arena. The game was released few months ago on iOS and later on TapTap. This is my T3 Arena – Quick Look review prior to the game officially arriving on the Play Store.

What is T3 Arena?

Best way to describe it is – a 3rd person hero shooter. The gameplay is nothing new, we’ve seen it before. Classes are ok, graphics are also fine. So what’s the deal? The speed. T3 Arena launches fast, finds matches faster and loads everything up with ludicrous speed.

Let me put that in perspective. It takes 3-5 seconds to find a match (from tapping the play button) and another 4-5 seconds to load everything up. The next thing you know, people are shooting you from the back, but that’s not all. Matches usually last 3 minutes, so joining a game, playing and receiving the rewards afterwards won’t take more than 5-6 minutes in total. Teams are always 3vs3, hence the name T3 Arena. Talking about shooting on the go….

Controls and Heroes

T3 Arena touch controls are incredibly precise, but full disclosure I do have over 200 hours in CoD: Mobile. The game uses familiar and (to a degree) customizable layout. Firing is automatic, so all you have to do is move, aim and tap the buttons for special attack occasionally. Controllers are not supported in any shape or form (for now at least).

Speaking of special attacks, each hero you collect has its own set. Some stun, others heal etc. Once you unlock an additional hero(es), you will collect hero shards that can be used to upgrade that particular hero. This is pretty straight-forward since all the things you need to know are clearly outlined on the upgrade screen.

Gameplay and Graphics

Most people play Team Deathmatch. This makes perfect since it’s the only available mode from the start. Other modes can be unlocked as you progress through the game, but not before. As I already mentioned, matches are short and sweet, but I did get a feeling that bots are lurking between real players. The game has built-in voice communication that is rarely used. A shame really, especially when you need to coordinate with other players and complete objectives. Nevertheless, it’s fun, let’s just leave it at that.

Graphics are fine. The game runs at solid 60fps most of the time, even on super high settings. There are no unnecessary details or decorations, viewport is clean and enemies are always red – easy to spot on (just like in CoD). I believe this is part of the reason why level loading is so fast.

Moentization

There are no ads in T3 Arena, however there is an in-app store where you can purchase currencies needed for skins and the premium season pass. Nothing deal breaking since you do get a lot of free items anyway. You can check out the prices in the video I uploaded.

How to get T3 Arena and what’s missing

First you will have to download and install TapTap on your phone or tablet. After you grant all the scary permission request, it’s pretty straight forward. Type in “T3 Arena” in the search field, then download and finally install. That’s it.

When you launch the game you will be offered to play as guest or login via TapTap, an option that didn’t work for me personally. Whether it’s broken, or the problem was my fault – I can’t tell for sure.

If this seems a bit of a hassle for you, T3 Arena will be arriving on the Google Play Store this fall. They didn’t specify a date, but should be in the next month or so. You can pre-register as well.

Generally the game feels quite complete, maybe a few tweaks here and there and more content in form of stages. To be honest it feels bigger than Ubisoft’s Wild Arena Survivors. Hopefully once it launches globally, more people will play so we don’t have to shoot at bots pretending to be humans.

Martin Janov – “T3 Arena – Quick Look”