Perfect World

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Ghost Recon Online

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online (GRO) is a free to play 3D third-person, cover-based tactical shooter (MMOTPS) developed by Ubisoft Singapore.

Elsword Online

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World of Tanks

World of Tanks is a team-based free MMO action game exclusively focused on the armored warfare in the mid-20th century. Created by the strategy masterminds at Wargaming.net, this is a shooter with a lot of tactical elements to be taken into consideration. Choose your tanks and enter epic battles!

Planet Calypso

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Forsaken World

Forsaken World is a free to play 3D fantasy mmorpg developed by Perfect World Entertainment inspired by European mythology. Players worldwide can anticipate a exhilarating gaming experience in Forsaken World including smooth animations and visually stunning graphics.

Dragon Oath Expansion Age of Destiny: Player Preview

Dragon Oath Expansion Age of DestinyKevin has been one of the 36 lucky players who have been chosen by the ChangYou team to enter Dragon Oath’s upcoming expansion Age of Destiny before the official launch, earlier than anyone else. He brings us this in-depth preview. Check out what he thinks of Age of Destiny!

I played the new Dragon Oath expansion and it seems pretty chill. They really added a lot of content this time around which was surprising, I was constantly busy with all of the new quests and events going on. The best things about the new expansion, in my opinion are the Artifact Weapons. It feels awesome to have an immensely powerful weapon that looks cool at the same time. It’s also nice that they added multiple ways to get those weapons, so that it doesn’t boil down to a dogpile of people trying to do the same quests.

The Yan Tomb instance is really challenging, but really rewarding at the same time. It’s like 9 levels deep with tons and TONS of enemies to mow through on your way to the final boss. In addition to those enemies, there’s a mini boss on each stage that blocks you from getting to the next level. Fighting King Yan himself is a grueling task that really requires you to be on your toes the entire fight. Not to mention the fact that your group has to be well equipped to deal with such a powerful boss. All in all, it was one of the best dungeons that I’ve ever played through in ANY game.

I spent a little time in that Ice Space zone and I think it’s a really cool idea that should be implemented into more games. It’s just a mellow zone where you can go to collect experience. Sometimes players want to get their consistent experience, but relax a bit at the same time. This was made for those people (myself included) and I definitely approve. The amount of money that you have to pay to get in is pretty fair too (I think it’s like 3 Gold), so you don’t really get robbed of your funds too badly.

I’ve always been a bit fan of PVP, so I decided to do the Arena Chest event one day and it turned out to be a lot of fun. All I had to do was group up with a few people and then we hopped right into the PVP zone. Once inside, I was shocked at how quickly I was thrown into an all out fight for my life. Tons of people were fighting it out for the huge treasure chest in the Arena and it eventually became a scramble to see who could stand next to the chest and defend it the longest. Honestly, doing that event was a breath of fresh air for a PVP enthusiast such as myself. Far too often, people are put in PVP situations where they’re expected to just mindlessly fight it out over nothing. It’s cool to finally see an objective that isn’t just “kill those guys”.

The coolest quest that I took part in was the Swallow’s Dock series. When I hopped into this quest I felt like I was taking part in an epic movie battle. Hopping from boat to boat in a race to protect a high ranking military soldier, scrambling to intercept bandits while fortifying defense structures, fighting off warlords with devastating magic attacks, this quest has it ALL. Even though the quest itself is challenging to complete, you never stop having fun, which is what makes it awesome in my opinion.

Overall, this new Dragon Oath content is gonna make a lot of players very happy. I think that these new editions are definitely something that will keep the veteran players engaged and bring in a lot of new players at the same time. It’s been quite awhile since I’ve spent a long time on a F2P MMO, but I’m having such a good time with Dragon oath that I really don’t even notice how quickly time is flying by. I encourage everyone to try this stuff out, it’s definitely worth it.

Dragon Oath Review: A Female Perspective

Dragon Oath Review: A Female PerspectiveDacchei, a 19-year-old college student, brings us this in-depth look into the popular martial arts fantasy F2P MMORPG Dragon Oath. Check out why thousands of female gamers are addicted to this game!

Being an avid gamer, I’ve played many, many free MMORPGs. Recently it’s been easier for me to jump from game to game, seeing basically the same content everywhere I went. But then I ran into a game that actually caught my eye and made me unable to quit playing it.

The first feature that caught my eye about Dragon Oath was its nine classes. These include classes that are commonly known in many games such as Taoist and Assassin, but then there were some classes I had never heard of before like Lotus Order and Pyromancer. Then, the next feature that I was attracted to was the Pet System. The Pet system on this game offered many different types of pets and also allowed pets to be much more than just an attractive sidekick. With pets, players are able to have another body to tank for them, attack with them or even heal them. Finally, the most unique feature of this game (for me) was the 24/7 events. Many of the events are called Intruders and Thieves. In these events you join a party and fight on an instance map for experience and items. These monsters give much more experience than the normal ones, and the events are quite enjoyable to do (in my opinion) because of the interaction with other players.

Recently Dragon Oath released its Christmas Events, much to everyone’s excitement. Some of the main items that people were looking forward to included the new level cap, new map, and new Christmas items. After logging in on the 17th, I was very impressed with the changes to Luo Yang. The snow made the game seem much more festive. Then I ran to see the new map, Silver Snowfield, that had just been opened to the public. This map was much like the other caves I had been to, however it was unique because it offered the new Penguin pet. Also, this map offered a new drop called ‘Monster Diary’ that would allow players to get their much sought after 2nd Class Fashion after collecting 20 diaries. After I was done exploring the new map and ringing the ‘Bell of Happiness’ (another new feature promoted by the mallet drops), I decided to check out the Token Shop. I have to say, I was incredibly impressed by the look of everything in the shop. All the new mounts and fashions looked amazing. However, what didn’t impress me were the prices. Being a broke college student, I knew I wouldn’t be able to buy anything in the shop. Still, one can’t help but hope that these items might be up for grabs one day as event prizes. J Some other disappointments that came along with this update were the low drop rates of a lot of the items, the level requirements for most of the activities were biased toward higher levels, and there were not enough new stuff/areas. Even though I enjoyed spending some time at snow field, within a few hours, I was back to my routine of doing rebels and thieves every hour. Also, it was odd that the only city to get a new wintery look was Luo Yang. Regardless though, the update did help bring a new “Christmassy” feel to the game and provide the first step into parts of Dragon Oath that have yet been added into the game.

