Monthly Archives: July 2003

Toadwater

First, let me say, The graphics aren’t the best, but so far I like it, kinda boring since you cant move until level 10, then you can start building forts and stuff which is cool.

Graphics: Not the best, but its ok 4/10

Gameplay: No lag, kinda boring to play so in the beggining, most of what you do is chop wood and plant trees for lumber which then you sell.

Players: The forums seem normal, cant really say much about this.

Sound: No music, but you can hear chopping sounds or planting a tree and other sounds. 6/10

Overall: 7/10

Silent Shadows

Well, first let me say this, its another player words RPG, so I know some people wont like it. If your one of those people *waves* theres the door. Ok, for those who are still reading here is the review.

Lag: Most player worlds rpg people lag, I dont lag much myself. Rate: 7/10

Gameplay: Your typical, press ctrl and swing your sword. Stuff breaks over time (weapons and armor). For mages you dont get any special affect when casting a spell. All you do is click on a monster and press a botton. Not that exciting. Rate: 4/10

Graphics and Sound: Your typical Player words graphics, nothing different. Rate: 3/10 (A new version of Silent Shadows will have upgraded graphics and may be sounds. There are no sounds right now.

Players: So far the players seem good, not your typical l33t dude players. I have had a few people help me. Rate: 8/10

Will, most of you might not like this. And the gameplay is why it got a low score from me. Nothing different about the graphics.

But if you like these type of games go ahead and try it Like I said in my reviews, a whole new version of Silent Shadows is coming out Release: ??? It might have sounds/upgraded graphics and other new stuff. This might meen it wont run on player worlds anymore.

Adventure Quest

By Yolanda, Onrpg writer

(Begin cheesy song) Dragonfly in the sky. I can go twice as high. Don’t feel shame, its in a game…  Gaming Rainnnbooowwww…….(end cheesey song)

Dragon Quest is an RPG game made entirely from Flash. So as you can imagine…comparing this game to most other games is like comparing a coloring book to War and Peace, it just isn’t possible. So I’m going to review this game for what it is. And to do that I’ll have to enter a whole new state of mind. But you don’t have to take my word for it…

Yolanda: Hi boys and girls, I’m Yolanda. And I played a great game called Adventure Quest. The graphics are pretty good for a flash game, very detailed, even if they are two dimensional. I recommend it to you if you love simple hand drawn graphics.

(Dun dun dun)

Steve: Hello there people, I’m Steve, I’m here to tell you about sounds in this game. Well….quite frankly, there are no sounds. Its very very silent, although the developers plan on adding sound to the game soon. Thanks.

(Dun dun dun)

Rebecca: Howdie ya’ll, I’m Rebecca. The battles in Adventure Quest are turn based and darn-tootin fun. But sometimes you get a tricky battle that makes you put on yer thankin’ cap. Nice battlin’ system fer the most part. The game ain’t multiplayer yet, but them developers plan on adding a PvP system purdy soon.

(Dun dun dun)

And there you have it. The game actually is a nice time waster, but like I said before, don’t expect much. Really don’t expect to play it for more than a week. But considering it was made with Flash, it isn’t that bad. Give it a try, you might like it. But chances are you probably won’t.

Dark Eden

Ya know, as much as I want to give Dark Eden a perfect score, I just can’t in good conscience. The gameplay here is extrememly addictive and easy to get into, but darnit, Eden has its problems.

Ok, first things first. Dark Eden is a vampire/vampire slayer MMORPG where you choose to be an evil vamp, or a goody goody slayer. You’ll have a blast beefing up your character by fighting zombies and various other baddies. The gameplay is so darn fun you’ll wonder where the hours went, and you’ll also be wondering how to get your ass unglued from your seat.

The graphics certainly could be better, though they aren’t terrible. Just be prepared to see the same character models over and over and over and….well, you get the idea.

Dark Eden has excellent sounds though. I love the chilling soundtrack, sets the mood of the game just right. Only downside is the “voices,” or rather groans of the monsters. Expect to hear the same groans over and over and over and…wait, didn’t we already cover this?

The absolute worst thing about this game is definately the player community. Why? Because nearly everyone on the server is speaking Korean. Even though this is the English client, and the game itself is in English, the player community is 98% Korean. So chances are this is probably going to be a solo experience for you. I’m praying that this will change as the game gets more popular, and I hope that more English players sign on.

Even though the communtiy isn’t the best, I still recommend giving this game a try. The fun factor is through the roof, just don’t let the language barrier bother you too much. Hopefully that will be fixed with time.

Puzzle Pirates

By Onrpg

Puzzle Pirates is a neat little game. The concept is very original and quite refreshing. Basically you live the life of an everyday pirate trying to make the big bucks. Ships will employ your services for various tasks, be it navigating, bulging, or swordfighting, just to name a few. Catch is, these tasks are perfomed by solving various Tetris-like puzzles. The puzzles themselves can be quite complicating, but never too overbearing. Thankfully there is a helpful little tutorial at the beginning of the game to show you the ropes.

