School

Been busy with the school week before spring break, didn't have time to test many games between homework and studying for tests. I'll be posting a bunch of reviews up over the next couple of days, sorry for the lack of content over the past few days.

New Custom T-Shirts Site

So I recently started my own custom T-shirt site. I'll be putting out quite a few new designs in the upcoming days, but what I currently have available is on the right. I know some of you internet nerds might be interested in some of these!

Loong

Loong is a free-to-play game hosted by gamigo. This is a high-budget martial-arts style game from China. This game has a lot of features which make it quite fun to play, especially if you're into oriental games.

The graphics in this game are excellent for a free-to-play game. You'll notice the budget was high when developing this game as soon as you start playing. The animations and combat are both fluid, something seemingly rare among most games these days. The quests are pretty easy and straight forward, but this is made bearable due to the fact that there is an automatic navigation system. You can click on the names of quest givers or quest targets and your character will automatically move to the destination you require. This is a feature in many newer MMORPGs and I think it is a godsend. You also have a list of available quests for your level, so you never miss anything.

Other than this, the game is very similar to the other oriental MMORPGs. It isn't a bad game, it's just another clone again. If you haven't already played too many of these types of games and are looking to get into one, this would probably the best choice at the moment. If you've had your fill and have played a hundred of these games already, this one will be no different.

Graphics - 7/10
Gameplay - 6/10

Overall - 6.5/10

Divine Souls

Divine Souls is a free-to-play action MMORPG. They call it an action MMORPG because the combat system is quite a bit different than what most of us are used to dealing with. The best way to describe the combat in this game would be to compare it to some old-school arcade fighter games. The only difference being that you keep your character, gain levels, have equipment, level your skills up etc.

At first the combat in this game is very exciting. It's different, it's fresh. When you're used to clicking on a few number keys and moving with WASD, it's fun to fight in a different manner. At first. After about 2-3 hours of spamming left clicks and having to morph your fingers around the WASD to press your hot-keys, both your arms will begin to hurt. Luckily I have a wireless remote to play with, which made the game far more bearable. To those who have a remote to play with, try this game out, it's quite a bit of fun. Otherwise you might quickly develop carpel-tunnel.

The game itself is divided into zones, which as you may know, I hate. You zone out of the city into a mini zone where there are several dungeons. When you zone into the dungeon, you must pick which PART of the dungeon to zone into. Once you're in this specific part of the dungeon, there are several rooms you must move through by killing monsters. You guessed it, these rooms are all zoned. All this zoning causes for a LOT of loading screens and a LOT of waiting time. This really kills the immersion and the fun-factor for this game.

If you can get passed the zoning and the controls, you will love this game. There is a lot of content and the combat system is very satisfying. It is somewhat repetitive, but then again most MMORPGs are. If you can enjoy the combat system, then you won't get bored of it. The graphics are really nice, but not amazing. There is very little going against this game.

Graphics - 7/10
Gameplay - 7/10

Overall - 7/10

RIFT - Verdict

RIFT is an excellent game. Quite possibly the best MMORPG I've played other than World of Warcraft. The graphics are fantastic and the gameplay is very solid. The only issue I have is the fact that it is just another WoW clone. Everything in the game is excellent and well made, but there is nothing groundbreaking. Nothing that will make people want to stop playing WoW and pick up RIFT. The game is great, almost as good as WoW, but unless it is better it will never take away a significant portion of the player-base away.

The PvP in this game is a lot of fun, but there are balance issues between the four classes. Healers, as it stands, are unbelievably overpowered. A higher level, better geared DPS class cannot hope to kill a healer alone, period. Because there is no proper matchmaking when it comes to solo queuing, you sometimes have lopsided teams where one team has 3-4 healers and the other team has 1 or even none. When you are in a PvP match with this sort of team build, you might as well give up if you have less healers.

The instance that I did was okay, nothing special. The gear was good, but people just don't have the grasp on their roles yet which makes it painful especially when your healer is crap. The dungeons are good to level in and gear up, but they just feel slow and do not feel satisfying. This does not mean much though, because Blizzard has not achieved fun 5-man dungeons either.