Ultimately, Dragon Oath still has much more growing to do, but then again it also has a lot more content that has not been released in the US version yet. The community gradually increases every day, yet it’s still small enough to easily make friends with people from partying with them over and over again. In my opinion, it’s a good size because there are always more people to meet, yet after playing for a while you begin to recognize other people’s names. If you haven’t tried playing Dragon Oath yet, I highly recommend it. It offers enjoyable game play with tons of things to keep you busy, including raising pets, improving your life skills (crafting, mining, planting, fishing, etc.), and PvP events. PvP is a huge part of Dragon Oath and should inspire people to level faster or work harder on getting their equipment stronger. All the maps allow PvP, though some not without penalty. There are certain maps that do allow PvP without penalties, and there are also events, such as the Class Martial Battle, that allow you to test your strength against others. In the end, no matter how you decide to play your character, I believe that as long as you do what you enjoy doing, you will find this game to be an enjoyable way to spend your free time!

~Dacchei

Dragon Oath Pre-Beta Review

Dragon Oath is the English translation of the popular Chinese MMO Tiān Lóng Bā Bù, meaning Demi-Gods and Simi-Devils, which is based off the 1963 novel of the same name. Set in ancient China, Dragon Oath promises a deep gameplay experience full of magic and martial arts. Does Dragon Oath live up to these promises, or is it just blowing smoke?

For such a light weight in system requirements, Dragon Oath offers a lot of eye candy in magic effects and world environment. Spells are accompanied by bight flashes of color, and dazzling effects and the world looks sharp and detailed for the its system demands. After playing it for awhile, I simply forgot what a light game it is system requirement wise. After seeing your first magic effect, you will be in a state of awe every time thereafter.

Sound I am a less pleased with overall. The music does a great job of drawing you in. It makes you feel as if you're really in ancient China. However, it is on far too short of loop, with each song only a minute or two long and each area only having a single song. While the environmental sound effects are great, they are repeated far too quickly breaking any immersion that they give. Hearing the exact same dog bark every ten seconds while reading a quest, I am convinced is some sort of check to make sure you really are human.

Speaking of which, this is one thing that I found incredibly annoying about the game is that it makes frequent anti-automation checks. For example, randomly it will have a CAPTCHA pop up on screen wanting you to solve it to carry on. While solving it does give you some money, it is still an annoyance when it pop up. Failure to do so could result in you getting knocked off the server at a very inopportune time.

Character creation deserves a special bit of attention. In truth, your character is not fully complete until you have reached level ten, which at that point you finally get to choose your class. While this is an interesting way to take things, up until that point every character will play exactly the same. This can make making a new character rather boring, as you must go through the exact same series of quests each time.

Knowing that the game is still in its pre-beta state I did not expect a lot of the game to be complete. It comes to no surprise to find much of the higher end content still blocked off from testing. Also there are a few places I found some odd English translation, or the game has yet to be translated at all. While this is usually a minor annoyance, the level ten in game message that I received was still in full Chinese leaving me a bit puzzled at what to do next. Luckily I was able to figure it out, but this is something that should have been fixed before inviting players into the game. Knowing that this MMORPG game is a translation of a Chinese MMO which is based on a novel lead me to expect that there would be a deep storyline from the get go. I was sorely disappointed, there was no hint of a real story at all. Quests are very crude, with little more than a rough description at what to do. Perhaps this will be ironed out later, or that the storyline is exclusively in the higher end areas which are still blocked off.

Gameplay itself is very simple, with auto-pathing to most quest objectives making it a very simple game to play. The auto-pathing does an adequate job of getting from place to place, but sometimes it will hang up on a rock, or ledge. It is times like this that you would love to have access to keyboard movement controls, but the game is completely mouse driven in laying down new routes for the auto-pathing to take. Which at times causes far more trouble than it really should. As I leveled, I found there were times I would hit a drought of quests to complete, leaving me with the choice of killing things to level or go back to complete quests which were far under my level. This may be just a level pacing issue that has yet to be resolved, or more quests are still in the translation phase. If not, then I fear that the game may turn into a bit of a grind fest should you miss too many quests. With the rampant use of auto-pathing for most quests, you could expect that gameplay would offer little challenge. However, there is promise in the deep trade skills system, and relationship systems to offer much more than most MMOs generally give. The one fault in this, is that you cannot take part in these until a much later level. Something that did surprise me is just how many special events can happen in a single day. With bandit attacks, mini games, and pvp battles, to name just a few, there will always be something going on that you can take part in should you find yourself with nothing to do.

The biggest problem I have had with the game is that of network lag, and a overloaded server. Partway through my testing, a wave of pre-beta invites was released which bogged the single server down to a nearly unplayable level, when I was able to connect to it at all. While this is most likely a temporary problem, I do find it frustrating that there current is no news of another server to spread the load on to. Instead, the single server is always in the red, overflowing with players. This shows a lack of planing by the developer, which could simply be an oversight or a sign of how the game will be handled.

The payment system has not yet announced as of this writing, however there are already some indication of what it will be. The main log in page has a link to charge your account. Clicking on the link only leads to the main site. This leads me to believe that there will be an item mall on the web site with the link taking you to it.

For being in the Pre-beta phases the game is remarkably strong. If you have have a love for ancient China you may want to give this game a whirl. The Chinese version of Dragon Oath, Tiān Lóng Bā Bù, currently serves 800,000 players and with the proper polish, I could see the English version doing just as well.

The Good: Fills a niche market very well. Music is very fitting for the environment. Lots of random events to shake up gameplay.

The Bad: Sound repeats far too often. You will quickly get tired of completing anti-cheating tests. Desperately needs another server.

Graphics: 8.5/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Story: 5/10
Final Score: 7/10

Review by James McKinley, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 9/2/09

7Million Beta Review

7Million leaves far behind the many staples of the industry, putting you in the shoes of a thief in Paradise City. The result is an unique, intriguing game that stands on its own in a sea of clones. Sadly, bold steps into the unknown are not without stumbles in the dark. This holds true, even for the most sly of thieves.

The way your account is started is strange enough to warrant a brief mention. Most games I have played required you to sign up before even downloading the client. This is the first place that 7Million departs from the norm. To create your account you must download your client, create your character, then you may “save” this character which creates your account to log into later. If you fail to save your character it will automatically deleted upon exiting the game. When I created my account, G-Mail caught the confirmation e-mail in my Spam filter. This is just something to be weary of should you not be able to find the e-mail later.

Game play is divided up into different heists, in which you enter a location to steal or plant objects. To start a heist you must either get a mission for a target from one of the numerous quest givers, or buy a blueprint to a location, which are one time use. Upon entering a location you have a limited time to complete the mission's objectives or get as much loot as you can before time runs out. When the timer reaches zero if you were on a mission you fail, otherwise you are simply kicked out of the location. The problem with heists are they are not clearly marked for difficulty. This leads to buying blueprints to locations which you are not high enough level to complete.

