Free MMO Review: Dungeon Runners

It's been FOREVER since I've updated this thing. To be honest, I'm not sure why. I remember having a lot of post ideas for the last while, not sure why I didn't actually write them. So thanks to those who are still here.

Free MMO review time! This time it's Dungeon Runners, a free (sort of) MMORPG by NCSoft.

So if you aren't already familiar with this game, I'll go ahead and fill you in. Dungeon Runners is best described as Diablo with a sense of humour The gameplay consists of running around with large weapons in instanced dungeons, killing large quantities of enemies and collecting their loot. There are of course, quests in the game which send you to a certain dungeon in order to accomplish a task. Most of the quests involve stuff like "Kill X of X" and "Find X" and some others. Nothing special, but the quests are somehow enjoyable however repetitive they may be. Questing is also where you make most of your money.

The game is pretty basic. There's 3 classes, Fighter, Ranger and Mage (no explination nessecary) you can play as. You get quests, enter a dungeon, kill monsters, complete quests, and gain experience/loot/cash along the way. The actual combat is a lot of fun. At times, you will have more than 5 enemies on you, and you'll be hacking and slashing away while hitting space occasionally (to heal using potions). It's refreshing and enjoyable.

The game also has some unique things thrown in. One of the major things is the humour. I found it to be actually pretty hilarious at times. They make fun of themselves at times as well as the fantasy genre and it makes you chuckle while playing. I'm not a huge fan of humour in games but in Dungeon Runners, it's really well done. Without it's wacky overtones, I don't think this game would be as good.

There's these things called "Waypoint Scrolls" which you can use in the middle of a dungeon to summon a portal back to town. These are REALLY helpful, allowing you to sell your loot/restock/spend money and then get right back into the action.

Although the game is free, there's an optional membership for $5 a month which gives you access to member-only items, more bank space and more EXP and Money. If you ask me, it's a really good deal. You can also buy the retail version and get 6 months of game time as well as the Bling Gnome, a little companion dude who follows you about in dungeons and picks up your gold for you. He can also turn your items into cash on the spot through the process of digestion (heh). 

Overall, I really like this game. It's not a deep experience, but it's fun running around smashing enemies with over-exaggerated weapons. Ideal for you and your buddies who just want to have fun and not spend hours grinding and walking back to your main city to sell stuff.

Awesome (it's... awesome!)
Meh (just okay.)
Sucks (horrible. too many flaws to count)

Graphics: Awesome
^Bright and varied. Everything looks polished and easy on the eyes.
- - -
Gameplay: Awesome
^Fun killing stuff and upgrading your character. The quests are really funny and have unique backround stories, which makes up for the otherwise bland objectives.
- - -
Replayability: Awesome
^Quests keep you busy and there are 100 levels to get through (:O) as well as PvP. Did I mention addictive?
- - -
Sound: Awesome
^Good. Voices are funny as hell.
- - -
Originality: Awesome
^Even though the MMO formula is getting pretty stale, this one keeps it fresh by adding in unique features such as the bling gnome and waypoint scrolls (and the low monthly fee!). 

Final Score: Awesome

Free MMO review: Kongai

It's that time again. Yes, time for a free MMO review by yours truly. Today I'm reviewing "Kongai," a free online flash-based Trading card game. Since I haven't be able to play actual games this entire week, I've been taking interest in browser-based games, stuff I can play from anywhere and relatively quickly.

So this is Kongregate's online TCG. If you aren't familiar with Kongregate, they're yet another flash gaming site, though set apart from the vast amount of others by their achievement system/chat integration/and general UI. Kongai integrates into all of this, by allowing you to obtain cards from doing certain challenges in many of the games on their site.

But, onto the game itself. Kongai is an online TCG (trading card game, minus the trading). It's gameplay consists of turn-based 1v1 deck combat. Each player has a custom deck made of 3 characters each with their own skills and attacks. You enter the lobby and the game will automatically find an opponent based on your skill level. You take turns attacking one another until all 3 of your opponent's cards have been defeated. When this happens, the game ends.

The actual gameplay is very fun. I"m not a big fan of turn based combat but I enjoyed this one. There are 3 types of attacks - direct damage attacks, debuffs and heals. Pretty generic stuff, but with some cool things here and there. Some characters have really powerful attacks that can only be used at certain times. My personal favorite is Juju the shaman's "touch of doom" spell, which counts down for 4 turns and then deals 99 damage (an instant kill pretty much). However, this spell can only be used when in close range with the enemy, which forces you to risk taking some serious melee damage (something a spellcaster isn't good at).

