Lockwood’s Uproar
by Burbie52, HSM team writer
I love Lockwood products. I own all of their personal spaces, bought and played Salt Shooter to level fifty, and my closet is overflowing with their clothing lines — Drey, Figment and all the rest. The fact that I bought Salt Shooter is an anomaly for me, as I am not a shooter fan of any kind, though I think that is slowly changing in some regards.
Mercia was their newest attempt at introducing my favorite kind of gaming experience — role-playing games — to Home. I loved being a part of the beta for this and have played it through to level thirty four times now. I love the game, bugs and all, though I hope they continue to work those out as well as raise the level cap and add new areas for those of us who have completed the game.
It was with some trepidation that I tried this newest venture of Lockwood, because though I love their products as a rule, I am not a fan of shooters at all and I was wondering if this would be able to capture my attention. This is partially because there is one product Lockwood has that I never quite got into: Sodium2. Racing just bores me in Home and in real-life sports. So I went into Home and took a shot at this newest shooting game — and I was pleasantly surprised.
Easy controls for inventory
First of all, it has a very easy format of controls that I, as a non-shooter gamer easily adapted to. I have played a few shooting games, notably Red Dead Redemption, and lately I have tried getting into my very first FPS, Borderlands, which I tried because it came free with my PlayStation Plus subscription. Those are essentially single-player games unless you choose to do online play with friends.
Uproar is team play only, and I find that refreshing in a shooter. Home has offered us only a few other team playing experiences, such as No Man’s Land, Cutthroats and Bootleggers ’29. And, for my money, Uproar is a considerable improvement upon the same basic formula that Bootleggers uses.
This shooter is a whole other animal, though: for one thing, it is third person, which is important to me as I prefer this view of the gaming world. It has four different arenas so far: the Scaffold, the Quad, Fusion, and Gangway. They have several different levels to run up and down, and areas off to each side to hide and look for ammo or health. I had a literal blast playing around in here even though I got killed more than many; you even get points to help your leveling up when you lose a fight. That is great for those of us who are shooting game newbies.
The sessions last five minutes, each with two teams: the Swyfts and the Outlaws. At the end of each one you are given your experience, 
and then if you don’t exit you are thrown into another game. I haven’t had time to level up and get any rewards yet. The menu the game provides is easy to read and use and the in-game currency is a nice idea. If you want to purchase special power ups or clothing for protection, you need to buy coins similar to the ones found in the gift machine. The bonus in purchasing these items is they are wearable in Home as well, so if you like the style it is serving two purposes. There is a small area in the outside lobby where teams can meet up to get into the game together, and there is also room for expansion if they add new teams later.
When I heard about this new game, I was a little concerned because of the whole mafia/gang mentality that has arisen in Home. This is potentially going to be a haven for these groups. But that’s not a negative; they will be able to stage their little wars here if they so choose, without bothering anyone else. I have already seen “fam” members hanging out in the lobby there. Since there is no real way to prevent this, we can only hope that they don’t take over the space like they did with the Godfather2 and Playground public spaces. In a worst-case scenario, it may require navigating to several instances of the space before finding one that is not infected by these people.
If I’m honest, I’m not sure about the taunting system built into Uproar, either. Yes, taunting was introduced by Lockwood with Sodium2, and yes, I know it is meant to laugh at your opponents or to celebrate a particularly good hit, but I can see it might be misused as well. However, as taunts cost coins, that economic barrier may prevent people from abusing this feature.
Taunts, another way to spend money.
The game is well thought out, and I have found no bugs or glitches as of yet, but the load can take a while the first time you go in. This is probably because of the huge amount of traffic the space is already seeing, and if so will likely become easier once the server stress dies down a bit. However, the one thing I wish was be easier is the interface for picking your teammates. I didn’t see an option for playing with friends only. It seems a bit random who you get thrown in with; I played with total strangers each time so far. This could be much better if there was a system to create friends-only games; as it is, you might be in the lobby with a few friends, but there’s no guarantee you’ll get into the same game together.
I like this game so far; it has the potential to be a lot of fun and is a great addition to the Home community. As a person who doesn’t usually care for this type of thing I found it to be well done, and though I am not sure what all of the rewards are yet, knowing Lockwood’s history in that department, I am sure they will be good ones.
- Easy to play
- Fun!!!
- Avatars move well in game
- Free roaming action
- No option for friend only gaming.
- Taunts? Not sure this was needed.
October 19th, 2012 by Burbie52 | 2 comments
Burbie52 is a 62 year-old published author and founder of the Grey Gamers group within Home. Born and raised in Michigan, she has lived there her entire life, with the exception of a twelve-year residency on the Big Island of Hawaii. She enjoys reading and writing, as well as video games, especially RPG's. She has one son in his twenties.
Taunts are a Con? OMG they’re the best part of the game. They make me laugh hysterically. The worse part of the game is the walking/running sound. It sounds like you have wooden clogs on.
Only being a LVL 7 myself, I’m not sure of all the out of game rewards. So far I’ve received A LVL 5 Holographic Trophy and a Grilla Gunz wall mounted Big Jonesy gun.
I’ve already received 3 unlock keys that you can use for primary, secondary, mellee weapons ect.
I met one player who was a LVL 20, so I assume that they’re might be 30 LVL’s similar to Mercia.
I play home 24/7 it seems like! & I don’t play any games in home, but I have tryed this one and its not that bad! I’m at lvl 11 and so far I won two gun wall mounts & two trophys lvl 5 and lvl 10!! They not the best rewards but I also picked up some weapons along the way, some were rentals & some bought ones, but these were free upgrades that I won aswell!! Only thing about this is u can’t use them anywhere else but in the game!:( just needs better rewards & an friends play area!! Othen then that its two thumbs up!!