Once you enter a location, in order to complete the heist you play a series of mini games with each representing an action during the heist. For example, cracking a code on a keypad requires you to play a clone of Tetris in which you match up the colored portions of the different pieces. If you are successful you get some experience and move on to the next obstacle in the heist, failure means you must try the game again. Failure to complete a mini game just wastes time, the exception to this is higher difficulty mini games. Some of these has specific actions you cannot take, if you ignore this you get an alert increase. Your level of alert increases not just from more difficult mini games, but also being spotted by cameras and guards. Should your meter fill, you are treated as if you ran out of time. More difficult actions increases the difficulty of the mini game you must play. This is accomplished by not only limiting your moves, but increasing the scores needed, or requiring multipliable clearings of a mini game to complete the action. Where this falls short, is that it gets very repetitive rather quickly. While tougher actions present you with a more challenging mini game, it is still at its core the same five mini games over and over.

Without combat to deal with, equipment takes on a new role. You still get bonuses from wearing different articles of clothing. Instead of boosting your traditional rpg stats, you get a bonus to particular games e.g. a hat may give you a scoring bonus in the Bejeweled like code cracking game, allowing you to complete it quicker. If you are reasonably skilled in the different games, the skill bonuses makes the mini games almost too easy to complete. This leaves the player free to treat equipment as more for show than stats.

Sound is where I feel the game needs to most improvement. As of this review, there is only one song that plays in loop leading me to quickly turn it off after hearing it for the fifth or sixth time. Aside from the foot falls of walking and the beeps from mini games, there aren't many sound effects of note in the game making it feel rather bland.

The graphics while rather simple pull off their task with an amazing style. Characters are very bright and crisp, mini games all have their own distinctive look, and the world is very impressive for it's low system requirements. It is geared for mid ranged PCs and performs beautifully under these conditions with a solid frame rate that did not falter.

Naturally with any free game, there will be options to pay for extra features. 7Million's pay model is only half implemented at this time, leading to a road block if care is not taken. Currently, in Beta, you receive an allowance of 3000 Deep Silver Coins upon character creation. These are used for numerous things such as golden tickets to enter locked locations, bags, and tools. Once you exhaust your supply of these coins, there is no way to obtain more at this time. This means you either must restart with a new character or skip the locked content. When implemented the buying of Deep Silver Coins will supplement the subscription option, giving those who do not wish to pay a monthly fee a way to experience the subscriber's content through the use of Golden Tickets. These are a single use key to locked locations. In addition to subscription and Deep Silver Coins, both of which are unavailable at this time, there are already several billboards erected throughout the game world to display ads at a later date. Wither subscribers will see this in addition to paying isn't clear at this time.

7Million is not without its faults, but if it can correct some of its more glaring flaws then it will be a game to look out for. It's unorthodox game play may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you are looking for a light game that you can pick up and play for a half an hour every so often, 7Million may just be for you. I would give it a 7 out of 10, with high hopes that it can address some of it's problems in later builds.

The Good: Colorful graphics, Great for short play sessions, Something new

The Bad: Very Repetitive, Sound nearly non-existent, In need of polish

Graphics: 8
Sound: 4
Gameplay: 8
Story: 5
Final Score: 7/10

Review by James McKinley, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 8/15/09

Dragon Sky Review

Nobody ever expects a great free MMORPG, we all wait for it but we know it’s not going to happen. So in the mean time we all look for a good one so that we might deem it great at least for a while, and so we come to Dragon Sky, produced by Sonov and published by Aeria Games and Entertainment.

Dragon Sky is a great free martial arts MMO that decided to take action and PvP to a whole different level. The game greets you with a pleasant login and character creation screen that promise a lot. I say pleasant because while the graphics are beautiful and colorful they don’t necessarily leave you gasping for air. Considering the system requirements a great deal of players will be able to enjoy the game with medium settings which provides a nice looking game with flashy and great looking effects. Those with medium to high end system can pump up all the settings and include some AA and AF for the whole experience which is more than decent for a free game. The sound is decent and depends mostly on each person to decide whether they like it or not. The attacks and spells sound about right but can get annoying after being used hundreds of times, and the monsters don’t make too much noise and if they do it’s nothing you haven’t heard before.

When it comes to character customization the game does not stray too far from the classic MMO formula. A few faces, hairstyles, hair color and two types of clothing are all the possible changes. The game provides a well deserved break from choosing a class because here when you create a character you choose your weapon, this choice guiding your path further in the game. There are four weapons to choose from: fist, sword, spear and hammer. Later in the game you will be able to dual wield these weapons which apart from looking cool does pack quite a punch. After generating your character and choosing your weapon you are thrown into the tutorial area. This area covers most of the game mechanics but leaves a lot of the intricacies to be found out on one’s own. Quests are pretty easy to find but not so easy to finish, at least not the ones over lvl 15. There is no trail, or coordinates that will take you to where you need to go, the world is huge and travelling is slow. This can be daunting for beginners considering that quest are an important part of leveling up.

From the get go you will realize that Dragon Sky is a grinder, but grinding without a party has never been as much fun as in Dragon Sky. Whether the producers meant for you to kill so many monsters to level up, or it was just by accident it doesn’t matter, they made sure that killing mobs for hours on end wouldn’t leave you yawning. The animations and effects for the skills and attacks look amazing and give you the feeling that those monsters are really suffering when you attack. Furthermore herding mobs and killing them altogether is simple since area of effect attacks are basically straightforward attacks which make grinding easier to bear. It is safe to say that killing 10 mobs is a lot more fun than killing one.

The game keeps things fresh in the leveling department as well. Here you level up both the Dan level which represents the body, and the Soul level which as you might have guessed represents the soul or spirit. These two are leveled up differently, the Dan is leveled up by killing whereas the Soul is leveled up by questing and meditating. There are also victory points allocated for killing monsters and much more involved in leveling up, that once you have fully grasped what everything does you will be able to appreciate the depth that this system provides. It is a much needed change of pace from the kill and level up that most games have.

Items are split into four categories from White (simple items), to Green, Blue and lastly Pink (unique). Crafting is as well straightforward. In order to upgrade them you need mystic stones for weapons and embroidery for armor, the rarity of these items is well balanced and anybody can obtain them from drops or mining.

Apart from the great action and intricate character development the game boast a really addictive PvP system which even if not revolutionary still is lots of fun especially once you take part in the Faction wars. The PvP works like a rock paper scissors game so fist beats hammer, hammer beats spear, spear beats sword and sword beats fist. Keep in mind that this does not mean any spearman will beat any swordsman, this depends primarily on the players and their skills but there are some advantages to be derived from this system. The guild fights are just about what you’d expect, two guilds fighting off at their own accord. But when it comes to Faction versus Faction fights the game really shines. There are objectives to be completed, guards to be slain and an opposing faction to destroy on a huge map with 200 people battling at once. It is pretty epic and whether you win or loose you just want to come back for more challenges and massive PvP fights.

