Yearly Archives: 2009

TERA

TERA, short for The Exiled Realm of Arborea, is a MMORPG developed by Bluehole Studios and published by En Masse Entertainment/Frogster. Set in a world where a great war has occurred and various areas throughout the lands have been disturbed, witches, hideous monsters, berserk villagers are just some of the vile living creatures to torment the land and bring chaos and destruction. Powered by the Unreal 3 Engine, TERA is one of the first true action MMORPGs where players can perform active hack n’ slash/TPS style combat in an open world against massive world bosses and against other players.

Features:

True Action Combat: Experience an Action MMO beyond “point and click” where skill, position, timing, and aim determine success in combat.

Epic Monster Battles: Advanced enemy AI and enormous bosses deliver a more intense and engaging combat experience.

Vast Fantasy World: Play seven character races and 8+ classes. Battle hundreds of monsters throughout 80+ zones and embark on thousands of quests in a game world rich in history and lore.

Stunning Graphics: Explore a world filled with breathtaking visuals powered by Unreal Engine 3.

European Portal: http://www.tera-europe.com

Gala Networks Europe announces the upcoming Castle of Heroes

Gala Networks Europe is happy to announce the release of the upcoming browser-based strategy RPG “Castle of Heroes” in December 2009. Developed by Chinese developers Snail Game, it brings together the best elements of RPG, Strategy and Management games in a browser with high-quality flash graphics. Castle of Heroes will bring a brand new gaming experience to European players without requiring any download or subscription fees.
 
Inspired by successful games such as Heroes of Might & Magic, Castle of Heroes asks players to decide of the fate of their realm in a huge and living fantasy world. Once players have chosen their race from Human, Elf, Orc or Undead, they are put in control of their first Castle. From here, they will have to develop it to gain access to new units, heroes and skills. Once they’ve gathered a small army, Heroes, acting as generals, can start exploring the world around their castle. Plentiful resources await players who can get past the ferocious monsters guarding them, and heroes can explore the four corners of the world to gain experience and recover long-lost artefacts.
 
In addition to extensive management and exploration available to players, Castle of Heroes also gives players a variety of ways to fight each other. Armies can fight each other during large-scale conquest campaigns, participate in Guild Wars, or fight for fame and rewards in the “friendly” PvP Arena mode. Membership in a Guild adds many Guild Quests and brings a new level of complexity to the game through diplomacy and alliances, backstabbing and treachery.
 
Castle of Heroes will be available through the gPotato.eu games portal with no download or subscription fee required. To play the game, users will only have to login to the official website using their favourite PC or Mac web-browser, and jump into the game in seconds!

Upcoming Game Castle of Heroes

Maple Story Weekly Events

Cash back event
From Nov. 16-22, , and then from Nov. 23-29, players can earn 10 percent of what they spend if it’s between 10,000 NX and 15,999 NX. Fifteen percent can be earned back if 16,000 NX to 100,000 NX is spent. All the refunds will be made during the Dec. 2  sever maintenance.
 
Double EXP weekends
Every weekend, through Nov. 22, players will be able receive double EXP from 4 p.m.  to 6 p.m..
 
Permanent pets
For a limited time, players will have the chance to purchase select permanent pets from the shop. The pets that will be available for permanent purchase are Kino, White Tiger and Mini Yeti.
 
First job event
For people just starting out on their first job in the world of MapleStory, they can now enjoy some new content, including a new start-up class, has been added to help them better enjoy their early experience. The new five classes that can be chosen from are the Thief, Pirate, Magician, Bowman, and Warrior. Each class will have their own quests, as well as their own boss. One aspect that all the classes will have in common is the last boss, Astaroth, which players will have to face at the end of their quests. 
 
Thanksgiving in MapleStory
In spirit of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Maple world will be invaded by turkeys, items, and events. Players will have to fend off any turkeys and turkey commandos that get in their way while roaming through MapleStory, obtaining some nice items along the way. If a turkey commando happens to drop its eye after being defeated, players can then take it to Professor Foxwit and get mesos in return. A turkey egg hunt will also be available for enjoyment, as well as an artifact hunt.
 
To get more information on the events and items, please visit the official website!

Combat Arms EU Review: A Bit Too General

Combat Arms EU Review: A Bit Too General
By Joshua Temblett (Dontkillmydreams), OnRPG Journalist

As a reviewer every now and then you will come across a bad game, and you know what, I don’t mind that as it’s part of the job. Sometimes though you’ll get stuck when evaluating these titles, as you have to think long and hard about what makes a bad game, what makes a good game and everything else in-between. The hardest part is always coming to a conclusion about it, as there are so many different things to consider. Combat Arms is one of those games.

