People say that Allods Online and Runes of Magic are WoW clones, but I’m surprised that people aren’t complaining that World of Warcraft is an EverQuest clone. The fact is just about every new MMORPG today borrows some features from another game. The way I look at it is that copying the “good” aspects of a game is actually a good for gamers. If World of Warcraft had a really nice talent system and say Forsaken World or King of Kings 3 copied it, who cares? As a gamer, I don’t care if one game copied another. I only care that the game I’m playing is genuinely fun. You could argue that copying a game “all the way” isn’t good, but again, why does it matter? Runes of Magic for example copied much of World of Warcraft and do you know what the end result is? A free to play version of a pay to play game. If I can play Runes of Magic for free, why should I play World of Warcraft? I think Alganon tried to do the same thing that Runes of Magic and Allods Online did, but failed miserably, as the game originally launched as a pay to play game. It didn’t even have an MMO free trial until months after it launched. Quest Online, the game’s developer, eventually decided to drop the monthly subscription and do what Dungeons and Dragns Online, Archlord and RF Online did and converted to a free to play game with a cash shop. Unfortunately, even as an F2P game, Alganon like Craft of Gods, never managed to attract much of a playerbase.

The fact of the matter is that there are a lot more MMO clones out there than people realize. DDTank from Games321 for example blatantly copied Gunbound from Softnyx. Gunbound blatantly copied Worms. So should people bash on DDTank for copying Gunbound? No way. Gunbound isn’t exactly a unique game either. One thing I like about DDTank is that its a browser based MMO, so players can launch it from anywhere. Gunbound on the other hand requires a download. Even though the client size isn’t huge, it’s still a bit of a headache to download, install and patch it. What about games like Fists of Fu and Legend of Edda? Neither title is particularly unique. Fists of Fu from OutSpark copied Dragon Saga from Gravity Interactive and Lunia from ijji. On the other hand Mission Against Terror copied Sudden Attack from GameHi and Soldier Fromt from ijji.

Even the super popular (and INCREDIBLY fun) Aeon of Strife game League of Legends copied Defense of the Ancients from Warcraft 3. As did Avalon Heroes and Land of Chaos Online. Should these titles also be made fun of because they aren’t original? Why do some people even care about originality? The FACT is that EVERY game borrowed SOME features from an older game. The practice is common not just amongst MMORPGs, but amongst ALL video games. So I don’t see what the big deal is.

Perfect World Entertainment rolled out the Rising Tide expansion for Perfect World earlier this year, and they’re already planning on releasing another major expansion pack titled “Genesis” in the coming months. Much like the last big content update, the highlights of this new update is yet another new race and more playable classes. What I like about Perfect World is that the game keeps adding new MMO classes, and the way I look at it, the more classes in the game, the more variety it has. When games like Florensia or Fly For Fun receive updates, they rarely add new classes to the game. To be fair, most games just add new job advancements, but rarely do MMORPGs actually introduce new base classes. I think Karos Online and Eudemons haven’t added any new base classes since they launched. I think Eudemons Online from TQ Digital has 3 classes and that’s it – Warrior, Mage and Paladin. I think Zero Online, the Sci fi MMORPG from the same TQ Digital company, only has two playable classes.

What’s interesting is that Perfect World Entertainment is one of the only companies that actually add new base classes to their games. Heroes of Three Kingdoms, Battle of the Immortals and Jade Dynasty have all enjoyed a similar pattern of updates. The company recently launched a new MMORPG too – Legend of Martial Arts, but I think this is actually an older game, and is just being relaunched as a newer title with a new name. Legend of Martial Arts is actually Q World, which has been available in Asia for a quite a while. Why they changed the name to Legend of Martial arts is beyond me. If anything, Perfect World Entertainment should launch Hot Dance Party (Steps) in North America, as it’s a pretty cool dancing game. A dancing games that’s more fun than Audition Online or ShowUp in my opinion.

I haven’t been playing Perfect World as much as I used to, but I plan on going back to it once this new expansion hits. I think what I really liked about the game was the character customization. I don’t think any other MMORPG, free to play or pay to play, comes close to matching it. EverQuest 2 and Pirates of the Burning Sea from Sony Online Entertainment have good character customization, but neither come close to Perfect World. I hear APB Reloaded has solid appearance customization too – but I can guarantee it’s not nearly as awesome as the appearance controls in Perfect World. It sort of sucks that Perfect World Entertainment didn’t include the same detailed character creator in their other games, as I think Ether Saga Online and Forsaken World would have benefited greatly from a similar system.

