There are an astounding number of Free MMO games out there on the internet. From the major developers like GPotato and Nexon, to some smaller companies players have never heard of like CyberStep. However, looking out into the sea of games is like looking at a bookshelf of books. There are titles and colors everywhere, but when looking at rows and rows of spines, it's hard to discern quality in all of the quantity. So, in order to arrive at a more conclusive decision, the task to pick up and thoroughly play all of these games has been taken up.

There a certain childish charm to the old arcade-style brawler. Although archaic, it's easy to remember what's so likable about a screen full of generic bad-guys and two lines of stereotypical dialog. Most 2.5D beat-em ups have very urban settings, with thugs capturing protagonists' girlfriends and flitting away through alleys lined with acrobatic thugs, martial arts punks, and often inexplicably big or fat gangsters. However, Dungeon Fighter Online has managed a fantasy setting, and has managed it... Uh... Passably.

The point of the urban setting is its fitting. There's a reason for a fight-savvy protagonist to go through hoard-after-hoard of mind-numbingly stupid villains is because it make sense for them to do so. There's solid reasoning, a single person affected in a big way, so he does a single thing that has a huge result. A single man facing an entire gang to save his personal girlfriend. It's logically sound, and functional for the setting.

When translated into an online fantasy world, the logic skews a bit. The characters each have their own motivation for going what they're doing, and it seems solid. But there are only only five possible characters. These characters can't be visually customized, which may seem like an aesthetic thing, but break immersion once there are fifty girls with jaded pasts who on eternal quests to become stronger. In the same room. And they all look the same. And fight the same. They are all the same. More to the point, why not send in entire armies to quell the demon uprising, instead of a single priest? It all seems so bizarre.

Excepting that story and premise hiccup, the title feels suitably comfortable. The pixel-based style isn't overly anime or cutesy, sticking to a more familiar style for the brawler. The settings, towns, and fields have enough variety in the long term to look like they belong with the game they're in. This means that while some games have 5 year old teddy bears with purple hair taking on demi-God demons, this game isn't one of them. The characters all look the part. In either cutscene or sprite form.

Excepting those oddities, the formula works. The same feel for the arcade game is all there, just without the unnecessary amount of change. The RPG elements don't get in the way too much, which is really what the game needs to be successful. Games like Final Fight don't need too much story or too much statistical depth, because that would compromise the simplicity of the game as a whole. Part of what makes it sell is the solidity of the basics.

This button is attack, this one defense, this one does moves, and those things are bad. From there, sword swipes, punches, kicks, throws, and bludgeoning are part of how the game entertains its players. Adding too many stats, too much equipment, too much thought ends up taking away from the simple joys of a brawler. In that way, DFO strikes a solid medium between skill-raising and equipment handling, and the unburdened fun of a quick River City Ransom run.

However, games like those have some strength in their shortness. Just a quick pick-up, the first level takes a short time, there are't too many enemies, and there's a solid variety of moves that makes gameplay uncomplicated, but deep enough to stay engaging for its limited stay. MMO games have never had the "luxury" of being short. They're constantly being patched, lengthened, updated, adjusted, but most of all, played. Games like these don't lend themselves to long-term binges. There's just not enough diversity. Fifteen thousand punches can only stay entertaining when they're thrown differently, do different things, or spray confetti on impact.

Like most MMOs, the level curve is exponentially more difficult. It means that while the first 10 or so levels are littered with incessant skill gains, the next 15 might stay fresh enough, but the next 50 won't. The dungeon's instances will all begin to look a little familiar, or take a little too long between trips back to town to sell spoils or upgrade weapons.

The game is also browser-based, meaning that it cannot be launched without a browser window open. Not normally a problem, but the game has a client which must be downloaded. Which means the client is on the hard drive, not stored online. But they game still needs a browser window. Not necessarily a fault, more an annoyance. Although the annoyances don't end there.

