September so far has been a great month for free to play MMORPGs. Why? Because so many awesome free to play MMORPGs with top notch graphics are being released. Unfortunately, there aren't many new 2D MMORPGs, but there are tons of 3D ones. The Vindictus early access open beta begins September 15 and Vindictus is easily one of the best looking free to play MMOs out there. Nexon really out did themselves this time, as the graphics in the game are vastly superior to games like The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion and Dragon Age: Origins which were both praised for having top notch graphics. When I first saw Vindictus I was surprised to learn that Nexon publishes it, as Nexon is best known for MapleStory, Dungeon Fighter Online, PopTag!, and Mabinogi – four anime MMORPGs which look like they’re designed for kids. Vindictus on the other hand is more like Requiem from Gravity than anything else, as it has blood graphics. The game was built on the Source Engine, which powers many of Valve’s games – including Alien Swarm. I think the only other free to play MMO that uses the source engine is K.O.S. Secret Operations from YNK interactive. But that’s an MMOFPS – while Vindictus is an MMORPG.
Aside from Vindictus the next major MMORPG release comes from Turbine as they released The Lord of the Rings Online as a free to play game on September 10. Prior to September 10, the game has been pay to play. In fact, the game has been running successfully as a pay to play MMORPG since April, 2007. Unlike Dungeons and Dragons Online, which Turbine also launched as a free to play game, The Lord of the Rings didn’t NEED to go free to play. The game was very successful as a pay to play title, and Turbine is taking a big risk by making it free to play. I hope the game is a big success though. I’m downloading it right now to play, but it’s taking forever as the game client is like 8GB in size.
Another cool release this month is MicroVolts from RockHippo productions. The game is an online Toy Shooter that looks and plays a lot like Valve’s Team Fortress 2. It’s an MMO third person shooter that looks and plays like S4 League, except with a more distinct anime look. The game is pretty original as it has a third person view while most MMO shooters including the popular Combat Arms, Soldier Fromt and Operation 7 all use first person views. Plus the game isn’t another “Modern tactical” game, where players look like Swat members. Instead, the game is cartoony and takes place in various areas inside of a house. Players are technically dolls, so they’re really small. This makes the level’s really different, as it’s easy to hide in corners. It’s one of the more interesting MMO shooters. My only complaint with the game is that there’s some serious lag issues for North American users.
Another new release for September is Maestia from Big Point. It’s a 3D fantasy MMORPG that looks really incredible. The visuals are between Karos Online and Aika Online. I was surprised to see BigPoint published Maestia, as BigPoint is better known for browser games such as Dark Orbit, Sea Fight, And Deepolis rather than client based titles. Regardless, Maestia looks awesome and it’s coming out September 15.
Aside from maybe Iris Online and Legend of Edda, that’s it. Those two games are also new, but they aren’t anything too impressive – in terms of graphics that is.
No comments:
Post a Comment