There are a ton of free to play MMOs and MMORPGs out there, but which ones are actually worth playing? I’ve written about random games before, but I want to use this post to talk about the best of the best – the cream of the crop. One of the best free to play MMORPGs in my opinion is Runes of Magic from Frogster. The game is by far the best Wow clone MMORPG out there, and easily one of the most fun free to play games ever. The game mixes World of Warcraft style gameplay with Guild Wars style dual-classing. The dual classing system in Runes of Magic actually works extremely well. At first I thought it would be clumsy and unbalanced, but it isn’t. If you’re thinking about playing Allods Online or Talisman Online, think again. Runes of Magic is your game.

Another top notch free to play MMORPG is The Lord of the Rings Online from Turbine. The game is actually the second pay to play MMORPG gone free to play from Turbine. The first one, which is also one of the best free MMORPGs in my opinion, is Dungeons and Dragons Online. I’ve always wanted to play The Lord of the Rings Online, but I never wanted to subscribe to it, because I personally feel weird, paying monthly to play an MMO, as for the last few years, the only PC games I’ve played were free to play titles. After playing F2P games for a while, you realize that there’s no reason to pay for games. If I’m in the mood for a racing game I can play Drift City from GamesCampus or the more graphically impressive Need for Speed World from Electronic Arts. If I want to play an MMOFPS I have Mission Against Terror from Suba Games or Genesis A.D from ijji. There are literally dozens of free to play MMO racing and FPS games. If I wanted to, I can try a new one each week and be entertained for quite a while. Anyway, I’m getting a bit distracted. What I like about Lord of the Rings Online going free to play is that it has that pay to play quality feel to it. It was developed by a big budget Western firm, so the game’s music, visuals and story are all top notch.

There are a lot of free to play MMORPGs with the potential of being triple A titles, but many of them fall short. King of Kings 3 for example from Gamigo is a genuinely fun PvP heavy game, but the visuals are quite out dated. Iris Online from gPotato is a SOLID anime MMORPG, but the game is way too new to dub a triple A title. Why does it matter that the game is too new? Well, it hasn’t really established itself yet. Plus it doesn’t have nearly as much content as triple A F2P games like MapleStory, Runescape and Perfect World. I personally really like Legend of Edda too, but the game lacks depth. I think League of Legends is easily one of the best free to play MMO games out there. If you like DotA style competitive games, give League of Legends a try NOW. So if you’re looking for a new fun free to play MMORPG to play, do check out some of the games I mentioned. They’re all well worth trying!

I remember playing Perfect World on the old Malaysian servers before Perfect World Entertainment decided (wisely) to launch the game in North America and Europe through its own website. This version of the game in properly translated English was dubbed Perfect World International. It’s weird that the game was available in Malaysia long before it launched in North America and Europe. You’d imagine the game would launch here first, as there are a lot more people living in the U.S.A and Europe. I should also say that Perfect World Itself was developed back in 2005 in China, so it’s over 5 years old! Once Perfect World launched in North America it caught on quite fast – which is why I guess the company launched Jade Dynasty, Ether Saga Online and numerous other games.

The MMO character customization in Perfect World is top notch. Appearance customization wise, players can customize EVERY single aspect of their characters from the distance between their eyes to their chin width. If you thought superhero MMORPGs like Champions Online and City of Heroes had solid customization, you haven’t seen anything yet. Heck, the appearance customization here trumps that of ANY pay to play MMORPG, including World of Warcraft. Unfortunately, Perfect World’s other titles – Forsaken World, Heroes of Three Kingdoms and Legend of Martial Arts don’t have nearly as many customization options. I feel that character customization in MMOs could be a lot better. After playing Perfect World, every other game’s appearance customization seems like a joke. Mostly because it is. Games like Florensia Online, Rohan Online and even The Lord of the Rings Online have awful customization options compared to Perfect World.