The game's natural resolution is very low, requiring a command (//window) to open, though no prompt or option in-game to reveal such a feature. It means that the game will automatically launch in full screen with a comically low resolution for modern machines. Furthermore, the game only operates servers in the following places: North America, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and China. While the server hosting placement isn't completely unusual, the restrictions are still present. If an Australian or European player tries to load any of the other servers, they'll likely be met with an incurable "Unable to Connect" error.

If the review seems a little nitpicky, its for a good reason. Dungeon Fighter Online is unique among many online games in that it's a unique idea, with good potential and just as good execution. If it weren't for the almost omnipresent plague of little faults, the game could easily be as successful as a single player experience as it could a multiplayer online one. This fault is the game's biggest failing, in that its an online game that doesn't really work as an online game, on a fundamental level. From the restriction to instances to the inflexibility to global market, the game is good, but the online falls a bit short. There was never a need to make a great arcade game into a functional, but only "good" online game.

Bottom Line: When the restrictions and necessities of the online game are taken away, the core would make for a better offline game, and that little bit of squandered potential hurts the whole process in subtle but pivotal ways.

Very cool idea. I've actually never played a freeware MMO. And as you put so eloquently, there are tons of them -- I tried to find a decent one, but it's a bit overwhelming for someone who has no idea what they're looking for. What I'm saying is that these reviews should prove particularly useful to me. And, of course, the writing is great, as we all have come to expect. There are a few tiny nit-picks to be made here and there, but nothing worth mentioning. I'll definitely watch out for the next installments.

Most MMO games focus on a strict set of guidelines: 3D, fantasy setting, stats, equipment, monsters, and grinding. However, it's not completely unheard of for a game to do something completely different.

Well, maybe completely different would be a stretch. Alaplaya's Fantasy Tennis 2 has turned something almost completely unheard of in MMO gaming, and made it a functional. Instead of Monsters, there are tennis players, and instead of stats and sword-and-horses fantasy, there's multiple rackets and magic tennis rallies. Which breaks up the old system well enough to be genuinely new and exciting, and still have the basic concepts that makes MMO games work.

Although, I confess that "Massively Multiplayer" is a terrible misnomer for the title. Like with all tennis, the most players that can be on court at any given time is four, which makes for a series of wordless skirmishes instead of a more traditional MMO experience. This could have been solved with tennis "lobbies" that allow the players to run around sports clubs or bleachers between matches, offering the familiar settings of country clubs and pro-shops. It instead favors a more lifeless set of menus that power the whole experience from end to end.

The setup is pretty simple, with a single player mode, online matchmaking mode, a "quest" mode, and a tournament mode. The tennis system itself is pretty basic, for those familiar with tennis, it can be a little confusing. The matches are best two of three games, with third game playing somewhat like a tie-breaker. For those that don't understand tennis, the premise is pretty simple. However, the game doesn't explain it at all, so a quick brush up on tennis's scoring system will be necessary. There's also a battle mode, which is so bizarre that it can only be understood through experience.

The single player is good for getting the ropes of how the game's quirks handle, and earning some items and experience. However, the rewards are minimal at best and painfully slow to achieve, so the single player mode is almost a completely unanimous failure. The online Matchmaking is much more effective, setting up rooms for the players to play tennis against one another in either singles or doubles. The game's unusual "set" size and game setup means that two of the four players in a doubles match will never serve, which is off-putting. Otherwise, the matchmaking system is simple to navigate, and can even separate potential games by difficulty ratings, and game types. This is a good system, and while nothing terribly advanced, is functional and therefore effective.

The biggest issue, play-wise, is simply how unapproachable the game can be at times. Occasionally, the text box will deselect itself, letting the player promote merry havoc by hitting one or two bad hotkeys while they're trying to type a sentence. The battle mode is almost entirely unrelated to how well one plays tennis, and it makes the game's best portion - the action-based tennis - become background to item use and HP-monitoring. It bogs down the game and makes the "set" seem more busy-work than play.

The problem is worsened by the graphics, which while cutesy and bright, can sometimes overwhelm the important information on-screen. Points will be won and lost on graphical processing ability and players ability to see through anti-aliased light effects, and with the short game setup, that one point could be the very important difference between victory and loss. Add in stages with a large draw distance, or special attacks that are bright and flashy, and the game can sometimes be too overcome with itself to focus on the important physical game the MMO is emulating.

