The MOBA and RTS market have become quite inseparable but a lot of games recently have taken on the role of becoming a MOBA with some ‘RTS elements’, taking away from the original strategy of RTS titles and the nuances within them. DropZone developed by SparkyPants and published by GameForge attempts to go back to RTS roots and does not try to angle itself as a MOBA.

In DropZone you control three characters at the sametime and are able to build out your squad in any way you choose from a roster of six different Pilots. Each Pilot has its different role on the battlefield, acting as a tank, healer, damage dealer, support and a couple others.

Once you have selected your squad and your opponent has done the same, DropZone is a 1 v 1 match type (with a 2v2 match announced at Gamescom) with the overall goal of trying to score more points that your rival team. Points can be scored by taking monsters on the map and collecting cores from their corpses. Once collected, you can send your Pilots to the dropzone to “slam dunk/upload” them into your Uplink. The developers have chosen this familiar scoring system to make it easier to understand, and at the same time try to be more accessible to people who might not get eSports or complex RTS games but understand general sports mechanics.

The scoring system is great for its simplicity and allows you to concentrate on your goal, rather than it being over complicated for the sake of it. DropZone is a game where anyone can really jump in and pick it up because it is basically basketball with mechs and monsters.

There are more ways to score points and these come in the form of special one-off map tasks which are shown to both players in the bottom corner of the screen. These tasks are usually things like kill X number of monsters, kill the zone bosses X times or capture all the towers which are like king of the hill points. To keep a match quick they last a maximum of 15 minutes and was chosen by the developers which seems long enough for a decent session but short enough to be able to pick up and play for a quick match, without the fear of it running into a stalemate and extend into hours when you should be working. Playing the game, 15 minutes does seem like the sweet spot and when trying to hit the eSport scene it will benefit casters and organisers as they’ll know exactly how long matches will last. It also more importantly, keeps players interested, instead of losing focus because the match it drawn out, while allowing them to strategise based around a set timeframe.

Now although it seems to advertise itself as a more traditional RTS it does have elements of MOBAs, such as a homebase where you are spawned when you die or head back to heal, while damaging the enemy if they decide to wander in. Each pilot has three main skills and an ultimate ability which also takes similarity with MOBA skills sets. Past this though, the similarities end and the RTS elements take centre stage. Pilots can be controlled as a group with all three moving and attacking together as one cohesive unit, or you can switch between individual pilots to select their skills which are needed in the heat of battle. RTS players will be used to the micromanagement of units, where MOBA or non-RTS players will quickly be overwhelmed having to decide where and what skills to use on three different Pilots at the same time.

Strategy is also different in DropZone. Do you send all three Pilots into a fray and collect the cores or destroy the enemy, or is divide and conquer a more palatable choice. Controlling each Pilot means a wider range of gameplay options become available but this management is something you will need to learn quickly to win more effectively. New players will be comfortable taking control all three at once but to really get into the meat of the game, controlling each one separately, sometimes at opposite ends of the match is really where you will shine.

Typical RPG elements are infused into the progression, with Pilots gaining levels the more matches you compete in. On top of levels, players can kit of their Pilots with different gear to change up the meta. Do you want your support rig to focus more of crowd control or buffing your allies? Or do you select your damage dealer to forgo all defense for attack or visa versa? Kitting out your pilots with various rigs and gears adds an extra layer to the match much like MMOs and MOBAs that allow character customization and differences in play styles.

It’s only real struggle will be to try and establish itself in the market, where MOBAs for eSports are really taking precedence. To compete for eSports it will really have to make sacrifices on the single player (which we did not see) and really push for the competitive player who will expect, on-going balance fixes, frequent additions of rigs and gear and the inclusion of new pilots all at the same time not falling into a mash between MOBA and RTS while not working.

DropZone is actually a refreshing game to enter the competitive scene, it is more like a traditional RTS but has been modernised taking some elements from MOBAs while clearly trying to stay as far away as possible. The simple scoring system has been set up for competitive play and does allow it to be more accessible but new players will need some guidance on micro-management and player builds to get people to really stick with it.

DropZone is currently in closed beta for PC which you can sign up for it on their website.