All in all, this game still manages to be a lot of fun. The only issue I have is the fact that it just tries to repeat the same thing that Blizzard has done in WoW. If anyone ever wants to take a chunk out of their playerbase, it won't happen by trying to emulate the game. Developers, you're already behind and trust me, you're not going to catch up. Realistically, the only way WoW will die is if developers attempt to fulfill niche markets, such as an MMORPG directed at raiders, another aimed at PvPers. Once the market is divided, maybe one game that manages to bring all the genres together could manage to surpass WoW. But as the current market stands nobody will ever beat WoW by simply copying it.

That being said, if I were not currently playing WoW and enjoying raiding, I would definitely buy this game. I would also suggest it to anyone new to MMORPGs, but not to those jaded with the WoW formula.

Graphics - 10/10
Gameplay - 8/10

Overall - 9/10

RIFT - First Impressions

RIFT is the latest in a long line of supposed contenders over the stranglehold that World of Warcraft currently holds over the MMORPG market. This is a pay-to-play game, meaning you have to buy the box and pay a monthly fee.

RIFT does many things similar to World of Warcraft, but has also improved on quite a few facets. The first thing you'll notice is the absolutely STUNNING graphics. The engine is newer and you can play either with the extreme graphics, or the mediocre graphics if your rig is crap. Either way, the game simply looks prettier than World of Warcraft.

RIFT has also made it possible to fully customize your UI without having to go through the hassle of downloading a thousand addons. You can move everything and change it to your liking and it's built into the game.

When it comes to skills and talent trees, in RIFT you have what are called souls. You get to choose among 8 souls for each class and create your own distinct class with three talent trees to choose from. It's a lot of fun to be able to create your own custom class with whatever skills you would like or feel are needed. Some levels, you gain 2 points to put in these trees and because they're limited by your level, you need to put these extra points into your secondary tree.

At first, I wasn't very impressed by the gameplay. The linear questing with the same old objectives over and over again were apparent from the start. Once I got through the starter area and entered the world at large, I was introduced to a very fun aspect of the game which was surprisingly fun.

In RIFT, there are intermittently appearing portals to other realms that tear open, from which otherworldly denizens pour out and attempt to destroy the towns in your world. It is the job of the players to defeat these demons and to seal these rifts. The rifts operate similarly to public quests in Warhammer Online. You all work together towards a large and difficult goal and are ranked on performance. You receive rewards according to how well you did in these quests. These rifts help to alleviate from the monotony of incessant questing and grinding. They are fun and the rewards you reap are extremely worthy of your time.

I haven't had enough time to level up to the point where I can do instances with others or PvP, so I will write up another review when I have progressed further. So far excellent game and seeing as it is in Open Beta until monday, I would suggest for anyone who is interested to go out and try it!

Dreamlords

Dreamlords is an MMORTS hosted by Paradox. This is an older game which has been revived recently. It mixes RTS elements with some browser strategy town building. You can work on your town either in the RTS engine or from a browser, which is nice because you don't have to let your civilization rot while at work or at school.

In Dreamlords, you are a Dreamlord who helps one of three warring races. You start on a patria, a floating island. You start on a small corner and can then spread out further and further as you clear portions of your patria. The combat is RTS based, you get to fight as your Dreamlord and choose your support team from the race you have chosen.

The RTS engine is quite simple. working like most other RTS games. Based on how many stages you clear in the RTS, you gain more and more followers which allows you to increase the workers in your town. This lets you research faster, gain more soldiers in your army, build more equipment and many other things. The city manager is well made and works very well with the RTS engine.

This game is very different than any other MMORPG  you've ever played. The game company went in a completely unique direction. This is what the industry needs, something fresh and new. We're tired of the same old crap being rehashed and poured down our throats. Although this game is excellent, it is still missing a few elements to draw in other possible players. Levelling your Dreamlord is very slow and doesn't really have a sense of achievement involved. The future of MMORPGs is new and original content, not the same old thing presented in a different way.

Graphics - 6/10
Gameplay - 8/10

Overall - 7/10