Yes, it is a grinder, yes it is laggy and yes most of the game has been done before but the small changes and new features give Dragon Sky a somewhat fresh feel that veterans will appreciate and newcomers will enjoy in their search for that great MMO.

The Good: Nice graphics even on lower end systems, intricate leveling system, great action

The Bad: Grinder, takes some time getting used to, laggy

Graphics: 7
Gameplay: 8
Sound: 6
Story: 7
Overall: 7 /10

Review by Cosmin Uciu, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 8/4/09

BattleForge Review

In the 90’s Blizzard set the bar for Real Time Strategy games with their smash hit, Warcraft and later, Starcraft. Their near perfect formula of balance, strategy, and replay value has been what strategy gamers have hoped for in all other games of the genre. Does BattleForge live up to such a high expectation?

Calling BattleForge an MMORTS (real time strategy) just isn’t enough. This game is one-half real time strategy game, and one-half trading card game. As such, it requires you to pay real money via micro-transactions for more cards. A once Pay-to-Play game gone Free-to-Play, BattleForge still offers a full game but also the option to buy additional cards.

BattleForge takes place in a fantasy world in which creatures and soldiers of the 4 elements (Fire, Frost, Nature, Shadow) battle against each other in the world of Nyn. You are a Skylord, a once mortal hero that has long since gained immortality and has become a messenger to the gods. As the Skylord, you control your armies against other skylords or other evil forces. This is just a quick summary of the rather weak and unappealing backstory for BattleForge. It certainly isn’t top notch by any means.

While BattleForge is still considered an RTS, it definitely makes the gameplay a lot more casual friendly. First of all, there is absolutely no base building. This has been something that many people have been frustrated with in RTS games because of the requirement of a certain level of skill. Resource collecting has also been changed for this game. Instead of sending workers, or gatherers to resource deposits, you instead place a monument on selected nodes and capture points to gather resources. While this type of gameplay is refreshing for some, many hardcore RTS fans, me included, will find something missing when playing BattleForge. Additionally, this type of gameplay isn’t much of an innovation, considering that Dawn of War, another RTS game, is centered around capturing control points but it is definitely something that’s going to be more appealing to people who aren’t very fond of the RTS genre. As far as spawning soldiers, you select a deck before getting into a game, and that deck shows up at the bottom portion of your UI (user interface). You then drag and drop the cards onto the actual battlefield in order to spawn your soldiers. Also, the there is not much of a learning curve with this game as evidenced by the easy to follow tutorial and the fact that BattleForge strays from traditional RTS gameplay.

It has been just a couple of years since this game has come out, and as such truly looks like a next-generation game. Gorgeous visuals and vibrant colors truly help to portray a fantasy world, and the sounds of your soldiers and the beautifully composed music truly embed you into this game. Bloom lighting, dynamic lighting, bump mapping a other graphical effects help to keep this game at the very top in terms of visuals. Unfortunately, with all next-generation games, BattleForge does require a next-generation computer to run. For new computers, this game runs at a smooth 60+ FPS (frames per second) but older computers may be able to run the game at 30- FPS. Fortunately, turning down all the graphics setting to low doesn’t change the overall beautifulness of the game, but this high requirement for amazing graphics can turn a lot of people off considering the PC age of gaming has recently been dying.

Mutliplayer shines in this game. There are two game modes, PvE and PvP. PvE (player versus environment) games are cooperative matches in which you and a couple of other players play against an AI (artificial intelligence) enemy, complete with scripted sequences and a story to go along with each campaign. PvP (player versus player) is simply a match between you and another. In addition to all this, you will be able to trade cards with other players, and buy other cards via auctions in game.

Overall though, BattleForge is a great game and a great attempt by a rather new developer. For what it is, the game does a nice job of drawing in players of all skill levels, and keeps those same players occupied for a long time to come. BattleForge gets a huge recommendation from me especially for those people who haven’t played a strategy game before.

The Good – Gorgeous visuals and addictive gameplay will have you hooked for a long time.

The Bad – Takes a hit on lower spec. computers; still have to pay for more, powerful cards; Weak Story.

Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 8
Story: 7
Final Score: 8.5/10

Review by PimperX, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 7/27/09

Warrior Epic Review

Possibility Space is making things possible with their flagship opus, Warrior Epic. The game garnered mixed opinions from the gaming population because of its all-too-familiar offline feel. It felt like the game’s development and release was a hit-or-miss thing. Almost everything in the game was unexpected for an online version. Does the game have the right to be called “epic?”

Warrior Epic graces us with an intro movie, talking about a great war and an entire civilization hanging in the balance. 300 years later, the kingdom has been rebuilt, and now calls for heroes to protect the land. After that brief and quite irrelevant historical montage, players are immediately thrown into the game without any knowledge of the game’s inner workings. I tried fiddling with the UI, but it only gave me a few ideas on what to do. Somehow, I got stumped as to why I got the brutish pitfighter character instead of the magical class, Pangolins, I selected from the patch screen. Before I began, I searched for answers around the web, and found out that the pitfighter is every player’s default character. The character selection in the patch screen was as useless as an entrance sign without a door.

The tutorial told me some information about the UI. But I was still left hanging with questions like where the skill screen and inventory were, or the town and the other players. As these questions replayed in my mind, I traversed through the first mission given to me by that stranded and scared NPC. The first thing I noticed was the restricted map. Getting lost wasn’t much of a problem, since it was easy to know where you’re going. Sure, there might be paths branching out, but it all leads to dead-ends with nothing of interest. I initially assumed this restriction in area to be just for this introductory instance alone. However, I found out later that my assumptions were explicitly false. Every map in Warrior Epic only varies in the size, but still has the same restricted layout. Your character begins in one end, and the map’s other end almost always has the boss or any other thing your mission requires you to get.

I had another false assumption as I ended the first instance. Warrior Epic does not revolve in a persistent world. The game was entirely mission based. There were no towns to explore, no people to chat with idly, and no huge field maps to traverse. On the good side, it eliminates long-distance walking. Each map in the selection screen represents one mission. Each map instance has some degree of interactivity. Pots and pans can be broken, some bushes can be whacked, some walls can be torn down, and some bugs can be squished. Monsters stay at definitive points in the map, and their numbers are fixed for the whole area. Don’t expect any respawning mobs for your powerleveling activities. On the character’s side, bringing items are limited to only a handful. You’re also only allowed to assign a certain number of skills to use for your mission. Plus, you only have a few lives to spare, and losing them all means death. It’s a tough run through each instance requiring strategy and intuition.