Ok, I’m not gonna lie to you, the graphics pretty much suck. Granted the puzzles are decent looking, but the towns, ships, people, well pretty much everything else isn’t. ARRG, she may not be a easy on the eyes, but she sure does have a great personality. Just overlook the crappy 2D visuals.

Puzzle Pirates 

The sounds actually aren’t that bad. Pretty good tunes to sail the opens seas.

Now I can overlook the bad graphics…but this I absolutely cannot overlook: the game is in Java. The interface is clunky, everything is sooo jumbled together, and moving around is no cakewalk.

It’s a cryin’ shame. This game could’ve been something really special, but instead it’s just a mere shadow of what it should’ve been. Damn you Java!

Monster and Me

By Onrpg

Don’t let the silly name fool you, this is an extremely addictive MMORPG.

Monster and Me has a console-like feel to it. Battles are random, and turn based. Combat is actually quite fun, only downside being the battles may drive you a wee-bit crazy sometimes. Gameplay does get repetitive, but after taking a break for awhile, you’ll certainly wanna dive back in to more of those random encounters. Did I mention how quickly you level up? You level up faster in this game than any other I’ve ever played, taking some of the tedium out of fighting.

I must say that I was actually impressed with the visuals. Granted they won’t blow you away, but they are alot better than I was expecting. Attention to detail on some of the maps is simply stunning. It’s really too bad that there are so few character skins to choose from. Those being far less impressive graphically than the environments.

The sounds didn’t really impress, but they aren’t untolerable. The battle BGM is a standout tune.

Be sure to bank any money you have immediately, the game is filled with theives waiting to steal your hard earned cash. This isn’t a problem though because you can bank from anywhere. There really isn’t some complex spell or skill system here, the game revolves around the leveling of your character and pets.

Monster And Me

Ahhh the pets. You can capture just about any monster in the game, though some are alot harder to get your hands on than others. Level up your pet until it’s a high level little bugger, then sell him for big bucks. Rinse. Repeat.

I highly recommend you pick up this game. As far as free MMORPGs go, it’s one of the best.

Thesa Online

By Onrpg Member

Do you ever remember waking up as a child on Christmas Day? Anxious to see if you got what you ::really:: wanted for Christmas, only to find something else in its place? Disappointment. Sheer, complete disappointment. However, you were thankful for what you did recieve, even though it fell leagues short of what you ::really:: wanted. I know we’ve all been in this situation before, and those emotions resurfaced while playing Thesa.

From a graphical standpoint, Thesa excells. Even though the character models aren’t mindblowing, the environments are beautiful. The attention to detail is truly stunning.

Thesa, at its heart, is a Diablo clone; only not as smooth. I absolutely detest how unresponsive some commands are due to extreme lagging. I would go from a full health bar, to sudden death due to the ridiculous lag. I would be going great, hacking away at a deer, until said lag kicks in, resulting in the deer having its way with me. Now I’m usually not one to complain, but when a level 7 Warrior gets his a** kicked by a deer, we have a problem. Yeah, lag, so what? Well keep in mind that this lag was still happening at around 3 a.m., when the servers were like ghost-towns; and I have a broadband connection. There is no excuse for lag this severe, which causes for a very frustrating experience. Everyone I’ve talked to so far has said the lag has been going on pretty much from the start.

The sounds won’t blow you away. It’s basically just the same thing looping over and over. But perhaps we’ve grown accustomed to that in MMORPGs. 😀

It’s an absolute shame this game has such a fatal flaw with the lag. I see massive potential for this title. With four classes to choose from, a deep skill system, lots of spells, tons of items, and a friendly community, this game has alot going for it. But, dangit, fix the lag on the US versions! I’d like to be able to enjoy at least one of these games without being Korean…but that’s another story altogether.

Furcadia

By Onrpg

I know this may sound strange, but this games reminds me alot of Mortal Kombat. Not because of gratituous violence, though, this “game” has a very kiddy feel to it. It reminds me of MK due to the fact that you’ll either love this, or hate it, and chances are you’re going to fall into the latter category.

It could be debated that this isn’t even a game at all. There is no leveling up, no monsters to slay, no quest to embark on, nothing of the sort. You create a character, all of which are cuddly animals, and you walk around chatting with people. That’s it. That’s the game. So basically you have an interactive chatroom with girlish visuals. It’s like a coloring book meets Yahoo chat.

Furcadia

Oh and the graphics….I say girlish because, well, they are. The color pallete cosists mainly of different shades of pinks and purples. The visuals themselves being around sub-SNES quality. Possibly the coolest feature the game has going for it, other than the option to turn it off, is the “Dream” feature. This feature allows you to make “worlds,” or maps if you will, to share with the community. Make your own rules, and customize your world to your liking.

Gameplay consists of chatting and world design, and, erm, chatting some more. It doesn’t help matters that the interface is clunky and controling your character is a royal pain. But, if this sounds inviting to you, and you think you can stomach the cuteness, by all means give it a try.

As for the rest of us, who prefer actual “games” over social gatherings, avoid this.