By Bryan King (Bryan), OnRPG Journalist

“Crowns of Power is Rampid Interactive’s first 3D graphical online MMO for the PC. It features an extensive 3D world, filled with amazing landscapes and environments. The game world is being designed to support hundreds of players simultaneously, with the network capacity to support many game servers. Players will meet up with others from all over the world to fight side by side or opposite one another on the field of battle. Adapt and evolve in this ever changing world, where players self-govern and guide one another. Will you fight for what is just and true, or seek the ultimate desire of man in a quest for absolute power?”

The Gaming Elements (Gameplay)

One of the amazing elements of CoP which is noticeable straight away is the fact that the game does not include classes, which is what you’d typically see in most MMOs. I was expecting to see the typical warrior, mage and assassin combination, but in Crowns of Power, that is not the case. Instead, you choose a primary school of power. There are five schools, Red, Blue, Green, Black, and White. Each of these classes has a unique, custom tailored specialty on how they perform in basic PvE, PvP, and Raids. One thing I did enjoy is the fact that Rampid Interactive did a very great job of easing players along the beginner stages of the game. You are not bogged down with loads of random help tips at random intervals, but instead, you learn as you go, and get introduced to things when you attempt to do them. One thing that plagues CoP is that players are able to buy powerful equipment (armor and weapons) from the cash shop. A unique feature that CoP has is that players are able to gain experience while the player is logged off, the amount EXP Over Time is an option that armor and weapons can have.

Unfortunately, the cash shop equipment also has a high standard rate of EXP Over Time items, which harms the community economic system, in some way. Player vs. Player starts either when players join a guild or hit level 50, whichever comes first. Guilds are able to buy Guild Castles, which currently have no purpose but serve as a point of socializing and planning among guild members, and hostile guilds have the ability to capture the castle by having someone interact with the guild flag and hold off the point for at least three hours, this is the Guild Siege system. PvP penalties become rather steep, however. If you player-kill another player, it becomes extremely hard to function within the game. Your name becomes red, prices from vendors double and guards attack you. Also, getting killed in PvP makes you drop all gold on you, as well as spell regents that are needed to cast powerful skills. This experience may be liked by hardcore PvPers, but casual players may not enjoy this all too much.

The quest system is rather linear, it follows the generic “kill this” and “go talk to him” type of quests, and it is sort of a let-down in earlier levels. But the end-game presence of dungeons with lots of teamwork makes up for it.

However, a new highlight of CoP comes in the form of a petition system. If a player has a red name, they are able to fill out a petition to get it removed, by telling their side of the story to members of the community at an in-game booth, and players can vote whether or not they want to clear the PKer of his charges. This adds a new level of immersion for Crowns of Power, and is a unique system that isn’t seen in many games.

While leveling, certain items called Experience Crystals have a chance from dropping from mobs; these items provide a substantial amount of experience points for players to get a good head start on their leveling needs. I personally found this handy, due to the fact that I found crystals on my quest mobs, giving me a nice boost to the next level, topped along with EXP over time, and quest experience, leveling doesn’t come too hard.

One of the most interesting systems I’ve had the pleasure to experience in Crowns of Power is the ‘achievement system’, which gives players special achievements for completing certain tasks, for example, you get the First Blood achievement for killing your first monster, or the Bounty Hunter achievement for killing your first rare monster. Although there are no additional perks for this, other players have the ability to look at your achievements, and one thing most players do enjoy is the ability of showing off (seriously, isn’t that what competitive gaming is all about?).

Finally, one big in CoP is the lack of an in-game map. Luckily there is a “where-is-____” sticky on the Crowns of Power forums for new and old players to be able to fine special quest mobs or NPCs. Next to that there is a fan site dedicated to the purpose of finding in-game quests. It’s not official, and there is no announcement for it: I only found this via the power of search engines. Some players will not take the initiative to do this themselves. I was lost at some point and the task I was completing was only finished due to the help of a player that I whispered via the game’s World Chat.

