Exteel : Preview

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+ Official Site

NCSoft’s Exteel is a science fiction based shooter. Game play is based around piloting a mech through various game modes, equipped with a panoply of different weapons. The game seems solid, and NCSoft is testing a micro-transaction system which allows you to buy weapons and items for Exteel. Personally, I haven’t been able to play the game for more than 5 minutes. The game starts acting all wonky on my computer and tech support seems unable to figure out why, which is why this post is a preview instead of a review. On a positive note, NCSoft’s tech support for free players is excellent.

Dungeon Runners : Review

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+ Official Site

NCSoft’s Dungeon Runners is an interesting fantasy/satire dungeon crawler mmo. Three archetypal classes are available for play: the mage, ranger, and warrior. However, class only determines your starting skills, after the initial dungeon players are free to purchase and use any set of skills and weapons. Game play has been likened to Diablo, especially item management and dungeon combat. While the game is particularly enjoyable, it seems that the future is dim for free players as NCSoft plans on rolling out updates that place various handicaps on play.

Other items of interest:
+ PlayNC
NCSoft’s game portal.
+ Townstons
Dungeon Runners Wiki.
+ Idea Runners
Unofficial collaborative suggestion system, run by Dungeon Runners staff.

Bang! Howdy : Review

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+ Official Site

Bang! Howdy is a browser based, western, turn based strategy game. Game play is based on a series of turn based strategy games from which players accrue in-game currency. Players can use currency to alter their avatar, purchase additional units for game play, or purchase items that alter game play. In addition certain game play achievements can award special badges which award special units, additional items to alter your avatar, customization options, etc.

Puzzle Pirates : Review

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+ Official Site

Three Rings’ Puzzle Pirates is a minigame based mmo, written in Java and launched from your browser. Game play includes acquiring different clothes for your character, a house, pets, furniture, etc by playing a large selection of minigames for in-game money. The minigames themselves are diverse and enjoyable, some are original and some are clones of more established games. If you are a fan of the minigame/social type genre Puzzle Pirates is worth a look.

Seal Online : Review

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+ Official Site
+ Official Blog
+ Official Fan Site

YNK Interactive released Seal Online last November to an English audience. The game features 6 classes; knight for defense and area-of-effect skills, warrior for direct physical combat, mage for offensive magic, priest for healing skills, jester for agility and ranged physical attacks, and craftsman for item creation. The game also features a pet system which allows players to raise various pets through an evolution tree by feeding them different items. Players can gain fame through various quests, which will allow them to equip different items as well as make other cosmetic changes to game play. Seal Online also features a combo system, during combat a player inputs various keystrokes in order to increase the damage they deal. The combo system is a large part of game play and character selection as certain classes posses different combos. Seal Online also features a wedding/relationship system which offers rewards for the time two characters spend with each other, but also punishes a character if they decide to break up. Overall I felt that this game did not quite live up to the hype. The graphics are a little jaggy for my tastes and some drops are nearly impossible to obtain while others are ridiculously easy (however this has been corrected somewhat). While there is a large amount things to keep a player busy it still feels a little directionless to me. Game play is still enjoyable however, and I do recommend trying it.

Nostale : Review

+ Official Site – Global (1)
+ Official Site – Global (2)
+ Publisher – United Kingdom
+ Official Site – United Kingdom

First, a quick note on the three different English versions of Nostale. The “.com” site (1) claims that it is the official global version and seems to be published by a company out of India. The “.net” site (2) claims it is the official global version and has just entered closed beta, I can’t find any useful information about a publisher. I am most familiar with the United Kingdom server. It is the oldest running server currently (don’t let the awful homepage fool you), and this review applies to that particular server. (Also, I believe the origin of Nostale originates with GameNGame.)

Nostale is a very fun game, I enjoy it very much. The game has a very unique quest system which is composed of your typical story quests, time stones, and raids/party quests. Time stones are scattered through out the game, some hidden, and are composed of a series of monster riddled stages. The class system is also somewhat unique. You begin with three standard classes: swordsman, archer, and sorcerer; from there a player may utilize “specialist” cards which transform a character into an advanced class for a limited time. Some specialist cards are unique to a class and some are not. For example, anyone can use the pajama card, but only swordsman can use the warrior card. The game has a decent pet system, allowing you to catch certain monsters to raise as pets and help you in combat, as well as a “nosmate” system which allows you to acquire various characters that assist you in combat as well. The game also offers players a “miniland” which you can decorate with different items and store your pets and nosmates when they are not in use. Overall I find the game a satisfying investment of my time, occasionally leveling up can be tedious and your pets can be somewhat weak without focused leveling but the game offers enough activities to stem any major boredom.