After that initial mission, I witness for the first time the place I’ll be spending my entire Warrior Epic life in, the Warrior’s Hall. From there, players can start new missions, manage your warriors, organize the inventory, set skill, and access the multiplayer areas as well. It’s kind of handy to have everything in just one room, but that completely eliminates free roaming. By the way, have I also mentioned that the warrior hall itself increases in levels too? Higher hall levels enable you to access more missions. A thankful welcome was the variety in recruitable mercenaries, all 6 of them, each having a distinct strength, weakness and specialty. There was, however, the notion of this innate need to have one of each mercenary type, since every stage discreetly necessitates the specialized use of a character for a specific stage. Naturally, with enough levels or the right strategy, the use of just 1 or two mercenaries may work, but with noticeable difficulty, while other mercenary classes may just breeze through it.

Warrior Epic has other features you won’t totally see right off the bat (or not at all). Chat system is only available when you’re in a multiplayer map. Guild formation is absent, and trading is seemingly nonexistent. Character death turns your mercenary into a spirit and is taken to a spirit hall. From there, you have the option of reviving them or equipping their soul to aid in battle. Think of it as your “special bomb” for those tight spots. Don’t expect much though, your spirit is only as strong as when it was alive.

The game let’s you feel like you’re in economic recession. All the spending items you need, like money and points for mercenary recruitment, are too scarce. It took me quite a few mission runs to get the items for my current level and the mercenary I want to add. Exp and item drop rates in the maps are far too stingy, making the game too repetitive for your normal game. I wouldn’t mind saving up on the items I want, but when I already have the money, the items or equips are already far too useless for my level.

Final words? It’s difficult to give a verdict for game that’s loosely an MMORPG and loosely an offline game. It’s safe to say the game is a mixture of both… a seemingly unripe, raw, and inconsistent one. There’s potential for the game to be a unique yet familiar adventure. But it’s the poor execution that determined its fate. You can try going for this game, but I suggest looking at other offline RPGs first before downloading this. On the upside, it’s free.

The Good: Mercenary system, Impressive graphics

The Bad: Linear maps, stingy rewards, lack of online feel

Graphics: 8
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 5
Story: 3
Final Score: 7/10

Review by kenny, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 7/25/09

Pangya Review

Pangya is a cute Anime Style MMO. It involves Golfing with a strange yet a brilliant twist. You start with an average golfer and as you earn more cash, you can buy many items from the shop. As you progress you earn more skills to use in Battle. Pangya is extremly addictive for all the sporting gamers and even the average gamers. The game is fun and cute and has different game modes. Like it so far? Read On.

The items in the shop include Clothing, Club Sets, Special Items etc. Items used in the game give you certain boosts such as Strength and Luck. With different clubs come different abilities, you are also able to buy different styles of clubs designed as Swords and other items. The Club in-game is called a 'Club', the Golf Ball in-game is called a 'Comet' and the Hole in-game is called 'The Cup'

In Pangya, there are different phases. Hole-in-One, where you put the Comet into the Cup in one Strike. Eagle which is 2 Below Par, Albatross which is 3 Below Par, Birdie which is 1 Below Par. After that, it moves onto Bogey, which is one Over Par, Double Bogey which is 2 Over Par and Triple Bogey which is 3 Over Par. After that, you will automatically be disqualified.If you put the Comet in the Cup with a Birdie or less, you earn some Panga (In-Game Currency).

There are different zones in a Map. These are; Rough, which is slow and harder to hit the Comet; Fairway, which is a smooth layer of grass for the player to smoothly hit the Comet. In Pangya there is also an Ice Zone which makes the ball slide along the terrain.The two most annoying areas are the OB and Water Hazard. OB is Out-of-Bounds, and if you hit the Comet to this Zone, you get a penalty. The Water Hazard is when the Ball lands in water, then you also have another penalty.

A great feature of Pangya is the 'Replace Ball' Button. This enables you to move the ball usally when your Comet is stuck in a pit. It costs a Small Penalty, The view turns to Overview, which is where the game is viewed from above. There, you change the Placement of your Comet. You cannot move the Comet closer to the flag, but this is a Great help for those tricky moments.

When you are playing, you have a power bar at the bottom. You press the Space Bar to Determine the Power, and then press the Space Bar to determine the angle of the Shot. The Power can also be strengthened by using your Power bar at the top of the screen or Items. Each time you take a shot, your personal power bar will increase steadily. When it is Filled to your satisfaction, on your hit, you may hit 'ALT' to make the power bar glow red. You can press it up to 3 times depending on how many sections are filled. This makes your shot a lot stronger.

Pangya is currently in Season 4, and is Stable. With a Encouraging Community, this game earns a nice 8/10.

The Good: Exciting Gameplay, Addicting Graphics, Friendly Community, Fun Experience, Barely any connection problems, Beautiful Sound

The Bad: No Advanced Tutorial

Graphics: 7
Sound: 8
Gameplay: 8
Story: N/A
Final Score: 8/10

Review by Joey, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 7/24/09

Ys Online Review

In the world of Free MMO games, Ys Online is an excellent example of developers taking the “free play” model to a whole new level. In the past, it was easy to dismiss free online games: they were relatively understaffed, under-developed, and lacked the depth and interest level of pay-to-play MMOs like World of Warcraft or Warhammer. Ys Online looks to break that mold in resounding way by presenting a free alternative that incorporates gorgeous graphics, unique crafting, a combat style with intriguing customization, and (hopefully) a storyline based upon the rich Ys franchise.

The graphics in Ys Online are impressive. Areas and models are nicely developed in full 3D, with lush, gorgeous landscapes. While the game strives to portray the Anime feel of Ys, which it does quite well, I couldn't help but see the influence of World of Warcraft. It has that “WoW” feel to it, but isn't quite as cartoonish. Character models are much more lifelike, and the realism factor has been kicked up a couple notches thanks to the full use of modern graphic card feature sets. This doesn't mean that the game is a graphics hog. Quite the contrary. Even running on a fairly outdated PC, The game was not only fully playable, but smooth as silk with all graphics settings set to max at 1200x900 resolution. Battle/magic effects are really quite impressive, if not sometimes overdone. It all comes down to whether or not you like lots of sparklies. But then again, the effects are TOTALLY in line with the anime genre the game seeks to portray.

The sound is also quite good. Background music is interesting without being annoying or overbearing. Effects are again, cut straight out of the anime cloth. It sounds exactly as you would expect it to. Even environmental effects are nicely utilized.