Overall, CoP does provide a whole slew of promising features, but there are some problems that developers need to fix in order for CoP to become a better game.

Graphics & Sound

Crowns does not have the best graphics, I’d like to establish that before getting any further. It has the same models you see in most games… the typical tiger, scorpion, undead or zombie-ish character. But what CoP does excel at is the fact that character armor and weapon models look terrific. Red crowns (people of the ‘red’ magic school) have a helm that is set on fire when worn, blue crowns have shoulders with glowing ice spikes. CoP puts such great intricate detail into their armor models that you might find yourself staring at them for minutes on end.

As for the game sound, it is simply nothing special. The generic firebolt casting, weapon scream, the clashing of sword on enemy, etc. The music is decent, but not enough to impress me.

Community

This is one aspect of the game that the CoP community team needs to work on. Constant spamming, cussing and some immature players puts Crowns of Power on the backburner compared to some games. As well as some complaints of constant bugs on CoP’s new PvE server, and lack of response by the game’s community leaders. If Crowns wants to reach the top, they’re going to have to kick their community input up a notch.

Overall, CoP is a pretty decent game. It provides an easy to get into, fun experience. It gives players of both PvE and PvP tastes a chance to show what they’ve got. The downsides are the overpowered cash shop, lackluster sound, lack of a map, and awful community.

Pros:
– Unique school-system
– Fun EXP System
– Entertaining Achievement System
– Great equipment models
– Late game PvP will be liked by hard-core pvpers.

Cons:
– Lack of an in-game map
– Overpowering cash shop
– Lackluster sound
– Horrid community
– Late-game PvP system may turn casual PvPers off.

By Vincent Haoson (Vincenthaoson), OnRPG Journalist

Fresbo World is a flash-based social MMO from Fresbo Pte Ltd. The game allows you to create structures using blocks that come in different shapes and sizes.

Starting out

The character creation in Fresbo World has the standard options that are often found in various MMOs. You get to decide on how your character looks, the hair design, eye design, hair color, eye color, the gender and the type of underwear your character is wearing. Once you start your Fresbo World adventure you will be whisked away and will have to go through various quests to make you acquainted to the game. Some of the quests include getting to understand how the game’s basic control work to getting to finish your first blueprint set.

Game Features

Fresbo World has the basic control interface. You have the social button, the home button, avatar button, shop button and the FAQ button.There are multiple areas where your character can come and visit, each place has its own use but what it all has in common is that you get to meet people that belong to the region you assigned yourself. You get to interact, mingle and chat with other players and even play games with them. You can also dress up your avatar buy buying clothes that are available in the shop that’s found in the mall district. You also earn your first full set of clothes through the beginner’s quest that you would be finishing upon entering Fresbo World.

Fresbo World has a blueprint system. The blueprint works like a model kit where you get the parts for the structure you bought. You will also have a reference picture that you can overlap as you slowly build the structure you bought. Purchase able blueprints vary, the most common of which are displays where you can put in your home. The shops also sells blueprints for houses. If you have blocks to spare you can customize or add some of them to your finished blueprint design. With the game having a lot of blueprints on sale, there will never be enough space for you if you’re going to store it in one place. Fresbo World has the option of giving you up to twenty ‘homes’ where you can store your works of art. You can decide on the overall design of your home to suit your needs as you make one.

Pass the bomb?

Aside from the customization and creation features the game has, Fresbo World has a unique mini-game that gives the game more charm. The game is called Pass the Bomb, you literally have to pass a bomb to other players and that you have to make sure it doesn’t explode on you or your teammate. You start off with a random dealer of the bomb and that the dealer knows when the bomb’s going to explode. You have to second guess when the bomb will explode so you have to utilize your devious mind and hope for the best.

