Master X Master

 PC
  • Publisher: NCSOFT
  • Release Date: Jun 21, 2017
Master X Master Image
Metascore
76

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 23 Ratings

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  • Summary: Experience MXM's unique Tag System and quickly swap between two chosen Masters mid-combat, offering a new level of strategy, combos and tactics to master the battlefield.

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. GameStar
    Jul 4, 2017
    83
    Master X Master is a colorful mix of fun game modes that should thrill both PvE and PvP fans.
  2. MMORPG.com
    Jul 6, 2017
    82
    What really sets MXM apart is its PVE, and it’s the feature I hope the game leans more heavily on going forward. Either way, MXM is a solid entry to NCSOFT’s stable, and they should be proud of what they’ve achieved. It’s had little fanfare around the web, which is a shame. If any of what I’ve described sounds like something you’d enjoy, MXM is well worth a look.
  3. CGMagazine
    Jul 11, 2017
    80
    A re-inventive MOBA that isn't perfect, especially with its free-to-play scheme, but still rises above the pack.
  4. Everyeye.it
    Jul 6, 2017
    78
    The "side-effect" activities, such as mini-games and social aspects, contribute effectively to the design of a play structure that could certainly tickle both the more navigated players and those who are looking for a fun, protein-like title.
  5. GRYOnline.pl
    Jul 26, 2017
    75
    Master X Master introduces a cool variety into the genre ruled by League of Legends and Dota 2. MXM adds parts of other types of games and the result is a "2 in 1" kind of situation. But all in all, none of the pieces are as good as what the best in the business have to offer.
  6. CD-Action
    Sep 25, 2017
    70
    NCsoft’s experience pays off in Master x Master, a pretty, modern MOBA with a successfully introduced fresh mechanic of swapping characters midmatch. [09/2017, p.48]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. Gamer.nl
    Jul 9, 2017
    60
    Master X Master is a quick, action packed moba that does not truly fulfill its ambitions. The game does offer depth with the tag system along with the many gameplay modes. But the environment, the repetitive PvE and the lack of focus are a disappointment.

See all 12 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. BiggestOfPlays
    Jul 6, 2017
    9
    There's a lot of refreshing pieces to this game, with not enough time to talk about the whole thing i'll give you the TLDR:

    PVP: using WASD    There's a lot of refreshing pieces to this game, with not enough time to talk about the whole thing i'll give you the TLDR:

    PVP: using WASD and aiming tactics; the game has a much higher skill cap than most games currently in the genre.
    PVE: a great dungeon crawling instance based team event that anyone can enjoy.
    Extras: the game itself has several forms of PVP combat and several PVE instances ON TOP of mini games and all sorts of different stages based on the day.
    The glaring issue:
    Hardware: somewhere along the way NCsoft likes to balk on the use of high end infrastructure. Their severs have a very hard time keeping up in some instances and i feel this could hurt the game in the long run if they start scaling hard. More people = more problems in this situation.

    This game has a lot going for it and i'd love to see it do well and enjoy a long life.
    Cheers, BeOP    … Expand
  2. Balabhadradas
    Jun 27, 2017
    9
    A fun take on the MOBA genre with an easy to get into, but still robust 5 v 5 mode. Added to that a 3 v 3 arena mode as well as a whole hostA fun take on the MOBA genre with an easy to get into, but still robust 5 v 5 mode. Added to that a 3 v 3 arena mode as well as a whole host of PvE content this game really does take the MOBA to the next level.

    Try it out, it's free and the F2P system is fair, if a little grindy (i like grinding anyhow so no big deal for me). If the community takes off well this game has a chance of doing well even amidst the highly competitive MOBA scene.    … Expand
  4. weasleye
    Jun 24, 2017
    8
    Solid free to play if not a little expensive for masters and "starter packs" as well as the 100 dollar yearly membership. theres more thanSolid free to play if not a little expensive for masters and "starter packs" as well as the 100 dollar yearly membership. theres more than enough here to keep your attention for a few weekends at least but only time will tell if a community picks the game up or not. The fast and fluid action is certainly enough to keep me interested for at least long enough to remain hopeful that the game survives.… Expand
  5. vahn
    Aug 16, 2017
    7
    I'm not huge into mobas and I only played less than 10 in my entire life, mostly because I'm not very good with the twitch movements and allI'm not huge into mobas and I only played less than 10 in my entire life, mostly because I'm not very good with the twitch movements and all that stuff. I'm sticking with HoTS because it's easy and even a scrub like me can play it.

    However, MxM is a pretty unique experiment and not just because of the control scheme, but because it feels very "mmo" ish and has an actual PvE counterpart and...it's actually pretty fun!

