Senior Staff Writer Chris "Pwyff" Tom jumped into a play session with END Games Entertainment's Scott Brown and Ryan Seabury for a game of Vorp!, a new Facebook game combining 2D spaceships with DotA mechanics.

I'll admit: I'm not a big fan of Facebook games. To me, simplicity and ease of access are the two pillars of Facebook, and as a gamer who loves to be challenged, I'm sure you can see why Facebook games and I rarely get along. I am, however, always up to be proven wrong, so when END Games Entertainment's Scott Brown and Ryan Seabury invited me to a play session in their new Facebook game Vorp!, I decided to swallow my uncertainties to see if maybe, just this once, there might be something good on Facebook.

To get introductions out of the way, Vorp! is a 2D space-shooter, similar to old classics like SubSpace and Space Commander. Right now, while END Games Entertainment plans to develop a pile of new game modes, I was there to check out their big attraction: Defense of the Armada (DotA). If you can't already guess from the acronym, Vorp!'s DotA mode is exactly what you would expect from any game that's been inspired by the internationally recognized Warcraft III map, Defense of the Ancients: three lanes, five players per team piloting unique heroes (ships, in this case), minions pushing along each lane, two powerful towers guarding each lane and the ultimate objective being the utter destruction of the enemy base.

Where Vorp! sets itself apart from its dozens of other "DotA-inspired" brethren, however, is the 2D space shooting mechanics to which END Games Entertainment has married their game. Movement in Vorp! has graduated from the industry standard point-click-move concept, as players will need to pilot their ships with a clever blend of moving, shooting, boosting and drifting when the situation calls for it. And if you thought that wasn't enough, there is no such thing as health or mana in Vorp!, just energy. Every action in Vorp!, including taking a hit, uses some of your ship's overall energy, so players will need to think tactically about their options in any given situation.

You can see the DotA mode in action in the trailer below, and then head over to page 2 for more details from my gaming session.

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