Sword of the New World : Review

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+ Official Site

Sword of the New World (originally Granado Espada) is another game brought to us by K2 Network, who seem to have a knack for licensing decent games. The game adopts a sort of baroque-European style in both visual and story presentation. You start the game as a member of a family of pioneers on your way to explore and settle the “new world”. Upon landing you set out of various quests, expanding your family and cleaning up the various messes/mysteries the previous explorers left in their wake. Sword of the New World utilizes a series of unique classes and game systems. Originally there are 5 character classes: wizard, elementalist, fighter, scout and musketeer; all of which posses unique abilities. As you progress in the game various characters called RNPCs (or UPCs) will join your family, each with somewhat unique abilities, allowing for a ridiculous number of characters. A character learns skills via a “stance” system. Every stance has at most 5 different skills and requires a character to be equipped with a certain class of weapon, and every character has multiple stances. A player may control up to 3 characters at once, a feature which is very enjoyable and adds a certain amount of strategy to character creation and game play. Personally, I enjoy Sword of the New World very much. After extended periods outside dungeons I find game play a little tedious and certain items are painfully hard to get from monsters, however overall I think the game is a refreshing addition to the ranks of free mmogs.

WarRock : Review

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+ Official Site

WarRock is a thoroughly enjoyable mmofps from K2 Network. The game boasts 3 different game types, 5 different player classes, and an assortment of weapons and vehicles across a decent collection of maps. When you connect to a server you are given the option of a game type. Close Quarters games can have up to 8 players total, the objective is to sneak around a map and fulfill your objective without getting killed. For a beginner I suggest Urban Ops, which is where most of the traffic is and where you’ll most likely be spending the majority of your time. An Urban Ops game can have up to 24 players, the objective is to kill a lot of people. A Battle Group game is similar only the maps are much larger, allowing 32 players, and are populated with a series of large vehicles. During gameplay you have different player classes to choose from. Medics can heal themselves and others, engineers can repair vehicles, snipers snipe, heavy troopers use weapons best suited for attacking vehicles, and the assault class is a general infantry fighter. The game suffers from from a disheartening amount of lag at times and hackers are a definite problem. Some have called the game ugly, I have no problems with the graphics however. The game community is a decent one, outside the hacker problem, and updates roll out every few months or so. Some people find their cash shop system unfair, allowing players to pay money for superior weapons. Personally, I don’t care. In the end skill and ability usually even out the playing field. All in all I enjoy WarRock thoroughly. (Though I ‘d enjoy it more if there were less hackers.)

Other items of interest:
+ Traction Radio
A streaming music plugin for WarRock.
+ GamersFirst
K2’s game network, which lets you centrally manage game accounts.
+ WarRock Bug Fixes
Unofficial bug fix blog.

Ikariam : Review

+ Publisher
+ Official Site

Don’t be scared away by the goofy anglo-greek on the site’s page. I find the game painfully addicting and completely enjoyable. Ikariam is a browser-based civilization sim. The objective is to accrue wealth and generally be superior to everybody else. Being that the game is browser based I find it lends itself very well to casual game play. The game world is populated with a series of islands, each with a sawmill and 1 of 4 other resources. You share an island with other players, each player contributing to upgrade the island’s resources. Each player has a colony in which they can build and upgrade various buildings which create increased functionality. For example: the barracks lets you recruit troops, the academy lets you research new technology, and the trading post lets you buy or sell resources from other players. Eventually you have to find some way of getting access to a steady stream of resources, other than the one present on your island. You can do this different ways. You can attack and occupy another colony, you can buy resources from other players, or you can build additional colonies on other islands. According to the changelog the game is only v.0.1.8, which is definitely reflected in the game itself. Some functionality, like the wonders, aren’t yet implemented and some of the menus are still in German, the game’s language of origin. Sometimes the servers can be a little slow, but overall the game is surprisingly deep for a browser based game and definitely shows that an enjoyable game can be built solely on creativity and solid gameplay. Gameforge has a slew of other browser based games under their belt, which you can find on their website, but to me Ikariam seems the most polished.