Conclusion

Fresbo World is one of those MMO games that you can play for hours without realizing that it already ate up most of your time. Building the blueprint items that you acquire in the game takes most of your time while giving you the free reign to do what you please after finishing the design. What’s more is that you are not limited to creating designs that fit your room, you can go as far as creating your house or even create replicas of real life items. Fresbo World is like your online version of Legos where the game only provides the building blocks and it’s up to your creativity to create whatever you want. What’s more is that you get to showcase your creations either through the forums or in-game. All you have to do is either invite friends to come down to your home or post the pictures in the forums.

Another thing that’s very convenient in Fresbo World is that your avatar can be linked from the game database to your forum account so you don’t have to go through the hassle of trying to setup a separate forum account for Fresbo World’s forum. The mini-game feature that Fresbo World has provides a refreshing change of pace if you get tired of being a “Block Picasso”. The games are simple to understand and very addicting, what’s more, you get rewarded credits which you can spend on either shopping for your avatar or getting yourself more blueprints and blocks that you can tinker with.

The Pass the Bomb game in Fresbo World is another outstanding feature. The game mixes deception, math and deduction to make such an interesting and fun game to play. This is a nice escape from the brooding claustrophobic room where your character seems to be hanging out often because he/she is making another block masterpiece. Fresbo World is a social game in its core and this shows in the simplicity and ease of the social interface. Adding people and getting more information about them is also easy, all you need to do is click on their avatar and just read.

The multiple house feature is also a nice addition to the game. Most of the blueprints you buy are big and would take ma lot of space that’s why it would seem prudent to store them in different locations to maximize your space and to make things look neater for your victual abode.

The game does have shortcomings however its more of the lack of enough items to wear. This is remedied with a steady increase of new items flowing into the game. Aside from that, the game does become a little dull when you stay logged in more so when you log in during the time where your region seems on the opposite side of the world and that their day and night time are different from yours. If you want to spend your free time building things in a Lego-like fashion and you’d like to let the whole world know about it, Fresbo World is the game for you.

Pros:
– Simple and addicting gameplay
– Social interaction is simple but effective
– You are given enough freedom to go wild with your creations.

Cons:
– Lack of sufficient players when playing some people dependent mini-games
– The game needs more mini-games because it gets repetitive
– Some features are cash dependent.

By Kei Beneza (Dividelife), OnRPG Journalist

“Mir 2: The Legend continues” is a classic MMORPG with outstanding credentials. The game runs on the traditional isometric bird’s eye view system much like other ancient role playing games. Although you may think that this is just another fossil that is ready to hit the tomb, I’d like to say that there’s more to this game than meets the eye (I can use this tern right?). Despite the presence of its descendant (Mir 3), the game still appeals to most people. Exactly how good is a game for people to keep playing it even after the arrival of its own sequel? Elitism? Fanboy-ism? Or is the game really that good? It is rather puzzling to know that unlike console games, the new releases don’t necessarily require people to play their predecessors for them to understand the game’s plot and etc. Will the game shower me with disappointments, or is it really as good as they said it was? Let’s take a peek shall we?

Immersion: Nostalgic stuff here

I won’t deny the fact that Mir 2 shares the same visuals as most of the hard hitting RPGs back then during the late 90s. The trees looked quite familiar just as the shadowing effects hit me with a sudden bolt of nostalgia. It then occurred to me that this game would’ve reached tremendous rating if launched during that moment in time. An MMO that uses digital figures, all pimped up with medieval armors would most definitely be irresistible to most people (especially back then). The system is quite traditional, and although it’s all considered basic by now, that amount of features used to be the epitome of GODGAME during the early days. Mir 2 was quite famous in Asia back then and is still played a lot of people even up to this date [http://mir2.gamepotusa.com/]. I’ve heard that the game used to go on a “Pay to play” basis, but then turned “free to play” due to its competition (I mean come on! The game looks like a fossil and there are lots of better games to pay for). 

