Archive for July, 2008
Atlantica : Preview
Atlantica just ended it’s closed beta. Most of game play involves your characters running around killing X number of monsters for some quest. While it sounds boring the combat aspect is very interesting. You can recruit a handful of various characters through out the game and use them to create a party of 9 individuals which you use to fight turn based battles. If anyone on the battle field is hit 3 times in a row they become stunned and can’t attack for a few turns, which adds an additional strategy element. I’m a little on the fence about the equipment aspect of the game. Equipment is mostly acquired through monster drops and in order to upgrade your equipment you need 2 items that are the same and an upgrade item which is fairly easy to acquire. This can get a bit tedious once your equipment becomes +3 or +4 and your inventory is bursting with generic equips just so you can gain a level. Overall I found the game entertaining and well worth my time.
Add comment July 31, 2008
Social Networking + F2P
I’ve noticed a few social networks cropping up centered around the free to play mmo culture. I decided to give a mention to the major contenders.
+ OnRPG
The original. Pretty much all you need.
+ Game Gravity
Newly opened. Reminds me a little too much of MySpace.
+ Curse
Seems interesting. Offers a few useful features and up to date news.
Add comment July 28, 2008
World of Kung Fu Online : Preview
World of Kung Fu Online will be entering open beta on August 1st. The game is a martial arts based rpg, with classes determined by a specific school of fighting.
Add comment July 27, 2008
Florensia : Update
Florensia has entered open beta. If you haven’t played it, I suggest giving it a try. Florensia is truly a fun game.
Add comment July 24, 2008
4Story : Preview
People are calling 4Story a World of Warcraft clone, and I can’t completely deny that. Some elements of 4Story seem reminiscent of WOW and also the Final Fantasy mmo. However the same thing can be said for a lot of mmos (and the whole mmo genre itself is a clone of table top gaming). Anyway, I don’t care. Currently 4Story is moving into the second “pre-open beta”, whatever that means. There are three races to choose from and six classes. Also players may choose from three nations, which allow for “dynamic war” over ownership of various territories. Currently the game suffers from a little lag, nothing that would interfere with game play however. Overall I consider this game alright. It seems some features haven’t been rolled out yet and once the game enters it’s final phase perhaps game play will be more appealing.
1 comment July 23, 2008
Concerto Gate : Preview
Concerto Gate just ended it’s closed beta phase, with an open beta looming some time in the distant future. The game is a standard mmorpg. Go on quests, level up, etc. I’m not sure quite what to make of the game yet. My first impression is that it suffers from a lot of hype from the community and fails to deliver. However, the closed beta was extremely crippled. No jobs, most quests are bugged, I’d die after 10 minutes. So it’s preposterous to render a verdict on the game at this point. However, I can say the turn based battles are pretty solid and seem to succeed where other games fail.
Add comment July 14, 2008
Taksi : Open Source Video/Screen Capture
Taksi is an open source screen/video capture program, useful for capturing video of your game play. I figured this information might be useful for some people, since most of the alternatives are crippleware or cost money.
Add comment July 13, 2008
Combat Arms : Preview
Combat Arms comes to the English audience from Nexon. The game is more or less a standard army-based mmofps. Game modes currently include capture the flag, “search and destroy” where you set and defuse bombs, “elimination” where two teams compete for most kills, and “one man army” where everyone just shoots everyone. The only restriction on equipment you can equip your character with is level, otherwise anyone can use a shotgun, a sniper rifle, etc. Occasionally logging in can be difficult if everyone’s hammering the server. Otherwise lag seems almost nonexistent within the game. Game maps are a little smaller than I’m used to, which puts you pretty close to your enemies, currently there are only 4. The game is in open beta and features are slowly being rolled out in stages, but overall the game is addicting and very fun.
Add comment July 11, 2008
