Mad Pack Overview

Grossly Unfinished but Not Without Potential

We’ve faced a deluge of indie MMORPG releases in the past few months, many of which are very, very early access, pre-alpha builds, bordering on the fringe of between tech demo and playable game. Therais Book and DreamScape Dimensions come to mind specifically — both of which are projects that if executed to completion as envisioned by the development team could be interesting additions to the MMORPG landscape. The 2D action RPG design style is one that is quite a bit more realistic to complete than the two aforementioned games. Mad Pack falls under this category, blending aspects of the better Flash games of yesteryear and classic bullet hell action RPGs.

Our goal is not to be critics. We are primarily preservationists of games within a genre with the common issue of having limited lifespans. While Mad Pack is far from being an MMORPG I’d highly recommend, there’s enough gameplay here to keep a player interested in this style of gameplay busy for a few hours and even provide a bit of enjoyment. We’ll cover what’s available so far!

Character Builds / Creation

You can pick male or female. You can pick between three classes (screenshots displayed below). That’s it. Two ranged and one melee are available with the ranged options being ranged weapon or mage. Very simplistic but not necessarily a problem yet. The process of balancing continues so expect some builds to feel a bit overpowered while others feeling a bit like glass cannons — minus the cannon part.

Archer option with a bit of backstory. If lore and story are your focus, you should read the material here given there’s not much implemented in-game yet.

Want to be a tank? This is your only option.

Mage — the class I picked. It’s a bit of a glass cannon build, feeling a bit more “glass” than “cannon” but it’s possible I’m just not that good at the game.

Each of your skills (two in total) have a different option to attribute points to as you progress. You can add points to one or the other of the two options but not both. This provides a limited degree of build customization to accommodate different play styles.

Lore / World

Monsters have invaded this world. There are some shards that appear to be related to this. The world includes elemental forces certain capable individuals can harness. Five major types of maps exist, including grasslands, deserts, swamps, forests, and castles. The path from beginning to end is very linear with quests being unlocked as you progress through the world. More story and lore is planned for future updates.

There are only a few creature types as well, consisting of skeletons, goblin-like creatures, plants, and wisps. More creatures are planned for future updates as well.

Gameplay

The game is played with mouse and keyboard. WASD moves, left click does the basic attack, and 1 or 2 do the special attacks. This is a bit awkward to get used to in a bullet-hell style game and is in serious need of the ability to rebind keys. Combat lacks the visceral feedback necessary for bullet-hell games but is fairly responsive.

Summary

There’s really not much to say about this game. It’s early in development and displays basic competence in map and art design as well game design but is sorely lacking content and polish. If you want to be part of an indie MMORPG as it grows, this might be the perfect game for you.

Best of luck to the developer(s)! I enjoyed my time here, even if it was a bit lacking.