    Let's start from the beginning though: MxM is essentially a moba where you have free movement via WASD instead of the usual mouse clicking AND the mandatory requirement of choosing two masters for fighting, making it a tag game where you can switch heroes every 10+ seconds. So it's very action oriented à la diablo, with a pve mode where you can do little "dungeons" that don't last more than 5 minutes and get rewards that will help you in pvp.....

    Yeah and this is where I kinda got annoyed too. You see, in order to play well in pvp, you need to play a lot of pve - or use cash.

    Let me start by saying this: the only thing tied to pvp from the pve is the character unlock and your basic attacks, while skills upgrade only work in pve. But while skills can be upgraded via Gold, basic attacks can only be upgrade via mods which drop from pve and they can make a bit of a difference, especially when the third upgrade is quite strong. It's not gamebreaking as far as I'm concerned BUT it can give you quite an advantage and forces you to grind pve....which is random unless you have a ticket. Yep, you can't choose the dungeon without a ticket - which is cash shop stuff - so you'll be forced to do a random dungeon everytime you can't choose. Nothing too bad but this ties to another issue: master unlocking.

    You have only two ways to unlock masters, and one is using SOL coins: you get them via levelling and most masters only require about 4 to 10 to unlock, with the newest ones requiring 15 or something. All good you might say but there's a catch: they also have a secondary lock, which is tied to...anything really. For example, I wanted to unlock Cagnazzo and the only way to do that is to do a specific dungeon (Karith), and get 5 bloody items which drop from brutal or extreme difficulties and while the dungeon itself wasn't the problem, i only had 5 tickets at my disposal (I think you get 5 each day but i can't tell). I also wanted to unlock Vita - a support character - and she's locked behind a trophy point of 1000 and I'm still at 700. The list is big but this essentially means that unless you play a lot of pve, you'll be stuck at the usual suspects - which are good but not the characters I want.
    Or if you want you can unlock them right away for cash, which bypasses everything.

    BAD ncsoft, really bad...just make us unlock stuff with gold if that's a problem!

    And on a side note, but this is 100% personal and very nitpicky but....the game kinda lacks on roles. You have juggernauts - tanky heroes - nukers, assault, assassins, marksmen, skirmishers and of course, supports. Now, in most games I know of 3 roles from the holy trinity, tank heal and dps, with dps being of various kind (assassins, nukers, etc) and tanks being either full tanks or bruisers, but supports are generally those who heal and provide CC - basically supporting their team.

    But you see....there's barely any of this: supports don't even heal (Demenos can heal but i haven't found others who could) And tanks barely tank, instead just do more damage while being "tanky" (basically a bruiser). This is a nitpick as I said because, and this is embaressing to say, but I'm one of the 1% who is a legitimate tank/support player in most moba or team based game and I LIVE for supporting and tanking teams - mostly because nobody ever does it. So seeing a moba that basically enforces more damage than anything else is....a bit sad for me. But as I said this is just persona: I'm sure the remaining 99% won't bother playing as a dps because hey, nobody plays a support or a tank.

    Do I recommend it? Well it's free and it is legitimately fun, but it gets repetitive as well - just like every moba. Give it a shot and see for yourself: I have fun from time to time, but I do take a long day break afterwards because, It lacks a bit of satisfaction that, say, a Hots or even a Dota 2 game has.    … Expand
  6. Xelluse
    Jul 4, 2017
    0
    one of the worst grinding game I ever played, Multiplayer game that forces players to play Singleplayer.
    To unlock Champions you need SOLs,    one of the worst grinding game I ever played, Multiplayer game that forces players to play Singleplayer.
    To unlock Champions you need SOLs, you get them for levels and for NM PvE missions and 3 once per month, till level 60 you will get 9 characters farmed by level ups, but then real NM starts, to play NM you need or spend SOL to go NM and get a little chance to win a SOL if you will complete NM mission of course, or use $tickets$ to go NM without spending SOL, but spending $ticket$ (some you'll get for free, but almost 90% of that tickets will be failed, so prepare your wallets if you want to farm, also if you have a ticket and make a group to farm SOLs your group members will spend SOL to help you to farm SOL.. Great yea ? So best way is to play Multiplayer game as a Singleplayer... Why ? Who knows, ask NCsoft... Shortly game is only about farm and fun with friends, but only way to farm and have fun with friends is to $pay$ to Avoid Farm and Fun with friends...
    It really can be a good game, but now it's just a parody on HotS, they can't even bring same quality service as Blizzard, this game is one more prove why players should stay away from games that use regional restrictions.
    Shortly one more Korean freemium !@#$.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

80
#80 Most Shared PC Game of 2017

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