Chaos Online Review: Easy Play, Good Community

by Rick Charbs, Onrpg writer

Chaos online is a recently published MMORPG by Ingle Games Ltd. The closed beta has begun on the 13th of December, 2008. You can get your very own beta key here at Onrpg! Recent data gathered has determined that the previous testing phase was not warmly welcomed. Rest assured, there have been many improvements since then, the main improvement being the exp rates. Currently, levelling up is not anywhere near an issue, and thus the community regulars are already at quite a high level. It actually only took me a few minutes to reach level 10. Ingle Games has actually done a great job so far in refining this title, but I am afraid the actual gameplay was just not made for a gamer like me. This review will surely give you readers a second opinion on the game itself so you will be able to make the decision whether it is truly worth playing or not.

General Gameplay

If I was allowed to describe the gameplay in three words, I would say: With Your Destiny. The gameplay, in my opinion, was pretty much identical to that of WYD (With Your Destiny). The various systems were quite cookie-cutter styled, and there was no special value to the questing and monster slaying. It seemed like I was only watching my character run around and kill things on its own. There was no uniqueness to the style of the game, though there were some interesting innovations to this average gameplay style such as the mouth growth system (the name speaks for itself), and the cosmos energy system, in which you can merge items to create special skill books that are extra powerful in comparison with the regular skill trees.

The in-game bot program is very elaborate and has every function a hacker wishes his bot to have, except it is allowed within the game. Wonderful. This basically means that half of the players you will meet will actually be AFK. I don’t know about you guys, but I prefer actually interacting with others in a multiplayer game (we are all different!). Despite this irking fact, the community is actually very tight-knit and helpful. There is a special “Race Chat” channel for everyone within your race to converse in, and everyone helps each other out there. It was the best place to find actual online players to speak to. I would have most likely been severely disappointed if this channel was not present in the game. Although, if you are unlike me and actually do enjoy in-game bots, this one was very well developed, and you will reach a powerful level in no time at all if you never exit the game.

For you customisation freaks out there, I am sorry to say that this game has little to no customization to offer. Even the classes are gender based. That means if you wish to be a magician or archer, you’re going to have to play as a female character, and if you wish to play as a warrior, you’ll have to play a male character. Though, since everyone looks like a clone in the game, you should not worry too much about this fact. The one upside to this is the fact you at least have two races to choose from, with a possibility of a third one in the future as is hinted by the extra class select slot.

As previously mentioned, the game’s rates have sky-rocketed since the previous testing phase. Without any difficulty, I was able to reach a decent level with some mediocre equipment that was all gathered by monster drops. This game is definitely aimed at casual gamers, but I’ve encountered some pretty serious gamers as well. The race wars are very large-scaled, and I assume that is what a hardcore gamer in this game would aim for winning.

Graphics and Sound

Not much can be said for the graphics or the sound in this game. They did in no way stand out in comparison with the average free to play MMORPG. I will admit that the skills are amazingly flashy though. They really make the rest of the graphics look mediocre. I did not find any point of interest in the graphics, as they reminded my right there of a mix in between WYD, and Phoenix Destiny. They were even less appealing than the latter. This was not a bother to me though, as I do not mind lower-end graphics as long as the gameplay is alright. The sound was obnoxious most of the time, and the skill sounds were extremely repetitive, so I just muted the game and played my own music.

Personal Recommendation

First of all, I will state that I did not hate this game. I know I have focused more on the bad aspects of the game rather than the good ones, though I felt it was necessary as the game is very generic. I did enjoy the cosmos system, and I was really impressed by the customer support and the publishing company in general. Their forum is very well kept, and their events are unique and very creative. Their current event involves MSN messenger. I also enjoyed the fact that the learning curve to this game is inexistent. I knew what to do right away ─I suppose that is the one good outcome of the fact that this game is very similar to other ones, and I loved their race chat system as well as the community. However, the graphics and sound were below average, the in-game bot is just too extensive and is (obviously) overused, there is a need for more customization, and the game needs more points of interest, to keep it going. If you enjoyed the previously mentioned similar titles (WYD, Phoenix Dynasty), I strongly suggest you try this game out. The publishers are great, and you will not be disappointed. It is also a great game to tackle if you are a strictly casual gamer, as you will be able to train while you are not at the computer. Happy gaming!