Ys Online utilizes the mouse for movement. Right clicking a spot on the ground moves you to that spot. You can change direction while movement by clicking in a different spot. Left clicking allows you to pan, and the mouse wheel controls camera zoom. There is no keyboard option for movement. This takes a little getting used to, but it's no deal breaker. Keys are instead used to open menus or perform actions. There are also a number of hotkey bars that can be filled with virtually anything: from emotes, to special attacks, to consumable inventory items. You can access the hotbars via key commands or by clicking the mouse on a hotkey's icon.

Characters can be created from three starting races, Afrocan (best suited for fighting classes), Eresians (blend of fighter and magic), or Kimoan (best suited for magic). Any race can start as a basic magic user or fighter, however, and each race has it's own unique tree that branches from these two bases into more specialized classes as you reach level milestones. Thich results in a wide range of character customization. As you level and are able to train new skills, you pay the trainer with Auras (essences) that you collect by killing creatures or completing quests. It's an interesting concept, using auras as a training currency. Don't worry. They're not hard to get, and you'll have a nice nest egg of auras in no time.

Adding to this is Ys use of a “card” system. Cards are dropped by mobs or purchased from vendors. Cards are necessary for a variety of things, including quests, crafting, enchanting, learning custom skills, advancing into more complex skill sets, etc. Cards become increasingly important as you advance in level, especially if you want better gear or skills. It is a unique idea, and it definitely has some merit. It also creates some extreme drawbacks. For example, you CANNOT craft an item without the appropriate crafting card, and every time you craft an item, the card is consumed in the process. Some cards are equipable, and give your character expanded abilities and enhancements. It will be interesting to see how the card system plays out.

Crafting requires a LOT of resources (gathered from quest rewards and mob drops) and basically requires several steps: Gathering primary materials>refining materials,>smelting loot,>Item Crafting. Anyone can craft even the most complex of items if they have the materials and gold to pay for crafting fees. This makes Ys somewhat unique. Crafted goods are generally the ultimate high-end gear.

Battle is straightforward. Your default attack auto-repeats unless you use a special skill. There are no “chain” attacks either. Once you use a special, the cooldown timer is activated for ALL specials. You can form a party of up to 10 characters, which does allow somewhat of a coordinated series of specials from various players. You can also form guilds, much like any other free MMORPG. A unique twist for being in a guild: there are interesting opportunities for quests, rewards, and other goodies that are available ONLY to guilds and guild members.

There is a PVP system in place, although I haven't had a chance to test it out. It appears geared towards high-level characters within guilds, and is described as primarily a battlefield/raid scenario.

The standard currency is gold, and this is where the “free to play” quickly shows its colors. You need gold for EVERYTHING, and LOTS OF IT! For example, crafting a better weapon than something that is vendor bought can easily cost 500,000 gold. That's not a typo, and that price is for a second tier player level. The costs for even higher level players is simply astronomical. In other words, you can certainly play the game for as long as you want for free, but if you want to be a powergamer in Ys, be prepared to shell out some cash to get enough gold for the high-end stuff. Don't fool yourself. Ys is meant to be a profit generator for the investors. Like other Key to Play games, you can also purchase Key Points online to trade in for special items for your characters, such as weapons, mounts, and other uber gear.

Although the game is in open beta, it's curiously lacking in lore, which makes it somewhat difficult to become engrossed in a storyline, since there doesn't seem to be one beyond “some bad guys did something bad and now we have to fight back”. Also, the quests seem few and far between. Anyone who's used to advancing through the ranks by following quest chains will be sorely disappointed if this beta is an accurate representation of what the finished game is meant to be. You'll be grinding a lot of mobs to level up, and without a mount, you'll be spending a lot of time running through trash mobs to get to the level-appropriate stuff.

Ys is definitely one of the prettiest free-to-play games out there. It's satisfying enough to keep you playing, especially if you love a challenge, but can be rather mystifying and frustrating due to its lack of storyline, quest depth, and overall high cost of attaining a truly powerful character.

Note: Ys Online is only available in select countries. IP´s are blocked in countries where there is no current licensing agreement. This includes North America

The Good: Excellent graphics, effects, and sound. Wide variety of class customization. Unique Card system.

The Bad: Lack of chain quests and storyline. Expensive economy. Travel can be a time sink.

Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 8
Story: 4
Final Score: 7.5/10

Review by Babblin5, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 7/23/09

Destiny Online Review

A cutesy MMORPG where you take your pet with you to battle, teach it special skills to help you, oh, and a free one at that. These words would strike the heart into any serious gamer I'm sure, but before you run away screaming, allow me to salve your fears.

Despite its cute exterior, Destiny Online is an MMO with a seriously addictive gaming system, with each level holding yet more challenge and intrigue than the last. You soon forget about first appearances, and are instantly hooked. Many a gamer has been known to check the time after their first log-in, and realize that is almost time for their morning alarm to be going off!

This game now boasts a whole new world of excitement with the release of its Power of Crimson expansion pack. This brought us a whole new level of equipment crafting, allowing us to reach dizzying new levels of power with Horrific Crimson Equipment. We were also treated to a massive stock of new costumes and equipments that add that personal touch to every character. Combine that with the recent price drops in the gold mall and every player seemed to be happy!

The current level cap of 130 (eventually planned to hit 150) is lofty goal for all to reach, yet it would be a good target for those who wished to fight our brand new World Boss. With a name like Soul Reaper, I'm sure it's clear that this guy is no pushover. He joins the ranks as the 3rd World Boss (the toughest kind!) that this game has to offer.

Possibly the most charming factor of this particular game is that there are many, many updates, always containing a new exciting feature to the game. Lately there has been a whole new element to the game tribes (or guilds) that has made them even more fun than before! Even now, the creators have been showing off their newest addition to the World Boss roster which comes hot on the tail of Soul Reaper.

Perhaps the most wonderful and unique thing about this MMO is the staff-gamer relationship. This is the first time such a dynamic bond has existed between these 2 groups. If the gamers do not agree with a release, or feel it needs changes, the team discusses this with the gamers until they can reach a resolution. In fact, an entire new server was created with the addition of the Destiny Robot system to appease those that didn't wish to compete with those using it.

Ingle Games (the operator of Destiny) are truly a company with a heart. Not only do they hold player opinion is such high regard, but they reward them at the loss of profit. This is the very first MMORPG to pay you to play. Just for staying in-game, you are rewarded with gold (something that normally has to be purchased) that you can use however you wish in-game. Also, the company holds daily, weekly and monthly lottery draws on its Facebook group, giving away vast amounts of gold to those that enter.

