Game: Shaiya
Publisher: Aeria Games
Download or web based: Download
What you get if you pay: Currency for potions that allow for extra experience gain as well as packages of items and medicines.
Review: Shaiya is a basic battle of light versus dark. What races and job types are available is determined by which side is chosen when first creating the game account. While the species on each side are limited the jobs for each race are varied. An over sized, dark Nordein can be either an axe-wielding Warrior or bow-firing Hunter. On the light side of the coin a Human Fighter or Elf Archer would be about the same choice.
There are many foes to fight and quests to undertake. There is also a large amount of Player vs Player options. Dueling amongst one's own race is an option as well as battling the other side over control of the contested Borderlands and the portals and idols they contain.
Abilities and skills can be put in customizable hot key bars for quick and easy use. As more skills are learned they can be added or rearranged in the bars.
While there are portals available for transport between major towns there are also many small outposts and regions that require some walking to reach. Paths and roads don't always take the shortest route between two points so finding shortcuts can make the travel time more interesting.
One unique aspect of Shaiya is the difficulty setting. When first crating a character there is an option of choosing a difficulty based on the player's preference. From Easy for new players that haven't played a MMO before to Hard for those up for a challenge. The top difficulty of Ultimate offers the added challenge of permanently deleting a character if death occurs and resurrection doesn't follow within 3 minutes. This can be a pain at the lower levels and make for possibly suicidal players if it happens at much higher levels.
Rating: 6/10 Very easy to play and can be fun for any skill level. However many quests in the early levels require walking back and forth between distant areas with no teleport available
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Monday, April 20, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Mabinogi
Game: Mabinogi
Publisher: Nexon.net
Download or web based: Download
What you get if you pay: Nexon cash, which can be used to buy additional characters, pets, and additional services.
Review: Nexon has a number of games available. Mabinogi is an involved one. It takes place over a large area encompassing many villages and town. The major method of movement from one town to another is simply walking. Teleportation crystals are present by each major location, but can only be used to get to one destination at a time.
Battle is accomplished by simply walking up to an enemy and attacking. Long and short ranged weapon sets can be switched between with the press of one button. This makes it possible to launch an arrow or bolt at a enemy and equip a sword and shield before close combat becomes necessary.
Abilities, ranging from heavy attacks to healing, can be used via hotkeys. Training the abilities is done by using the ability to gain experience in it, then leveling it using an extremely limited number of Ability Points.
Losing a fight has options when one is knocked out. Each option has its own costs. Waiting for help has a medium cost, but requires patience to lay there until a person with the proper ability can come and cast the correct spell. Being teleported to the nearest town have the lowest cost, but can cause a piece of armor to be left behind at the battlefield.
Rating: 5/10 Fun and easy to play, but the strong presence of bots and RMTs (Real Money Traders or people that buy and sell currency on 3rd party websites) detract from the beauty of the surroundings.
Publisher: Nexon.net
Download or web based: Download
What you get if you pay: Nexon cash, which can be used to buy additional characters, pets, and additional services.
Review: Nexon has a number of games available. Mabinogi is an involved one. It takes place over a large area encompassing many villages and town. The major method of movement from one town to another is simply walking. Teleportation crystals are present by each major location, but can only be used to get to one destination at a time.
Battle is accomplished by simply walking up to an enemy and attacking. Long and short ranged weapon sets can be switched between with the press of one button. This makes it possible to launch an arrow or bolt at a enemy and equip a sword and shield before close combat becomes necessary.
Abilities, ranging from heavy attacks to healing, can be used via hotkeys. Training the abilities is done by using the ability to gain experience in it, then leveling it using an extremely limited number of Ability Points.
Losing a fight has options when one is knocked out. Each option has its own costs. Waiting for help has a medium cost, but requires patience to lay there until a person with the proper ability can come and cast the correct spell. Being teleported to the nearest town have the lowest cost, but can cause a piece of armor to be left behind at the battlefield.