However, for all of its flaws, there's something charming and novel about Fantasy Tennis 2. Like an Alfa Romeo car with all of its quirks, or a an old favorite that is powered more by nostalgia than actual excellence, this game is somehow enduring. Which is a good thing, despite its inherent social ineptitude, the game portion is still fun, and the online mode is actually functional.

Bottom Line: Charming as a button, and cute enough to keep the metaphor going into the wee hours of the night. It's a sort of Mario Power Tennis online, which is fun in a non-serious kind of way. If its your sort of thing, it's worth a play. If not, it probably won't change your mind.

I suggest you give Drift City and Gunz: The Duel a shot. I'm interested in hearing your thoughts on both.

Meant to check this out for some time but had a lot of other stuff to do first. I'll comment on the first review (and give this a bump), then comment on the second part later.

Ok, so while a bit more discussion of the way human interactions, a necessary part of the genre, are handled would have been welcome imo, it seems a good review, identifying issues but giving credit where it's due. I don't know what elements of the game ought to be prioritised in an MMO review, and I have no idea how accurate it is but it seemed fair. Oh, and well done on the picture placement. As always it seems to be spot on, I always struggle to get them to align with the text well without horribly distorting the image. Just a shame about the niggly errors.

One of the biggest draws for an MMO is a big world to be able to roam freely, a strong community, and lots of variety. Different classes means more play types, better coordination with players, and an altogether solidity for both game play and game experience. Whenever these points are lacking, a game will have no oomph to it.

That is the largest problem with Grand Chase Online, and everything else about the game just feels like it is done in excess. The fully 3D fantasy characters rendered on a 2D plain, the needless additions to combos and skills in spite of a complete lack of basics. The limited and random item system. The menu interface. There's a lot about Grand Chase that really, really needs a strong looking at before the game can even become remotely approachable.

The game's tutorial is lengthy, introducing the three basic classes - Warrior, Archer, Mage - and setting the player off in a pair of "hold-my-hand" dungeons. The in-game dialog and tutorial quickly explains how the game is played, but despite the cutesy art or the 3D graphics, the game as almost no life to it. The dialog is well-translated, but doesn't feel a part of anything. The graphics aren't dark, the music is ambient and almost entirely unnoticeable. It just feels static, the sort of sterile you only find in hospitals and air locks.

Beyond that, the formulaic gameplay is simple, easy-to-process, but hard to get just right. It means that while it's easy to pick up and go, there's a bit of mastery to getting things right. Every character controls essentially the same, even the later unlockable characters, but they all have little quirks that make them unique in the very technical senses. The differences aren't vast enough to make them all wildly different, just enough to encourage a bit of observation of play style and give room for playable preference.

The graphics have much the same effect, presenting the odd hybridization of cutesy-anime and 3D. This game doesn't carry itself well, due to the low system requirements, and ends up looking sharp, angular, and at times blocky. Although discounting certain armor sets, the enemies and their respective scenes look smooth. However, because the characters are pre-built, named, and classed, they vary only in what armor they happen to be wearing. It means that any mission with 4 Warrior-class characters is going to look almost - if not - exactly the same.

The game is entirely instance-based, which means the payer is either in a four-person-only dungeon, or they are navigating menus. The lack of world is astoundingly harsh when compared to so many other titles, and it means the game is reduced completely to the grind. The sense of community mirrors this, with players only using other players so long as they can be useful.

Overall, Grand Chase feels like a textbook example of what not to do with an MMO game. The classes are only remotely different from one another, look the same, the atmosphere is ruined by the menu navigation, and too dry in-game to be noteworthy, and it all just feels in excess. The fully-3D appearance accomplishes nothing on the 2D plains that sprites or lower-resolution couldn't have, the character roster would've been great had the character truly had a big variety, and the nuances of the gameplay would've been welcome had the basics had any sort of solidity. The community is also self-important and divided amongst themselves, and everything just feels detached from the whole process.