Even though this game is still in the Open Beta testing stages, Destiny truly has the feel of an MMO that is strong on its feet. With many events happening every single day, it's impossible for a gamer to announce 'I'm bored' at any given moment. There are Quizzes, 100s upon 100s of side-quests and many special events to keep the entertainment and excitement levels running high. Combine this with a 24/7 player community and there's never a dull moment!

So if you want a taste of something new, the chance to make some good new friends and to have something fun to come home to, give Destiny Online a shot!

Dragonica Review

Barunson Interactive is on a roll with their greatest masterpiece. Dragonica was one of the most anticipated MMORPGs ever since its development in 2006. Its super-deformed anime looks, pseudo-2D sidescroller, and cel-shaded graphics account for the anticipation and the hype. Numerous teaser gameplay videos generated much criticism and excitement from fans and critics. Early 2009 marked the beginning of a new adventure. Was the game worth the three-year wait?

The game shows off its prowess with an aesthetically-pleasing opening movie. Character creation and selection follows suit. Character creation only offers a few faces and hair selections, with bodies similar to a chibi anime form. Just like the characters, the environment looks like a 3D cartoon scenery. The developers did an artistic rendition of Dragonica’s world: lush, vibrant, alive and teeming with colors. The music fantastically complements the vibrant world, and despite the infinite loop, it sounds just as lively as the first time you’ve heard it.

Players can choose from 4 different job archetypes: warrior, thief, magician and archer. Each class has 2 different job progressions, with job changes occurring at level 20 and level 40. Character building is simple yet challenging. Stats are automatically distributed according to your class. However, skills have to be personally managed by arranging skill points provided per level. The skill system was made to prevent mastering up to 80% of the skills from first to third job. Skill point costs are in multiples of 5, the cheapest being 5 skill points per level. The game promotes different skill builds in each job, but it also forces the players to use skill reset items for a finer-tuned build. Otherwise, job progressions definitely offered multiple build varieties, a very thankful welcome in an MMORPG.

Dragonica doesn’t crimp on the quests. Most of the quests offered in the game are chained. Some single ones are also unlocked after fulfilling some conditions like the completion of a previous quest or attaining a certain level. Every single quest in the game reaps generous item, exp and/or monetary rewards. On the same note, repeatable quests often give twice the exp reward from a quest of a map’s average level. Unfortunately, the game still has its fair share of the grind. Some quests might be too difficult to fulfill, especially dungeon-based ones. Repeatable quests do give the necessary push in exp gains, but most of these can only be done once per day. Dragonica compensates the grinding aspect with a few incentives. A monster kill counter is added on the lower right corner of the screen. Characters gain treasure chests upon reaching a certain number of kills. The higher the kill count, the rarer the chest gets.

The maps in the game vary in size, but are huge, for the most part. Despite the vast map areas, monsters usually respawn at definitive points, which make camping a viable strategy when questing or grinding. Being a sidescrolling game, town maps look “long,” instead of vast. Constant visits to the town make you wish there was an easier way to reach the NPC you need to talk to, but unfortunately, running and hyperjumping are the only ways to go about. Some towns are also so far apart (Port of Winds and Libra), it takes a long trip through different field maps. This is compensated by the use of teleport scrolls though. Dungeon maps, on the other hand, are instanced and usually straightforward, with varying degrees of difficulty. The more difficult the dungeon, the more maps are added, and the higher the monster levels are. Each dungeon also ranks the characters’ performance according to combo and damage taken. Dungeons are definitely much more rewarding, item and exp-wise.

Other MMORPG staples are present, like PvP and item refinement. PvP is held in a different lobby with different arenas, divided into single or multiplayer matches. There’s minimal to moderate lag during the matches, making battles a bit bothersome but still doable. Guild sieges called Emporia Wars are also scheduled every week. Just like the arenas, some players might experience moderate lag during sieges, or in rare cases, abrupt disconnections. Next up is item refinement. This is done in two ways, by enhancement or increasing soul force. Unlike other MMOs, Dragonica gives players the chance to modify the rarity of equips through the soul force system. This gives random stat bonuses for that item. Enhancing the item raises the refine level and adds def/mdef bonuses instead.

And in conclusion, this answers the question posed a few paragraphs back. Dragonica was definitely worth the wait. Everything is lively, fast-paced and exciting. There’s the usual free MMORPG monotony as players play longer, but this is compensated by numerous in-game rewards. We can expect future fixes for the lag in PvP arenas, but so far, it’s still doable in its current state. Plus, more content will definitely be added, like pets and larger maps. Dragonica is gem on its own, it just needs to be cut and polished better when it goes commercial. This is a must play.


The Good: Numerous in-game rewards, vibrant visuals, combo system

The Bad: Lag in PvP arenas, specific respawn areas for monsters


Graphics: 9
Sound: 9
Gameplay: 8
Story: 8
Final Score: 8.5/10

Review by kenny, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 7/13/09

Battlefield Heroes Closed Beta Review

Review Original From MMOsite.com by stranger2020

I love action games and if you're one of my regular readers or just a fellow action fan, you can imagine just how exited I was when I heard about Battlefield Heroes, a new MMOTPS (third-person shooter) published by EA games, you know, the same guys who made Spore, the Sims, Battle Forge and all those other massive titles. However, if, like me, you have played the game and live in one of those areas unfortunate enough to be plagued by high-ping, you will understand my bitter, bitter disappointment. Nevertheless, I will remain objective about this; after all, that's my job.

First off, Battlefield Heroes is not something everyone will get into. But, if you like the look of the new Team Fortress 2 and affiliated games, you will think you have died and gone to heaven. BFH looks, sounds and feels great. It has bright cell-shaded graphics (just like TF2 or the new prince of Persia games), thus taking a step back from the ultra-realistic FPS such as Call of Duty and adding a less serious, more cartoon based theme which gives the game or more casual, if not entertaining element. The music and sound is as you would expect and suits the game nicely, with some rather quirky voice-overs.

The game is run from the website. All you have to do is shoot on over, register and account, design your hero and click start game. The client will install itself onto your computer and once that is all over and done with, it's just a matter of clicking the play button; the game client launches and you're in. But, if we can just go back for a moment; when you come to design your character, you can choose between two opposing factions - the royalists and the nationalists.

Those of you familiar with history will quickly recognise the mock English solder and Nazi SS get-ups; like I said before, the game is quirky. Each fraction has three classes you can choose from which includes your basic solider, your heavy (bazooka wielding nut-jobs) and your sly sniper-rifle totting assassins. Each class has its own specific attributes and skills which become available and upgradable as you advance through the game.

