Browser Games Need to Step it Up

There are a lot of browser MMORPGs out there. Most of them are 2D, as having 3D graphics on a browser isn’t exactly the standard yet – though games like Quake Live, RuneScape and Pirate Galaxy are really raising the bar for graphics on a web browser. With thousands of browser based games out there, I hate to generalize, but I have to say it. Most of them suck. There are a few that stand out from the crowd, but most of them are just incredibly boring. I had the chance to play a few of these browser games, and I’ll just go ahead and describe the games I played.

The first game I played was Shakes & Fidget. It basically explains exactly like Tanoth and Gladiatus, in that players must wait upwards of 20 minutes at a time to finish quests and slay enemies. All you do is click a button that says ‘adventure in the dungeon!’ or ‘Complete a quest’ and you get moved to a screen with a count down on it. Wait 15 minutes or so and the enemy is killed or the quest is complete. That’s it. How anyone can even classify that as a game is beyond me.

I also played War of Legends from Jagex and was mildly disappointed. The game wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t any better than other strategy MMORPGs. Heck, if anything I would say its almost exactly like The Seventh Dragon, Travian and Tribal Wars. It’s no different. If you’ve played any one of these 2D strategy games, you might as well have played the rest. It’s also a bit like Heroes of Gaia, because players can control their units in battle. I expected more from Jagex, as they’re the guys behind the super popular RuneScape game. I don’t think Jagex actually developed the game though, they’re just licensing it.

Another browser game I played was Dark Orbit. The game is by BigPoint, who also makes Seafight and Deepolis, and it was actually a decent game. I say decent because it has so many little problems. Most notably, paying members have a huge advantage of non paying ones. Since the game is largely a PvP MMORPG as well, it sort of sucks that paying members can easily pwn non paying ones. In fact, there’s no way a non paying member even has a chance. I think if BigPoint did more to balance the game, it could actually be fun.

There are a few good browser games out there though. One new game, Pirate Galaxy, really impressed me. The game has gorgeous graphics and is set in a sci fi universe. I also really liked Grepolis from Innogames, but that’s more so because I’m fascinated with greek mythology than the actual gameplay it self. Browser MMOs really need to step it up, because as is they’re pretty lame. I guess I’ll stick with 2D client based MMORPGs for now.