 

Combat Arms (CA) is a very interesting game because of what it tries to do. It tries to create a good online first person shooter that’s free and is available to everyone. In some respects it achieves this as the core gameplay is strong, and has good pacing. Sure Combat Arms takes bits and pieces from other online FPS’s, but this isn’t a bad thing, as it manages them in the right manner, creating an generic yet fun game.

Graphics

The main problem with Combat Arms is that it isn’t polished, in fact nowhere near polished. There are lots of game bugs in this title; you’ll always see guns and corpses floating in midair and the animation of the other players is always choppy, which is due to bad animating and net-code, meaning that you won’t ever really see anyone actually move properly, but rather “lag” to where they’re supposed to be. The killcam can also become very dodgy from time to time, with bits of leg or body sometimes filling the whole screen.

 

Graphically the game does average for a “Free 2 Play” game, as the environments are generally solid and the character and their animations, whilst being very basic, suit CA’s style and approach. The only problem is that you never really feel that the game is original or unique. Whilst the environments do work, you’ll feel like you’ve seen it many times before and normally done much better. There just isn’t any excitement in the game’s world, and whilst it does the job, they’re flat and boring. The fact is, you’ve seen it all before, and its imitations aren’t flattering.

 The Edge

 

Story

If you’re looking for story, then you won’t find any here. In the “Fireteam mode” you’re given various tasks, such as saving hostages; however there’s never really any main storyline. Then again, one can hardly fault it for that, as the majority of online First Person Shooters don’t. There is promise for a deep and fulfilling story with the Fireteam mode and it would be exciting if they created more maps and had a flowing story from each one. That’s the one thing in which Combat Arms has potential, and a lot of it, but potential doesn’t make a game good.

Gameplay

As with everything else in Combat Arms, the gameplay is a jack of all trades which feels a lot like other online FPS’s on the market…but worse. You have a health bar and with each bullet you sustain you lose health. There’s nothing wrong with this system, it’s just it feels incredibly outdated and old. You can’t properly heal yourself, so then if you get hit a few times after respawning and find yourself on just a few droplets of health, you’re left with a disadvantage whilst trying to take out the other enemies. Of course one can’t really criticise the game for this, but it’s one of things that adds to the constant feeling of an aged product and a not very well designed title.

 

Sniper Action

  

The rest of the game is basic; see enemy, shoot enemy. There are a variety of fun and generally very interesting modes. My only proper gripe with the game is that once you have joined a server you have to stay there until the end of the match if you want to gain some XP and GP (the in-game currency) to spend on other weapons. This wouldn’t be much of a problem if nearly every match you joined didn’t last roughly 10-15 minutes, which can sometimes be very tedious to endure. After you’ve played a few rounds, you’ve basically played all there is. There aren’t really any proper incentives to come back, as the XP and GP drips out at alarmingly slow rates. You’ll have to play a lot of matches before you can get a gun you really want and by that time you’ll be so bored that poking your eyes with a toothpick would be more interesting and a better use of your time.

Maybe I’ve got it all wrong though? If you’re a gamer who perhaps hasn’t played an online FPS (if that was indeed the case I would have to ask where you’ve been the past five years) then I think you’ll quite enjoy it. There are a lot of game bugs, but the simple fact is that you’ll get a solid experience out of it. If you have on the other hand played a game in the genre aforementioned, then I really wouldn’t recommend going near it with ten foot pole.

Community

Whether you’ve played a game in this genre or not, the community really kills Combat Arms. This game houses one of the worst communities ever seen in an online game. People will constantly accuse you of cheating when you’re winning, and in some cases you may even find yourself in the position of trying to insist to people on the forums that you aren’t, for fear of being banned from the game completely. Then again, if you are a particularly good player, you may make it your goal to make some 10 year old douche-bag scream cheater as it is most satisfying, especially when you kill them straight after they accuse you of such a crime.

Destroy Target

 

Whilst I’m sure there are a few clans in Combat Arms, and the game does do well by attempting to create a friendly environment for clans, this is one game where all the annoying and generally bad players congregate. There are a few good and fun people to chill with, but all in all, you’re not going to have a fun time hanging out in-game or in the forums.

