Super Monday Night Combat (0)

Overview

Super Monday Night Combat (frequently known as Super MNC) is a class-based third-person shooter developed and released by for the PC on . The sequel to , the game adds new characters and environments while reformatting the gameplay, placing a heavier emphasis on the elements (while removing the elements). Super Monday Night Combat is still set in the previous game's environment and focuses on it's predecessor's Crossfire mode (now known as Super Crossfire), where two teams of players (Pros) defend their "Moneyball" from computer-controlled robots (Bots).

Super Monday Night Combat also includes a microtransaction system, where players can buy new Pros, uniforms, taunts, weapon skins, flair, and temporary Combat Credit boosts with real money. Players also can purchase new Pros, Endorsements (which buffs statistics while sometimes nerfing other statistics), and Products (special perks) with Combat Credits, which are earned by playing matches. Generally, six Pros are available for free, with a different set available each week, with purchased Pros always available to the player.

Gameplay

Super MNC places a heavier emphasis on the genre, while retaining much of its shooter-style elements. Games are 5 on 5, with each player selecting a pro and upgrading him or her throughout the course of the game. The goal of the game is for a team to lead their bots to the enemy's base to remove their Moneyball shields, and then subsequently destroy the enemy's Moneyball.

Maps feature two bot paths, through which both teams (Hotshots/Red and Icemen/Blue) will have their own bots automatically travel and fight any enemy Pros or Bots they come across. There are also three types of neutral bots, which spawn in a separate floor of the arena (generally called the "jungle") denoted by their black/gray color scheme, which will attack any Pro they come across. Most enemy bots give a marginal amount of and money on death, and neutral bots give a greater amount. Bots drop money in the form of coins, as well as powerups such as Churros (healing items), Pads (shield boosts), Juice, and rarely, Bacon, which buffs a Pro significantly until death. Juice, when full, can be used to break grapples, grant massive HP regeneration and unlimited for a limited period. Health also regenerates automatically without juice, albeit slowly; critical hits also happen randomly for any Pro at a base rate of 7%.

The game begins with every Pro at level 1. As Pros gain money, they level up ($1 = 1 EXP). Each level grants increased and improves damage ratings, the effectiveness of your attacks against the 3 different enemy types: bots, turrets and pros. The higher the rating the more damage you deal to enemies of that type. Leveling up will also award you with a single to be spent in one of 5 areas- the respective Pro's three unique skills, an offensive skill to increase weapon damage and a defensive skill that increases total health and increases speed.

Money is also stored in a separate counter (meaning getting $1 fills both the money counter and the EXP bar). Players can spend the money they've acquired on various buffs (Juice, regen, and movement speed), more bots that have various abilities, or two different environmental hazards- Ejectors (which knock back, slow down and damage enemy Pros in its affected area, and heavily damage bots in the same area), or the Annihilator, which destroys every enemy bot on the field and heavily damages enemy Pros. As the Annihilator is so powerful, it is on a 5 minute cooldown, costs $1000, and takes approximately five seconds to activate.

Each bot path has turrets along it, which are shielded until an enemy bot damages it. Once the shield is down, Pros can damage the turret and take it out. The first set of turrets are level 2 laser turrets, the the middle set(s) are level 3 laser turrets, and the last set are level 3 rocket turrets. Each turret grants $100 to every enemy pro when killed.

In order to keep games from becoming a stalemate, once a match passes 25 minutes the game will automatically spawn Jackbot XLs (which usually only spawn when a Moneyball goes down) to expedite the action.

MNC's classic characters return. , and Chickey Cantor return and appear in the jungle with the neutral bots. Bullseye and Juicebot will drop powerups and award money when shot. Chickey acts like a boss that grants a buff and healing to the entire team of the teammate that kills him. The commentator from the original Monday Night Combat, Mickey Cantor, has been replaced by two new personalities; GG Stack and former combatant Chip Valvano.

Because SMNC places a heavier emphasis on the MOBA genre, Pros that are higher level than another will have an advantage, as they will have better overall stats, as well as more skill points to spend. As killing an enemy Pro nets cash/experience, it's much more important in SMNC to not die to enemies, lest they outlevel the other team and win because of it.

Recently added to the game is TurboCross, a game style which is similar to the original Monday Night Combat in that it's a faster paced and more arcade style game as turrets can be healed and rebuilt when destroyed, pros can be killed more easily, and the player does not improve their damage ratings upon leveling up. The objective of destroying the opposing team's Moneyball is still in effect, however.

Players earn credits and Agent EXP for each game they play, earning more for wins and less for losses, and a bonus for each first win of the day they obtain. These credits can be used to buy Endorsements and Products, which give buffs (and debuffs for some Endorsements, depending on the Endorsement's effectiveness) to the Pro the player uses. Endorsements must be slotted before they can be used, and more slots are unlocked as the player gains more Agent EXP and levels up. Everyone can slot three different Products, and some Products do not activate until the player reaches a certain level in a match. Three Products are provided by default. Credits are also used to unlock Pros, offering alternatives to playing the free Pros rotated out for free with every update (usually every Thursday).

At the end of every game, there is a random chance (a die is rolled every number of minutes, with increases chances with larger gaps between unsuccessful rolls) that a player will get a random Endorsement, Product, Taunt, Weapon Skin, Piece of Flair, or Gear Piece. This presents an alternative to grinding out Endorsements/Products, or buying Taunts/Weapon Skins/Gear/Flair and rewards players who stay until the end of the round.

New Stages

Partially inspired by DotA, Uber plans to set the game in more organic environments as opposed to the sterile stadium atmosphere of the previous game's stages.

Current Stages:

• Bullet Gorge
• Loco Moco Ruins
• Spunky Cola Downtown
• Gun Mountain
• Grenade III.XIV Arena (Updated version of MNC's Grenade III Arena)

Microtransactions/Payment Model

SMNC features a system using Wallet. Players can purchase Credit Boosts, Pros, Taunts, Uniforms, Flair, and Weapon skins.

Due to the microtransaction system, Pros in the roster must be purchased with real money or Combat Credits. Similar to the weekly champion rotation in , the free roster of six Pros is swapped with every game update (usually every week, but there are some exceptions). Players can still purchase combatants in the free roster for use in future updates, and can still use purchased combatants instead of those from the free roster. The free roster always includes at least one Pro of each class.

Classes

Along with the six original Pros from the original Monday Night Combat, Super Monday Night Combat adds new playable combatants to the current roster (with more characters on the way). Unlike the previous installment, teams cannot have more than one player as the same Pro.

There are 5 main (positions) that the Pros of SMNC fill on the battlefield:

• Commandos: Debuffers, closers, melee characters.
• Strikers: All-rounder, high mobility characters.
• Enforcers: Big hulking damage-sponges and close-range fighters.
• Defenders: Buffing, healing and otherwise support characters.
• Sharpshooters: Long-range damage specialists that utilize headshots to take down foes.

Roster

System Requirements

• OS: XP(SP3)/Vista/Windows 7
• Processor: 2 GHz Processor
• Memory: 1 GB RAM
• Graphics: DirectX 9.0c/Shader3.0 compatible, VRAM 512 MB (NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series or ATI Radeon X1900)
• DirectX®: 9.0c
• Hard Drive: 2 GB of free space
• Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound cards