Bottom Line: There really are so many examples of side-scrollers that have done the same thing, but more approachable, more atmospheric, and just altogether better. LaTale, Maple Story, and Wind Slayer all come to mind.

Do maple story

There's something to be said for an open world in gaming. It's part of what made games like Grand Theft Auto IV and Crackdown so wildly successful, and made them seem so functional as a whole. It builds playability, and makes the whole process seem more alive and breathing. This isn't a new property, but it's surprisingly rare. IJJI's Drift City happens to be both an innovative idea for an MMO (racing), and incorporates a free-roaming world available to players from the beginning of the game. This alone is disarming enough to introduce a spark of creativity. As No More Heroes proved, there needs more than just an interesting implementation of free roaming environments to make a solid idea into a successful game. It then comes down to whether or not the game can deliver.

Surprisingly, Drift City handles the idea of an MMO racing game well. Unlike Project Torque which has a slightly stronger emphasis on realism, Drift City encourages completely illogical and impossible maneuvers as part of a successful strategy. The drift elements are quite bizarre, and go beyond most arcade racers into the land of make believe at best, and The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift at the worst.

The over-the-top style of the game pervades not only from gameplay, but the visuals. The cel-shading is graphically minimal, as most free-to-play games are, but the result is surprisingly pretty. The scenery is interesting to look at, and the cel-shaded environments are very easy on the eyes. The car models are the same story, just detailed enough to retain shapeliness and interest but sparse enough to remain uncluttered and free over overburdening distraction.

Despite the gorgeousness of the graphics, the simplicity does play a bit of havoc on the game as a whole. The clear-cut colors and brightness of everything often fails to really capture the speed the game tries to impress on the player. It makes keeping an eternal eye on the speedometer an absolute necessity, and can surprise the players after a straight and make the turn come a lot more violently quickly than it appears it should. As well as that, it also makes distances hard to gauge.

The interface does help by remaining out-of-the-way, as nearly any interface should. This is great for 99% of the game, but means it can be very unpleasant when it comes time to talk with several users at once or maintain a running conversation with players. The game is functional without including the community, but it is more enjoyable when played as an MMO rather than just a racing game.

However, the game is labeled "Drift City," and plays out much like the community in the aforementioned Tokyo Drift did. That means spray-painted flames, loud cars, neon lights, and cheeseball names pervade the community as a whole. There are shady businessmen here and there, lots of self-absorbing racing types, and an outlandish amount of braggarts and "crews." Which while fitting for the streets, feels awkward in an online game. Despite all of that, Drift City is a surprisingly competent game. It plays well, if not occasionally oddly, and manages to be both unique and fun.

Bottom Line: Drift City won't be accomplishing anything completely revolutionary, nor is it anything that's going to change the way the world looks at racers, but it's fun. Which is enough for what it is.

I'm just posting to say "Great thread." Really good info in here.

Nuke, your writing has improved so much since the last time I (have? mind = scrambled) read one. These are some really good reviews. I read the last three and they were very well written. I found a very small amount of nitpicks that just caused me to take a slight pause while reading but they're not worth mentioning. It's nice to see some of your writings again!

Great writing, Newclassic.

Now is there anything out there that'll blow our socks off?

Comments on second review:

As always seems to be the case with your stuff, I enjoyed it. Plenty of things to gripe about (and I'll carry on doing so in the hopes of stumbling on some insight) but there's so much done right that to complain almost seems churlish to do so.

Was I the only one to find a couple of sentences quite puzzling, like the "metaphor" in the final paragraph? I don't know whether to attribute my misunderstanding to the transatlantic gulf or not.

Ok, the third review:

I kinda take issue with the idea of vast open worlds adding "oomph" to these games though, as I would have thought smaller environments would condense the experience. Definitely agree with the rest of the comments on MMOs in general, I'm quite curious as to how the design of the MMO can influence the form that the community takes. This game's one doesn't sound particularly pleasant.

A review of Perfect World International would be interesting, since it's something of an anomaly in the "free MMO" world.