So Many Old 2D MMORPGs.

Just look at all the free to play 2D MMORPGs out there. Most of them are really old games. There really hasn’t been any new 2D MMORPGs released since Ndoors put out WonderKing 6 months ago or so. Sadly, the most popular 2D MMOs are really old games like Mir 2 and the Legend of Mir 3. Plus, other old games like Magic World Online from EnjoyMMO and The Warlords from TQ Digital are still popular. There’s nothing particularly wrong with these old MMORPGs, it’s just that I’m upset that there hasn’t been any NEW 2D MMORPGs. It seems like game developers these days are focusing their efforts on 3D games. I really don’t know why they’re doing this either, as some of the most successful free to play MMORPGs are 2D games. Most notably, MapleStory from Nexon which is wildly profitable. Nexon also has Dungeon Fighter Online which I’m sure makes them a lot of money.

MapleStory actually has over 100 million registered users world wide, making it one of the most popular free MMORPGs ever. Obviously not all of these people are active users, but still. 100 million is a dang big number. Aside from MapleStory, the only other REALLY mega popular free to play MMORPG is probably RuneScape. Even though RuneScape isn’t 2D, the game has very low end graphics, which makes me question why so many MMO developers are focusing their efforts on good looking 3D Games. I mean, 3D MMORPGs like Vindictus and Loong: The Power of the Dragon look great, but MapleStory and RuneScape prove that you don’t need good graphics to be successful. Heck, having pretty graphics only hurts a game, as not everyone has high end PCs to even be able to play some 3D MMORPGs. Plus, 3D MMORPGs tend to be much larger in filesize as well, so downloading a good looking 3D game can take a very long time on a slow connection.

What’s the point of this rant? Simple. I’m tired of super old 2D MMOs like Navyfield and Shadow of Legend. I want game developers to put out some NEW 2D MMORPGs. I imagine newer 2D games will have sleeker and more awesome graphics.

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.