Rating: 5/10 Fun and easy to play, but the strong presence of bots and RMTs (Real Money Traders or people that buy and sell currency on 3rd party websites) detract from the beauty of the surroundings.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Pirates of the Carribean
Game: Pirates of the Caribbean
Publisher: Disney
Download or web based: Download
What you get if you pay: Access to storyline quests and ability to purchase stronger weapons and ships.
Review: Loosely based on the successful trilogy of movies this game provides a variety of play options. Sailing the ocean can be done solo or with a crew of friends. People can be found almost anywhere to help kill the numerous monsters and complete quests.
If traveling alone is preferred, then there are multiple options for weapons. Guns, swords, or voodoo dolls can be utilized for attack. It is even possible to switch between them on the fly should one not be enough.
Travel between the islands of the Caribbean is accomplished via a ship that can be bought from shipwrights in many locations. It is not always a safe sea voyage however. There are many enemy crafts of various classes that may or may not attack. Sinking ships owned by the East India Trading Company, the British Navy, or the ghosts of the not-so-dearly departed can earn booty that is cashed in upon reaching land.
The game is extremely limited for those that play for free however. The main storyline quests are locked early in the game, as are many other quests and weapons. This limits the player to running around killing random foes and sinking ships with no point or goal.
Rating: 5/10 Decent game play, but particularly limited free content.
Publisher: Disney
Download or web based: Download
What you get if you pay: Access to storyline quests and ability to purchase stronger weapons and ships.
Review: Loosely based on the successful trilogy of movies this game provides a variety of play options. Sailing the ocean can be done solo or with a crew of friends. People can be found almost anywhere to help kill the numerous monsters and complete quests.
If traveling alone is preferred, then there are multiple options for weapons. Guns, swords, or voodoo dolls can be utilized for attack. It is even possible to switch between them on the fly should one not be enough.
Travel between the islands of the Caribbean is accomplished via a ship that can be bought from shipwrights in many locations. It is not always a safe sea voyage however. There are many enemy crafts of various classes that may or may not attack. Sinking ships owned by the East India Trading Company, the British Navy, or the ghosts of the not-so-dearly departed can earn booty that is cashed in upon reaching land.
The game is extremely limited for those that play for free however. The main storyline quests are locked early in the game, as are many other quests and weapons. This limits the player to running around killing random foes and sinking ships with no point or goal.
Rating: 5/10 Decent game play, but particularly limited free content.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Perfect World
Game: Perfect World
Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment/Cubinet Interactive
Download or web based: Download
What you get if you pay: Fun costumes and special equipment items.
Review: While this game isn't perfect it is fairly interesting. Characters can be created from a small number of species. Humans, Basic melee or magic types of each species are avaliable.
Weapons and armor are equipped based on a character's stats. These stats can be upgraded by a set amount of points each time a level up is accomplished. Some equippable items will also increase these stats.
Quests come from a number of sources and available ones can be found from an on-screen menu. Some early ones require killing a number of enemies and automatically obtaining an item with each kill. One quest involved jumping to the top of a wall at the far end of the town, opening a chest, and returning to the town leader in less than five minutes.
Jumping is one thing that relieves the monotony while traveling around villages or between battlefields. A simple double jump can be accomplished by hitting the SPACE BAR twice. This can be fun when landing in a tree or high up a cliff and jumping off. The long fall ending in a damage-less landing can make for a comedic moment or two.
Despite the ease of movement and simple battle methods crafting is overly complicated. Materials can be obtained from random spots in the field or defeating enemies. Crafting, however, can only be done at the shops related to the craft desired. Weapons can only be crafted at the blacksmith, medicine at the apothecary, clothing at the tailor, etc.
Rating: 6/10 Far from perfect, but not too shabby.
Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment/Cubinet Interactive
Download or web based: Download
What you get if you pay: Fun costumes and special equipment items.
Review: While this game isn't perfect it is fairly interesting. Characters can be created from a small number of species. Humans, Basic melee or magic types of each species are avaliable.
Weapons and armor are equipped based on a character's stats. These stats can be upgraded by a set amount of points each time a level up is accomplished. Some equippable items will also increase these stats.
Quests come from a number of sources and available ones can be found from an on-screen menu. Some early ones require killing a number of enemies and automatically obtaining an item with each kill. One quest involved jumping to the top of a wall at the far end of the town, opening a chest, and returning to the town leader in less than five minutes.
Jumping is one thing that relieves the monotony while traveling around villages or between battlefields. A simple double jump can be accomplished by hitting the SPACE BAR twice. This can be fun when landing in a tree or high up a cliff and jumping off. The long fall ending in a damage-less landing can make for a comedic moment or two.
Despite the ease of movement and simple battle methods crafting is overly complicated. Materials can be obtained from random spots in the field or defeating enemies. Crafting, however, can only be done at the shops related to the craft desired. Weapons can only be crafted at the blacksmith, medicine at the apothecary, clothing at the tailor, etc.
Rating: 6/10 Far from perfect, but not too shabby.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
zOmg
Game: zOmg
Publisher: Gaia Online
Download or web based: Web-based
What you get if you pay: A handful of attack and defense upgrades as well as tons of avatar costume options.
Review: zOmg is not as generic as the name might imply. It is part of the ever expanding Gaia Online community. This allows for interaction beyond game play. The basic story is an attack on the towns of Gaia by various inanimate objects come to life. Garden Gnomes, plastic flamingos, coin purses, toy dolls, and cloves of garlic are just some of the enemies available to attack.
A player's avatar is their Gaia avatar equipped with rings on each finger (none on thumbs). Combat is simply targeting a foe and selecting an equipped ring to attack with. Fighting can be done alone or by “Recrewting” others into a party.
There is no experience gain so no specific character leveling. Attack and defense are upgraded by collecting Charge Orbs and attaching them to rings in inventory.
Rating: 7/10 Tons of options for game play with an entire community for fun when not in the mood to play
Publisher: Gaia Online
Download or web based: Web-based
What you get if you pay: A handful of attack and defense upgrades as well as tons of avatar costume options.
Review: zOmg is not as generic as the name might imply. It is part of the ever expanding Gaia Online community. This allows for interaction beyond game play. The basic story is an attack on the towns of Gaia by various inanimate objects come to life. Garden Gnomes, plastic flamingos, coin purses, toy dolls, and cloves of garlic are just some of the enemies available to attack.
A player's avatar is their Gaia avatar equipped with rings on each finger (none on thumbs). Combat is simply targeting a foe and selecting an equipped ring to attack with. Fighting can be done alone or by “Recrewting” others into a party.
There is no experience gain so no specific character leveling. Attack and defense are upgraded by collecting Charge Orbs and attaching them to rings in inventory.
Rating: 7/10 Tons of options for game play with an entire community for fun when not in the mood to play
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Secret Society Wars
Game: Secret Society Wars beta
Publisher: Secret Society Wars website
Download or web based: Web-based
What you get if you pay: Donations net you E-Peen that can be redeemed for unique items with various effects.
Review: The basic storyline if the game is a war between various “secret” societies in the far future. Completing various missions allows you to rise in the ranks of your own society. Items picked up after battle can be consumed or mixed to make other items. Mixing a bottle of rum, a can of coke, and a swizzle stick nets a rum and coke that can be drank at any time.
Drinking, sex, and other adult pleasures seem to be the main attraction of this game. However this is one game that can't be judged by its homepage. Enemies are largely hand drawn images or small pictures that aren't much better than the crude doodles. Battles are text based with little action. While attack options are interesting (attack, converse, sex0r, retreat), the results fall far short of anything worth the load time of the next page.
The major downside is the result of a group gaining supremacy and “winning” the war. Everyone is reset to zero. All items lost, all recipes forgotten, all equipment costume sets erased. Having spent a few weeks progressing through the storyline before the first reset I didn't find it worth my time to do it over again.
Rating: 2/10 Barely playable for users of any age.
Publisher: Secret Society Wars website
Download or web based: Web-based
What you get if you pay: Donations net you E-Peen that can be redeemed for unique items with various effects.
Review: The basic storyline if the game is a war between various “secret” societies in the far future. Completing various missions allows you to rise in the ranks of your own society. Items picked up after battle can be consumed or mixed to make other items. Mixing a bottle of rum, a can of coke, and a swizzle stick nets a rum and coke that can be drank at any time.
Drinking, sex, and other adult pleasures seem to be the main attraction of this game. However this is one game that can't be judged by its homepage. Enemies are largely hand drawn images or small pictures that aren't much better than the crude doodles. Battles are text based with little action. While attack options are interesting (attack, converse, sex0r, retreat), the results fall far short of anything worth the load time of the next page.
The major downside is the result of a group gaining supremacy and “winning” the war. Everyone is reset to zero. All items lost, all recipes forgotten, all equipment costume sets erased. Having spent a few weeks progressing through the storyline before the first reset I didn't find it worth my time to do it over again.
Rating: 2/10 Barely playable for users of any age.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Atlantica
Game: Atlantica
Publisher: NDOORS
Download or web based: Download required
What you get if you pay: You can purchase Gcoins which are redeemed for premium items and various licenses.
Review: Taking place in 14th Century Europe and Asia, Atlantica is a very good game. Well worth the 2.1 GB required download.
The battle system is turn based with a time limit for each turn. This means a player must pay attention during play but allows for other tasks to be completed at the same time. A player's main character is assisted in battle by a number of hired mercenaries that increases every 10 levels until the group totals 9 combatants. The variety of available mercenary types allows for many playing styles. Whether using two columns of marksmen firing their rifle or three rows of melee fighters swinging axes, swords, and spears any strategy can be tried and satisfied.
While some games merely discuss cooperation and assisting other players Atlantica actually rewards it. Sharing enemy information between players is rewarded with extra Stamina needed to fight more and more battles. Sending gifts to beginners nets experience points based on the value of the gift sent. Perhaps the best example of rewarding assistance is the Mentoring system. A player with a high enough crafting skill level can become a Mentor and share their knowledge with an Apprentice and get rewards of gold when the Apprentice reaches certain levels of their own.
The only downside is the NPC quest based tutorial system. The battle system is well explained when a player first logs on. However there are many other aspects of the game that are learned later. In some cases much, much later. Being level 28 it can annoying to come across a required storyline quest to learn a crafting skill that has nearly been mastered thanks to a Mentor. It seems to me that explaining Guilds, crafting and other social aspects of the game can be done in the first tutorial area before embarking on the quest to rediscover Atlantis.
Rating: 8/10 Enchanting gameplay, great help, with only a small amount of annoying back and forth running for quests.
Publisher: NDOORS
Download or web based: Download required
What you get if you pay: You can purchase Gcoins which are redeemed for premium items and various licenses.
Review: Taking place in 14th Century Europe and Asia, Atlantica is a very good game. Well worth the 2.1 GB required download.
The battle system is turn based with a time limit for each turn. This means a player must pay attention during play but allows for other tasks to be completed at the same time. A player's main character is assisted in battle by a number of hired mercenaries that increases every 10 levels until the group totals 9 combatants. The variety of available mercenary types allows for many playing styles. Whether using two columns of marksmen firing their rifle or three rows of melee fighters swinging axes, swords, and spears any strategy can be tried and satisfied.
While some games merely discuss cooperation and assisting other players Atlantica actually rewards it. Sharing enemy information between players is rewarded with extra Stamina needed to fight more and more battles. Sending gifts to beginners nets experience points based on the value of the gift sent. Perhaps the best example of rewarding assistance is the Mentoring system. A player with a high enough crafting skill level can become a Mentor and share their knowledge with an Apprentice and get rewards of gold when the Apprentice reaches certain levels of their own.
The only downside is the NPC quest based tutorial system. The battle system is well explained when a player first logs on. However there are many other aspects of the game that are learned later. In some cases much, much later. Being level 28 it can annoying to come across a required storyline quest to learn a crafting skill that has nearly been mastered thanks to a Mentor. It seems to me that explaining Guilds, crafting and other social aspects of the game can be done in the first tutorial area before embarking on the quest to rediscover Atlantis.
Rating: 8/10 Enchanting gameplay, great help, with only a small amount of annoying back and forth running for quests.
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