Since the game is a TCG, there aren't really any animations. The game art looks very nice though, and the UI is very easy to pick up. The first time you play the game online you might experience some "WTF?" moments. This happened to me, so I'd recommend playing against the computer a few times to get ready for the real stuff.

I really like this game. It's easy to pickup and play, yet still challenging. My only complaint is the fact that a lot of your opponents will disconnect if they know they are going to lose, leaving you without a 100% victory. But if you can get past that, it's good fun. A D/C will still count as a win anyways.

New rating scale, as below:

Awesome (it's... awesome!)
Meh (just okay.)
Sucks (horrible. too many flaws to count)

Graphics: Awesome
^A good overall style. UI is well-polished.
- - -
Gameplay: Awesome
^Fun and addicting, game flows well.
- - -
Replayability: Meh
^Fun here and there, but not enough depth to be played for hours.
- - -
Sound: Meh
^It's there. Not exactly thrilling, but appreciated.
- - -
Originality: Awesome
^Yeah, I know. It's just a TCG made into a flash game. But for what it is, it's original. The characters, style, and accessibility are all something I haven't seen before.

Final Score: Awesome

By the way, if you sign up and try it out, hit me up. My username is CDEnigma.

Free MMO review: Alien Adoption Agency

First up in my series of free MMO reviews - Alien Adoption Agency.

This is a free-to-play browser/text-based MMORPG. The title I find is a little misleading, because according to the game you "adopt" an alien, but when you are playing the game the narrations are in first person. So it's not like neopets or anything. You are the alien. Also, this game has a wildly awesome sense of humour.

The first time you sign up and begin playing, you will visit the main navigation screen (GeorgeTown) and see an astounding amount of places to go. At first, this was a little too much for me, but once you learn what most of the places are for, it's much easier. A good way to think of it is like taking something like Ogrimmar from WoW, and making a large list of all the stores/places inside it. Also, this is not a game you can play for as much of the day as you want. The game gives you "motivation" points each day, which you use to do pretty much everything. If you don't use your motivation, it will accumulate per day and can get up to a limit of 20,000 before you stop gaining it.

So, the main object of the game (of course with any MMORPG) is to level up your character and get more powerful weapons/armor for your character. However, this works a bit differently from other MMOs such as WoW or WAR. Instead of gaining
XP through killing things and doing quests, you gain XP from battling other players and doing daily training, which can get a little grindy.

Fighting in this game isn't anything special, really. You click fight and you are given the outcome, whoever has the best stats wins (though there is some luck involved). Defeating players gives you XP and if you have points in thieving, you can steal some of their credits. Anyone can attack you at pretty much anytime. This can be annoying, especially when you are carrying a large amount of money, but you can always put your money in the bank where it is safe. You can only attack a certain amount of people a day, but you can increase this by training.

Something that I think is really cool about this game is the merchant system, which allows you to become a merchant for a period of time. During this time, you can't attack other players and they cannot attack you. This allows for people who just want to enjoy the crafting portion of the game to do so without being attacked every now and then.

The community for this game is great. The second I created my character, I was invited to a guild (there's a list of noob-friendly guilds here, no joke) which so far have been very helpful. Everyone (not just talking about my guild) is willing to answer questions and give you items and the like. Makes the game more fun to play in this kind of environment.

Although the game is free, there are paid options. If you pay 5 bucks a month, you get access to a bunch of member-only stuff and you gain extra motivation. Really it's nothing much extra, but I went ahead and donated to get rid of the ads (which to be honest was worth it to me). The game has two currency methods - credits and bytes. Bytes are generally used to buy premium items (mainly just clothing) and unlock stuff in the game. You can buy them from other players, do offers for them (which sucks) or just buy them using a credit card. Players can actually make their own clothes and submit them to a GM. If they are approved, they will be available in the clothes store where other players can buy them. The creators get in-game money from doing this, I believe.

Anyway, this is a good game. It's probably the best text-based game I've played and there is a lot to do (I would explain more, but this post is getting a little large). So, a little run-down:

Graphics: (text based, but the illustrations are good) 4/5
Gameplay: (lots to do, can get repetitive, PvP is a little dull) 3/5
Replayability: (as stated above, can get a little grindy) 3/5
Sound/Music: (N/A) 0/0
Originality: (lots of original ideas, a good overall style) 5/5

A good game, not for everyone but it can be enjoyable.

Total Score: 15/20