On the battle-field, your view is typical of other TPS games. You can run around and shoot at whatever you like but you can also jump in jeeps, tanks, planes and other such things to gain an extra edge. Several people can normally jump in on each craft; for instance, on the plane you have a driver and a man sitting (literally) on each wing.

There are several modes of play from your basic-death match to the ever popular capture-the-flag game in which team-work becomes much more important. You can buy new weapons, items and outfits from the games shop which sells items bought with both virtual (money acquired in game) and micro (real money transferred) currency.

There is no denying it, the game is a hoot. However, if, like me, you are some distance from the main severs, then you will get kicked from just about any room you try and join – this gets annoying really quickly. Lag is also another issue. On several occasions, I emptied entire clips into enemies with only a couple of the hits actually registering. Again, this gets very annoying, very quickly. Still, if you don’t have such problems, then I envy you, because this game is a class-act all the way and if EA puts in a little effort to resolve said issues, it’s sure to become a classic, perhaps even, greater than other popular MMOFPS games. If my experiences were not marred, I would be giving this game an 8.5 out of 10 without question, but, due to problems, I am holding back on this. Great game, hope it works for you.

Rappelz Review

The MMO world is saturated with many different titles. Some games shine with their brilliant delivery and aesthetics, while some games don’t make the cut. Rappelz can be considered one of the latter. We can definitely call Rappelz a classic, being a 2 year old game. However, not all classics are worth playing anymore in this day and age. Rappelz still has a huge playerbase and frequent updates, but it doesn’t hide the fact that the game has nothing innovative or revolutionary.

The Rappelz site offers a general plot for the game, dividing your character selection to three races: Deva, Gaia, and Asura. Each race has three different jobs and specific progressions, but it all falls to three common stereotypes: melee, caster and summoner classes. Sadly, the site’s story is insignificant to the game. Quests offer no real content about the Rappelz story, and instead give you dialogues of the quest giver’s personal whim. Like most MMORPGs, Rappelz inevitably turns into a grind game once you reach higher levels.

Players start out at a very slow pace. The game requires the character selection screen to be locked with a different password, a thankful precautionary measure similar to Requiem: Bloodymare, disabling any further access from any attempted hacking. As your character sets foot in-game, the NPC gives a short welcome and the start of a long yet rewarding tutorial quest chain. Luckily, for those impatient, the tutorials can be skipped by teleporting out of the island and into the mainland. Once your character reaches level 10, the first job change is unlocked.

Character building is very basic. Stats are automatically distributed according to your profession. Progressing job levels and enhancing equipment are the only chances to provide stat modifiers. On the other hand, job points earned from quest rewards and grinding are spent on increasing job levels and specific skill levels. However, higher progressions of the skill and job level require insanely large amounts of job points, forcing your character to keep grinding for hours on end. Rappelz also offers the staple item upgrading and socketing, nothing remotely special, since the later parts of the game will inevitably require the use of upgraded equips. In addition, a rare energy called “Lak” can be collected and exchanged for chips, items that increase physical or magical damage for a certain duration. The Lak system is a nice touch, but it only strengthens the fact that Rappelz is a boring grind.

The game gives emphasis on the pet and guild war features. All players have access to pet summoning and command skills up to a certain extent, thus enabling the familiar to aid the character offensively and defensively. Advanced pet skills are left to the summoner class. Guild wars, on the other hand, provide a unique twist in the form of dungeon territories, instead of towns. Otherwise, the benefits seem all too the same, reaping the taxes and having free entrance privileges.

A game of more than 2 years old is definitely showing signs of its age. Visuals are bland and bleak, much like an old Playstation 2 game. Sounds could have been done better, but it does complement the overall ambience of the game. Add that to the monotonous gameplay and you’ve got a game that should’ve been shelved a long time ago. Loyalists and MMORPG purists may derive short pleasure from it, but for new players, pass this one up.

The Good: Pet system, dungeon sieges/guild wars,

The Bad: grinding at later levels, no keyboard movement, repetitive gameplay


Graphics: 6
Sound: 6
Gameplay: 5
Story: 1
Final Score: 5/10

Review by kenny, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 7/2/09

Battlefield Heroes Review

DICE has established a glowing reputation mostly due to the Battlefield series. Since Battlefield 1942 the games have featured exciting multiplayer combat, it infantry or vehicle-based and spawned a lot of imitators and sequels. Soon to be released are Battlefield 1943, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and now we have Battlefield Heroes.

What distinguishes this game from the rest is not only the new artistic direction (hello Team Fortress 2), but also the fact that it is free to play. Beta keys are everywhere and players are stepping into the boots of Royal Army or National Army soldiers.

Although launched close to Quake Live, Battlefield Heroes couldn’t be more different from id Software’s work. This is an extremely easy game to pick up and play, and that is obvious by the tutorial alone. Short, sweet and straight to the point, it teaches us all we should know in less than 10 minutes. No fussing around here, battles are waiting! A levelling system makes sure you’re matched with players about the same experience.

You start by creating a hero, carefully choosing his class and appearance. Then it’s off to the fight, using all means available to kill the enemy and capture the neutral and rival flags. Each team starts with a given amount of points and when it depletes, said team loses the match. You can do this by conquering flags and killing enemy players. It’s pretty much straightforward, frantic and fun. Players can drive jeeps (and give a ride to a couple of fellow soldiers), tanks and even planes, although initially you’ll crash more than you’ll fly. Special tactics like invisibility are extremely useful and you gain experience points just by hitting an opponent, even if you don’t kill him.

The Battlefunds you earn are used to buy extra gear and skills, and being free to play, Battlefield Heroes had to feature a store. You can also purchase content using real money to improve your look, get some cool emotes to celebrate a victory or make fun of your enemies, and leveling up faster. I’m all fine with the aesthetic things, but using money to buy experience and get an unfair edge on the battlefield just seems wrong. Those who try to enjoy the game and play fair and square can’t feel but a little cheated, being killed by that super-but-fake soldier.

The cartoony look of Battlefield Heroes is a triumph, although not a completely original one. Colors are vibrant and maps are nice to look at, but we wish there were more things to blow up besides players and vehicles. The whistling music is also catchy and fun, same as the sound effects.

Battlefield Heroes is bound to be successful. It may not please players who want a more involving experience, but for those looking for an immediate MMOTPS game, fast and fun, this is a good choice. Let’s just hope EA keeps adding content, maybe some new game modes and vehicles, just to keep things exciting.

The Good: Frantic and fun, Easy to play, Cartoon look

The Bad: Needs more game modes, Slow leveling

Graphics: 7

Sound: 7

Gameplay: 8

Story: -

Final Score: 8/10


Review by Alexkayl, Freemmogamer.com - Posted 6/24/09

Free MMO Games