Mobile Masters Las Vegas
When covering a competition of any kind, it’s hard not to get attached to some of the competitors. As it pertains to the first day of competition at Mobile Masters: Las Vegas, the hearts and minds of the journalists tasked with covering the event rested with Jeremy ‘DunkSB412’ Schillaci. A 30 year old Power Rangers: Legacy War player with a daughter and son. We all ended up referring to him to as ‘Dad’ – although other competitors had kids as well.
Not to kill the suspense, but ‘Dad’ won the whole shebang, taking home $5,000 dollars in prize money he vowed to put “in his kids piggy bank”. What is it they say? Some stories write themselves?
This one did. Power Rangers: Legacy Wars is a 1v1 mobile fighting game that has MMO-esque mechanics. You have skills that need to recharge and need to use them at appropriate times; blocks, counters, cancels, the vernacular of high-level fighting games is all there, streamlined for mobile-consumption.
As a result; between World of Tanks: Blitz and Power Rangers: Legacy War, Power Rangers was arguably the more accessible, exciting, and easy to understand title, engendering itself to an audience of friends, family, casual observers, Boy Meets World star Ben Savage, and this humble author.
But that’s not to say World of Tanks: Blitz was uninteresting. Quite the opposite. Of the two games on display, Blitz was more popular (globally) and the one requiring more strategy and planning. World of Tanks: Blitz saw teams of seven coordinate to capture bases and decimate the opponent’s infantry. Team Pramo came out victorious following a lop-sided final round, netting $5,000 in prize money to split amongst themselves.
Watch the full ‘World of Tanks’ tournament here:
Watch live video from amazonappstore on www.twitch.tv
If you had to compare the games, World of Tanks: Blitz is to Power Rangers: Legacy Wars as Soccer is to a bare-knuckle brawl. Both require nuance, determination, strategy, and focus. But one is definitely more exciting to watch…even if it is the less refined of the two.
Regarding e-sports, accessibility is the name of the game, and something the two games on display at Mobile Masters: Las Vegas typified. You don’t need to understand Power Rangers: Legacy War to enjoy it. Watching World of Tanks: Blitz as a casual observer…you might get bored, or confused – terms like mouse, I7, and other highly technical terms were bandied about by casters and players as if the audience should know what they’re talking about it.
Power Rangers featured attacks, assists, dodges, and dudes, dudettes, and aliens wailing on each other. While there were many technical terms, the action on display often spoke for itself – and the audience spoke back.
As the tournament wore on, the audience cheered, picked favorites, and erupted with glee with each win. Despite having a smaller global audience, being based on an insanely cheesy property, Power Rangers: Legacy Wars was the fan favorite game with fan favorite players.
And it made for a fan and gamer friendly day at Mobile Masters.
Watch the full Power Rangers: Legacy War tournament here: