‘Project M’ is currently the center of attraction for mobile First-Person Shooter lovers. But there is something very familiar about the game’s name, agents, maps, UI, modes, etc. We shall review the game and the controversy related to it in this article.
What is Project M?
It is a 5v5 FPS game developed by NetEase, a leading mobile game developer, intended for mobile devices. The game focuses on gun-play along with different agents with various abilities to select from. This must sound similar, well it gets more interesting.
How to get access to Project M?
The game was opened for close beta access on the 4th of August at 10 AM (PT) and lasted until the 6th of August, 10 AM (PT). Those who missed the chance have to wait until any further notice. According to the reports, there were 1000 spots available for the Beta access, which were filled during the event.
Also Read: Valorant Mobile – Everything You Need to Know.
Is this a Valorant Clone?
The game is obviously a replica of the popular modern FPS PC title, Valorant. It resembles its counterpart a lot, from its weapons, to map design, agents, abilities, etc. The name ‘Project M’ itself resembles Valorant’s former code name, ‘Project A’. According to some sources, Riot Games are also working to port their game Valorant on mobile, and while it is in the works, NetEase is trying to seize the market. Let’s talk about some of the similarities.
Agents in Project M
According to the beta trials, there are eight agents in the game. They resemble some of the Valorant agents in both looks and abilities.
1- Elixir– [SAGE] She has three abilities, Heal, Cloak/Slow & Resurrect. She can heal friendlies from a distance. Her second ability is called Slowing Vortex, which creates a cyclone-styled smoke that slows down enemies on contact. Her ultimate ability is called ‘Resurrect’, which revives a fallen teammate.
2- Blood Raider– [Reyna] An armored embedded agent that has posses three abilities. His ability Black Hole launches a small sphere that blinds enemies and it can penetrate through walls. His Hardened Shell
ability allows him to momentarily stay invincible and immune to any oncoming damage. His ultimate ability is Rampage, in which he gets into a state of faster fire rate, quick weapon switch, and reload speed. Killing enemies in this state grants the player with HP or a special shield.
3- Nemesis– [Omen/Yoru/Phoenix] The three abilities that Nemesis posses are Flashbang, Shadow Corrosion, and Reincarnation. His Flashbang works as a utility that flashes enemies on impact. His Shadow Corrosion is an incendiary that inflicts damage to enemies but heals Nemesis. His ultimate ability, Reincarnation, activates a countdown timer. If the player dies within the countdown timer or the timer goes out, they will be reincarnated with full HP at the point of activation of the Ult.
4- Blink– [Omen] Blink’s three abilities are Dimensional Fog, Apparition, and teleport. Her Dimensional fog casts smoke within a tactical range of the map. Her Apparition allows her to partially teleport to a small range. Her Teleport ability allows her to teleport anywhere on the map, which can be canceled within the animation.
Also Read: VALORANT: EVERY AGENT EXPLAINED (PART-1).
5- Faith Arrow– [Sova] Faith Arrow’s three abilities include Recon Arrow, Explosive Arrow, and Flaming Arrow. Her Recon arrow reveals enemy players on the map and through the walls when they come in contact with the arrow’s beams. Her Explosive Arrow inflicts heavy damage to enemies on contact. Her ultimate ability is called Flaming Arrow, which allows her to shoot through walls of decent range and inflict damage to enemies on contact. This also reveals the hit enemy’s position for a brief moment.
6- Storm– {brim] Storm’s first ability is called ‘Storm’, which allows him to put the storm on several areas through the tactical map and inflicts heavy damage to the players on contact. His Cloud ability is a maximum of three spherical clouds of smoke that blocks vision. It can be cast anywhere on the map, within a small range through his tactical map. His ultimate ability is called Tornando, which can be cast within a fixed range through his tactical map and it eliminated enemies in contact most of the time.
7- ColdCast– Coldcast’s three abilities in the game are Ice Core Trap, Glacial Barrier, and Blizzard. The Ice Core Trap slows down enemies on contact, the Glacial Barrier creates an Ice wall that can block areas for some time. It can be destroyed if inflicted with heavy damage. Her ultimate ability Blizzard, when cast, spreads outwards with time and slows down enemies that get in its contact region. Enemies also get frozen if they get stuck inside Blizzard till the very last second.
8- Sentinel– Sentinel also posses three different abilities, Recon Drone, Stun Grenade, and Seeker Missile. The Recon Drone ability launches a controllable drone that can track enemies and momentarily mark them for others to see. The drone has a range and timelimit embedded. The Stun Grenade throws an EMP grenade that explodes on impact and causes the enemy’s screen to shake and slows their moment down. The player gets notified when an enemy is hit with this ability. The Seeker Missile launches two missiles that track the two closest opponents around the player and when it detonates, it stuns the enemies.
As you can see, all of the abilities are somewhat a replica version from Valorant. Like ‘Blizzard’ is a copy of Killjoy’s ‘Lockdown’, the ‘Seeker Missile’ is a copy of Skye’s ‘Seekers’ and more.
There are some mixes and matches but entire copies of Valorant agent can also be found here. For example, Faith Arrow’s abilities are a direct copy of Sova’s abilities. The ‘Recon Arrow’ resembles ‘Recon Bolt’, ‘Explosive Arrow’ resembles ‘Shock Dart’, and ‘Flaming Arrow’ resembles ‘Hunter’s Fury’. Similarly, Blood Raider is a copy of Reyna, Blink is a copy of Omen, etc.
Weapons
The Game has Half and Full armor meta with a series of Pistols, Shotguns, SMGs, Rifles, Machine guns, and Sniper rifles. Here’s a picture of the weapon buy menu and you can see the similarities in weaponry, serially to that of Valorant. Like, the USP is a copy of Ghost, Heavy Pistol is a copy of Sherrif, M4A1 is a copy of Phantom, Knight is a copy of Ares, etc.
HUD and UI
The HUD and UI are also very similar to that of Valorant. Even the skull icon that pops up after getting a kill has an uncanny resemblance.
Map
The beta access map that we got to play on is again a mixed copy of Valorant’s maps. Like its layout suggest Split but the textures are of Haven.
Our Thoughts
There’s a lot more that can be discussed to ensure the argument of Project M being a mobile copy of Valorant but we hope it is quite evident by now. Though few people didn’t like Project M and stated it to be an unpolished mobile version of Valorant, there’s been quite a number who have liked it. It is just a matter of time until its real global performance is out with its official release and it might just get a head start against Riot Game’s Valorant Mobile. Some possibilities may also suggest Riot Games suing NetEase for Project M but it’s all just speculations.
Also Read: VALORANT: EVERY AGENT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT! (PART 2).
Should you try Project M is up to you but if you are looking to experience the essence while waiting for Valorant Mobile, then go for it. Keep following redjacket.gg for more articles.
