For new online modes, Colonies has given us Point Snatcher, VS Annihilator, Counter Grab, Akrid Egg Battle, Egg Bandit, Egg Bandit (individual), and Akrid Hunter. Point Snatcher plays out much like a team elimination where players struggle to gain points by beating the other team but with Point Snatcher mode, each player keeps a certain amount of points based on the opponents that person has defeated and any enemy player that defeats that player can gain the points accumulated by the player, so this mode will have players hunting down some of the more skilled players to gain their points to help out their team. VS Annihilator places a random team member into a VS (Vital Suit) and the rest of the team must struggle to keep that VS from being destroyed while attempting to destroy the other teams VS. VS annihilator can get quite chaotic with the constant VS combat between teams. The VS member is the only player that can control a VS and that person cannot leave the VS.

Counter Grab puts a twist on the normal Data Post Grab by having two teams fight over a single Data Post. The team that can activate and control the single Data Post for the longest amount of time in a round wins - a timer starts at 5 minutes and counts down while a team has activated the Data Post. Akrid Egg Battle is much like a "Capture the Flag" type of mode except you're fighting over Akrid eggs. Egg Bandit has individuals, two teams or four teams fighting over a single Akrid Egg. Much like Counter Grab, a timer will count down while a player is in possession of the obtainable item (in this case, an Akrid egg). Egg Bandit can be quite an amusing mode while watching one member run around an arena with a bulky Akrid Egg while other team members follow.

By far, the best of the new modes is the new Akrid Hunter. This mode randomly places four players into the role of four Akrid bugs and the rest of the twelve players play as snow pirates. On the Akrid side, you can randomly play as a Dongo/Godon (rolling type), Chryatis/Gorechryatis (mantis) and Neegal (scorpion) and each of them have their own individual controls. One might think that an Akrid would control clumsily but once you get the hang of the controls, everything will come together. Akrid can easily kill any snow pirate with one hit from any of their moves.

On the snow pirate side of Akrid Hunter, the snow pirates are given the usual VSs and a variety of weapons. It's very enjoyable to play with either a snow pirate or an Akrid in this mode since both forms of gameplay can be quite challenging. Even though the Akrid can kill a snow pirate with one hit, a skilled player will be able to correctly manipulate an VS to bring down an Akrid or, while on foot, dodge right through an Akrid's attack with a roll. Akrid attacks have to be used based on timing and precise aiming in order to use them effectively. The giant Gorechryatis can get quite wild during gaming sessions with its near unstoppable swings and extensive life but even this Akrid can fall with enough firepower focused on him at one time.

As an Akrid kills off snow pirates, a battle meter will slowly rise, but as an Akrid dies, that battle meter will drop a good bit depending on the Akrid that was defeated. Some problems occur with this setup mainly from certain map designs however. Extremely early in the battle, a snow pirate team might find that they have somehow won...? This happens thanks to pits placed along certain maps where a rolling-type Akrid can easily plunge to his doom with the wrong press of a button. One single Akrid suicide at the beginning of a match will instantly stop the match in favor of the snow pirates.

Akrid are not the only ones that feel the pain of a tricky map however since there are some that are basically wide open spaces with very minimal hiding places for snow pirates, turning them into a virtual Akrid killing ground. One map actually has quite a few pitfalls awaiting the wrong Akrid move and it respawns the snow pirates inside of a cave that they must constantly grapple out of and run through the tunnels of every single time that they die in an effort to get back to the surface where the Akrid are located. These problems are only presented on a few of the maps however, so these issues can be somewhat overlooked. Even with the few flaws, Akrid Hunter is some of the most intense online gaming that you will have with a third person shooter. The battles demand quite a bit of skill from both snow pirate and Akrid making the experience very enjoyable no matter what role you are placed in.

« Page 1 · Page 3 »