And you thought this would’ve been easy by now

Other than the visuals, one of the first things that caught my attention was the controls. Being the modern day gamer than I am, I placed my hand over my keyboard (specifically : W,A,S,D) thinking it somehow shares today’s MMO controls. I guess I was wrong, as I then found myself stuck on a clicking fest (CLICK-A-LIK-A-LIK! ATTACK!). Yes, it turns out that the graphics weren’t the only that was outdated. The game immerses you in a world of scrolling and clicking. This would’ve been bearable back then, but we’re not exactly living in that kind of world right now. Still, it was rather amusing how it took me back to the old days when the mouse was the only thing that separates you from certain death.  Yes, the game has PVP (which is swell!) but the thought of you randomly clicking on opponents would only come down on to who hits harder or who has more potions (Not so technical). 

Let’s get it on!

Character creation can be considered as a breeze in Mir 2. You’ll be opted to choose between a small array of characters namely: The Warrior— who obviously doesn’t need any form of introduction, The Assassin— who’s not so assassin-like in this game, The Wizard— who doesn’t wield big swords and are total sissies in close combat, and of course the Taoist— also known as the priest in other games (LOL).

I was surprised that the warrior actually had more than just attacks here. It’s quite surreal for warriors to wield magic to begin with. As for the assassin, you’ll be surprised at how much these characters have evolved throughout the years. It was as though people had a completely different understanding of the word back then. The assassins in this game are rather loud and vulgar, with a bunch of skills that’ll do more than attract the attention of his target. In my opinion, they should have just renamed the class as brute or something.  Other than those issues, the only thing wrong with their character creation interface is the lack of classes (cause 4 doesn’t quite cut it).

Let’s break down to bits and analyze

The game’s interface seems generic enough to make people mistake it for another game. Then again, the game did inspire and even act as an archetype for other games.  “The original is always best” I must say.  The visuals are as classical as ever, complete with crispy trees and repetitive landscape. Indeed digital sprites have grown up to be 3d models, but hey! This isn’t so bad once you’ve tried it. The game also retains the traditional “Action-RPG-ic” HUD that lets you drag and wield skills at a push of a button.  The characters look quite crisp as well. The in game armors look nice and shiny as well, though the lack of variety makes these good looking elements a bit tiresome to look at.

One thing about the game’s graphics is the really choppy framerate. I’m not sure if it’s running on a 3 frames per move basis but I don’t think a PC that can run the most up to date games would have any problems of showing this game’s true potential.

The spells and effects are rendered to perfection and would sometimes give off a feel of realism. The graphics aren’t really bad if you were to compare it with the other games that were launched during its period. Yeah it’s not bad, but it’s not exactly good either.

The soundeffects are also classical but doesn’t really compliment the game well. Once again it’s an issue of the clips standing out instead of blending. Some of the in game ‘crunches’ doesn’t suit the game as well. If I were to describe this issue further, it’s the same as putting cutesy anime music in an X-men movie.

Who said an old dog can’t learn new tricks?

The game is going through some hefty updates. If you think that’s all there in, then worry not for the game will continue to bring you new monsters and new maps as time progresses. The game just launched an item mall lately, established by their ingame currency called “potcash” which can be purchased by logging in to their official site. As you may know, this transaction involves real money but for something that allows you to get instant dungeon passes and other items that make you more awesome than you already are, the price is quite reasonable.

Ye Olde Verdict

Mir 2 is more like a godfather of MMO games. Its system and classical gameplay allowed most MMO games to excel further, as this game can somewhat be considered as an archetype for any MMO out there.  A PVP system has also been implemented in this game so I guess that’s enough reason to play it. The Graphics are also quite outdated and would no longer attract modern gamers as our knack for better visuals evolve continuously. If I were to sum it up, the game is pretty good.  The only problem is that it’s now 2009.

The Good:
– It’s a classic!
– PVP awesomeness
– Nostalgia is always good.

The Bad:
– Outdated Graphics
– Variety of classes
– Music is terrible (if not gone)
– Choppy gameplay
– Slow Gameplay (which doesn’t quite compliment the skill factor since it’s just click and attack even in PVP).