A3: Still Alive is a new MMORPG from NetMarble, a familiar name in the mobile gaming scene. It’s featuring the classic MMORPG gameplay combined with Battle Royale features to set it apart. On top of it all, the game is also play-to-earn thanks to the power of blockchain technology. With a wide range of characters and battle companions to choose from, will A3 offer a fresh take on the genre, or will it be just another unmemorable game enticing more players to try it by introducing P2E mechanics?
Background
Netmarble is a South Korean mobile game developer with loads of experience in mobile games. A3 is their first attempt at creating a blockchain title. They are responsible for some of mobile’s bigger games like Marvel Future Fight and Ni No Kuni: Crossworlds. They’ve also made their own blockchain: MarbleX which A3 utilizes. A3 was a standard MMORPG before they added the play-to-earn mechanic, making it one of the few games that began as a regular game and became P2E.
Graphics
With a dark fantasy theme, A3 stayed close to what most MMORPGs look like. I would even go as far as to say that it looks somewhat similar to Cabal Online which is also created by a South Korean game developer: ESTsoft. A3 also features immersive cutscenes which add to the story, like a book being read out as you yourself journey in its dungeons.
Controls are responsive but I think the user interface is a tad cluttered and not cohesive since some menus will pop out on the side while others will completely cover up the screen. I understand that its mobile origins may have caused this, but that doesn’t excuse a lackluster PC port in terms of UI. Outside of that, the game’s graphics are gorgeous.
Gameplay
A3 is not too different from most MMORPGs, featuring similar gameplay to titles like World of Warcraft and Black Desert Online or more closely, to its fellow P2E MMORPG Mir4 where players control a selected character class to accomplish quests and defeat enemies all for the goal of obtaining new loot. What makes this game different is its combination of MMORPG gameplay with the aforementioned Battle Royale mode where players duke it out in the arena in a free for all while a ring closes towards its center until one man is left standing to earn the largest portion of the reward pool per match.
Battle Royales have gained a lot of popularity with titles like Players Unknown Battlegrounds (PUBG), Fortnite, and Apex Legends. It was bound to be fused into other game genres. However, in my opinion, it’s done rather half-baked with this game.
There are special events that require more teamwork like Dark Invasions or taking down a World Boss in which everyone can take part. However, with thousands upon thousands of players hitting the same large target, not to mention with players who are more experienced and have spent cash on upgrading their characters and pets called Soul Linkers, you can feel like your contribution to the boss is just a drop in the ocean.
What might be the downfall of A3 is the added auto-questing feature where you can put your character on autopilot with just a push of a button to run around the map and complete quests. At first, I thought this was a neat feature that lets you farm and become stronger even if you’re away from your device to the Inetrium dungeon faster and start earning cryptocurrency. But it also takes the life out of the game and makes it more or less an idle tapper where you just need to check every now and then to continue the story and claim rewards. This can be done with almost everything in the game aside from the PVP. Sure, it’s not mandatory, but having this feature is too convenient not to be used.
Tokenomics/Earning Potential
On March 28, Netmarble introduced the Inetrium Refinery for A3: Still Alive. They also opened an Inetrium Dungeon where players can mine and fight special monsters that drop Inetrium Ores. You can smelt these ores to INETRIUM which is a cryptocurrency on their own MarbleX network. Players can mine up to 100,000 ore per day in the dungeon and the rate at which they earn depends on the three tiers where their character is eligible.
A MarbleX wallet is required before a player enters the dungeon on top of the level requirement. INETRIUM is exchangeable for MARBLEX which is the native token of the MarbleX Network. They can then exchange it for fiat with MARBLEX. The rate of conversion always changes, and the team posted the formula on their page, updating it when the price changes. Do note that players need to hold red diamonds which is a currency in the game that is required to smelt the ore into Inetrium. This is the game’s equivalent to gas fees. They are also planning to use Inetrium for other Netmarble games in the future so there is also some merit in holding onto your coins if you like their ecosystem.
Final Thoughts
As stunning as the graphics for A3: Still Alive is, I find the gameplay lackluster and bland at times. The inclusion of the 30-man battle royale is a breath of fresh air as it alleviates some of the strain from farming items and completing story quests all day, but it quickly gets repetitive the more you play. Feeling like a mini-game inside a bigger game and this makes A3 look complex when all it feels like is an idle tapper where the goal is to level up quickly to start earning Inetrium.
In conclusion, I think if you are looking for an MMORPG that has high skill-ceiling gameplay, sadly this isn’t it. Sure, the earning mechanics are music to every gamer’s ear, but it quickly becomes noise the moment you realize most of the good items and pets are locked behind paywalls in the form of loot packs and battle passes. In my opinion, A3 is a game where bland MMORPG meets Battle Royale, and it could’ve been executed better.