Camon Hero Revived as CardMon Hero

Remember Camon Hero from Uforia? It’s a card based fantasy MMORPG that was supposed to begin open beta testing in early June 2010, but never did. Months went by with no word about when the game is actually going to launch or if it will ever launch. Then – out of the blue T3Fun announced that they would be launching Camon Hero World-wide as “Cardmon Hero”. Uforia left a lot of gamers upset when they completely abandoned Camon Hero back in June 2010. I’m actually not too surprised they pulled a stunt like this, as they’re not exactly well known for their class. Their Game Masters in Mercenary Wars and Red War (two games published by Uforia) are extremely unprofessional. I think the only playable MMORPG they have on their website is NosTale. Everything else they publish is trash. I think Mercenary Wars is actually the worst MMOFPS out there – much worse than Mission Against Terror from Suba Games. Anyway, I’m getting distracted (again). I’m just glad that Camon Hero isn’t dead and it’s actually going to release. The game’s closed beta began on November 9 or so, but there’s no word on when the open beta will begin yet.

CardMon Hero is one of the few card based MMORPGs out there. I think aside from CardMon Hero – the only other client based card game is Wizard101 – but that’s more of a kids MMORPG than CardMon. Plus it’s a turn based MMORPG, Cardmon is a bit more actiony. There are a few browser based MMOs with card mechanics – such as Urban Rivals, but those are completely different than Cardmon Hero. Cardmon Hero is a game that I think will appeal to a lot of people. It has low system requirements, fairly crisp anime inspired graphics, and a ton of unique skills. What I personally really like about EverQuest 2 from Sony Online Entertainment and The Lord of the Rings Online from Turbine is their unique skill systems. Cardmon Hero has a classless system where players have access to EVERY skill in the game. However, players can only equip skills if they’re using the appropriate weapon. Certain skills can only be equipped if you’re using a 2H sword, 1H sword, Staff, Etc. Skills in CardMon hero are in the form of cards. You don’t start with very many cards, so while you’re grinding and exploring, you’re also finding new cards, which are basically new skills. I think the only other MMORPGs without set classes are Uncharted Waters Online from Netmarble and Ultima Online from Electronic Arts.

I had a chance to play Cardmon Hero in its closed beta phase and I was quite impressed. The game has some 100+ skill cards and an equal amount of summon cards for a total of 200+ skills. The thing that makes the game really interesting is that each character has access to hundreds of skills. If you want to use some ranged attacks – simply equip a staff. If you want to use some melee AOE attacks simply equip a 2H sword. Your weapon type determines which skills you have access too, which is an incredible dynamic. Even though the game’s graphics aren’t nearly as pretty as Heroes of Three Kingdoms or Jade Dynasty, the game still offers a lot to do. It’s a game I’ll make sure to play in open beta.

9Dragons Relaunches on GamersFirst – Woot!

GamersFirst, the free to play MMO publisher best known for War Rock, Knight Online and Sword 2 recently relaunched 9Dragons. 9Dragons is a 3D martial arts themed MMORPG that the now defunct Acclaim Games used to publish. Playdom – the social games company behind Market Street, Kogaumu, and a handful of other facebook games actually bought playdom in early 2010. The purchase was clearly a mistake, as Playdom shut down the Acclaim website along with ALL of the games Acclaim used to publish (Including 9Dragons). Luckily, GamersFirst saw this as an oppurtunity to expand and bought the North American license to run 9Dragons from Indy21 (The independent Korean game developer who made 9Dragons). I’m actually not too surprised that 9Dragons was brought back to life as it was easily the most popular MMORPG that Acclaim had. I personally wasn’t a big fan of the game, as the graphics were a bit lacking and the interface felt a bit clumsy. For martial arts themed games I’d much rather play Twelve Sky 2 or even World of Kung Fu than 9Dragons. I’m not saying 9Dragons is bad, because it isn’t. The game has a fairly sizable playerbase, so there’s clearly something to the game.

I think 9Dragons is successful because it’s one of the most PvP heavy martial arts MMORPGs out. The game has 9 “clans” and two factions. The factions are at war with each other and the game also features open ended PvP where players can pretty much PK each other anywhere in the game world. Dragon Raja, Conquer Online and Legend of Edda are some of the only other MMORPGs with open world PvP. Plus, the faction battles in 9Dragons should keep things interesting. They aren’t as ridiculous as the 1000 vs 1000 faction battles of Aika Online, but the PvP in 9Dragons beats the PvP in more modern games like Runes of Magic and Heroes of Three Kingdoms. I do suspect that some of the newer PvP MMORPGs like King of Kings 3 may be superior, but only time will tell whether those games will be successful or not. 9Dragons has already proven itself to be a sustainable game over the last 3+ years. The game launched in North America and Europe back in early 2007 in case you guys didn’t know.

My only concern about 9Dragons is that it might not be able to “keep up” with new MMORPGs like The Lord of the Rings Online and EverQuest 2 which both recently became free to play games. Sony Online Entertainment also announced that they will be making Pirates of the Burning Sea free to play too. These are just the pay to play MMORPGs going free to play. There are a ton of triple-a free to play MMORPGs which launched this year including Vindictus from Nexon, Uncharted Waters Online from Netmarble and Forsaken World from Perfect World Entertainment may eventually put 9Dragons out of business. It’s difficult for older games to compete with newer ones with vastly superior graphics. Some people pretend that graphics aren’t important, but the fact is graphics do matter. People tend to like games with better graphics. It’s just the way it is.

So will 9Dragons be a success on GamersFirst or no? Will it be able to compete against newer MMORPGs? I personally think it can’t, but only time will tell.