Conclusion

I’m still stuck regarding what to finally say about this game as it’s a double sided coin. On one side, the game is a horrible generic shooter that features poor game design and management of an in-game store, on the other side if you’ve never played a title in this genre, you might enjoy it. I think what I should say is this: don’t go near this game, unless you really do have an urge to play it, and if that’s the case be prepared for what is no more than a shabby mediocre, if that, game.

Heroes of Gaia

 

Heroes of Gaia is a free online game where you can play together with thousands of other players in a rich medieval fantasy world.
You begin as a young Noble of a modest Castle without an army, and it is up to you to fortify your Castle, forge alliances, expand your empire and lead your Heroes into epic quests to slay monsters and beasts that roam the land.
When you log off from the game, your Castles continue to build up resources while your units still carry out your orders, waiting for your return! Using strategy, teamwork and persistence, you may be great enough to unite all of Gaia.

 

Level R

Tuning, Racing, Competing and Winning
Level R is a completely free MMO Racing Game! Featuring:
• Competition with thousands of players across Europe!
• Realistic high speed driving physics.
• Amazing 3D graphics ­ including weather effects, reflective windows, day & night driving and substantial realistic damage ­ should you crash…
• Car customisation! Set your car up for the starting grid with countless combinations. Anything from completely re-fitting your engine to simply adding racing stripes ­ the possibilities are endless!
• Extensive character development, just like in the best role-play games! Collect experience points with every race and get promoted to ever-higher levels.
• More than 40 car models to choose from ­ many from officially licensed brands.
• Multiple gameplay modes ­ race day or night through snow or rain on more than 10 tracks on surfaces ranging from asphalt to slush.
• Different racing formats are also available… Simulation, Arcade, Drag and drift racing, Thunder Alley, Capture the flag and more.
• Competitive rankings ­ including a career mode for ever-lasting racing excitement!
• Controlling the car is easy; you can either use the keyboard, a steering wheel or a gamepad
• Join exciting tournaments as well as racing teams and guilds.
• Free download and Free to play

Tales of Pirates: New Grand Line Region

IGG’s ToP Team will be launching another totally new and HUGE region for all players called Grand Line. This new server is scheduled to officially launch on November 18th at 4 PM EST (GMT-5). Grand Line is not a typical ToP server. It will run a special operation mode balanced to serve so many new players, whether first-time pirates or seasoned veterans of other servers. Grand Line offers a new beginning where players can set sail with friends both new and old as they seek adventure.

 

Instead of individual heroism and personal glory, the new region will instead focus on teamwork. In PvP, superior gear will give way to superior tactics and skill. The region’s Item Mall will not include some extreme and high-class equipment, but rather showcase items like the newbie package, daily consumption items and decorative merchandise. Vets will not be allowed to move their superior equipment and items to the new region, so players who don’t spend freely in the mall will have a safer place to play where they can fully explore and enjoy the ToP world.

 

To celebrate the debut of this new region as well as the upcoming Thanksgiving Day holiday in the US, ToP officials will be offering many fantastic rewards and exciting activities, including the Leveling Contest, Multiple EXP Carnival, Sand Bag Critter’s Party and much more. Make sure you stop by, whether this is your first time setting sail under the Jolly Roger, or you’re a grizzled brigand, and enjoy everything the new server has to offer.

Conquer Online: Classic CO Reviving on Nov 18

The TQ team is honor to announce that the 1st Classical CO server – Liberty will be launched after the server maintenance at 17:40, November 18 PST. The Classic CO project aims to bring back the original taste of Conquer Online to veterans who are missing the good old days. Based on the community’s suggestions, Classic CO will be run with the updated 2.0 style of graphics and features but with certain features removed to return the game to its original roots. The most critical change is that there will be NO Shopping Mall and Battle Power System in the new Classic CO.

The major changes for Classic CO are as follows:

  1. No Shopping Mall
  2. No Battle Power System
  3. No DB Leveling
  4. No DB Socketing for “non-weapon” gear or the 2nd socket for weapons
  5. No Talismans
  6. Toxic Fog is removed from the Ninja skills
  7. Gems drop rate from monsters increased
  8. PK is allowed in Twin City.
  9. Equipment Bonus Quests are removed.

Mentor System, Nobility System and Clan System will become more cosmetic features with the abolishment of Battle Power. Other than this list, the features and functions in the current CO will be available in the upcoming release, including the latest Martial Arsenal & Arena Systems.

The Liberty server is hosted in America. The release of the Classic CO European server – Royalty will depend on the feedback of the community. Veterans, have you prepared yourselves for the hardship to reclaim the virgin land?