Aside from its appearance stuff, Perfect World is a remarkably in depth game. Since it launched in 2005 in China, the game has went through so many cool content updates. Like MapleStory from Nexon and Fly For Fun from gPotato, one of the reasons this MMORPG has remained so popular is that the game is just updated often. PvP MMORPG fans can look forward to neat guild vs guild territory control battles and open world Pking while those who like PvE can run through the game’s many dungeons. Unlike Godswar Online from IGG and Magic World Online from EnjoyMMO, Perfect World does not have an in game Bot, so players actually have to play the game themselves. Which is actually a good thing, because the game is fun.

I think Perfect World has a lot to offer, even though it’s 5 years old now. Why am I gushing about this game all of a sudden? Well I just started playing it again recently, that’s why. Plus, I just came from playing lots of Runes of Magic and Dungeons and Dragons Online – both feel much more “Western”. Perfect World is Chinese and it’s still a lot of fun. I think it’s the best Chinese developed MMORPG Out there and it crushes games like Zentia and Dragon Oath from ChangYou – though Zentia isn’t terrible either.

Even though some of the most highly anticipated games like Vindictus and Heroes of Three Kingdoms have already launched, numerous upcoming MMORPGs are on the horizon. IGG recently announced a 3D fantasy game called 100 Years War Online. The game is developed in China and uses the Unreal engine. Graphically speaking, this MMORPG doesn’t have a lot to offer but other upcoming games do. Black Prophecy from Gamigo for example is one of the most highly anticipated free to play MMOs ever. It aims to challenge Eve Online as the dominant sci-fi themed MMORPG. Unlike Eve though, Black Prophecy promises to be more action oriented and hands on. Another upcoming MMORPG is Faxion Online from UTV True Games. The company recently shut down their first game, Warrior Epic, but they’re more focused than ever on getting Faxion Online released. Even though Warrior Epic joined the MMO Graveyard, the company can still rely on Mytheon for some revenue, as it’s their only other game currently available.

Webzen recently launched websites for three of their upcoming game recently. All three games are pretty highly anticipated in the West. Their most popular one being Continent of the Ninth, which boasts stellar 3D graphics and hands on FPS style controls. Ever since trailers for the game surfaced years ago, Continent of Ninth became one of those games everyone talked about. It wasn’t until late November 2010 that Webzen even put up a website for the game in English. Even though they didn’t officially announce the game yet, but putting the website sort of clinches it – Continent of the Ninth will be launching worldwide in English eventually. Webzen also put up a website for Battery Online – which is an Alliance of Valiant Arms style modern day MMOFPS. The game should play a bit like Sudden Attack from GameHi, except with much crisper graphics. The third game Webzen recently announced is R2: Reign of Revolution, which is a fantasy MMORPG with an emphasis on large scale siege based PvP. Like King of Kings 3 and Jade Dynasty, players must forge alliances and take control of territories. It’s yet another free PvP MMORPG. These 3 games should give Webzen a much needed boost – as the only games they currently publish are Archlord, Soul of the Ultimate Nation and Mu Online.

One MMO launching in the near future is War of Angels from NeoWiz. The game’s closed beta ended earlier this month and open beta is scheduled to begin around the 20^th. Those who enjoyed Pangya and Shot Online can look forward to another golfing game Golfstar on Gamigo’s portal. No release date for that one has been announced though. Gamigo has a ton of games without concrete release dates though. Loong: The Power of the Dragon and Legends of Qin being two of the more notable ones. Those who want to play something a bit more silly can try Lucent Heart once its hits closed beta sometime in late 2010. It’s being published by Beanfun – the company behind Hero:108 Online. Lastly, Aeria Games announced Lime Odyssey just last week! Yet another free to play game on the horizon!

So yeah. There are a TON of upcoming free to play MMORPGs. Many of them don’t have release dates yet, but the free to play genre is definitely still growing!

2010 has been a solid year for free to play MMOs. Why? Because so many Western game developers and releasing their very own free to play MMOs and MMORPGs. Even though MOST F2P games are either Korean or Chinese, Western studios like Electronic Arts and Turbine have really thrown their weight behind free to play. EA especially has surprised everyone when they released Need for Speed World – an incredibly high quality need for speed racing MMO. I’ve personally played Heat Online, TrackMania Nations Forever, and just about every other racing game, but nothing even comes close to Need for Speed World. It’s a mix between Heat Online, as the visuals are great, and Drift City, as the game has an open world to explore. Electronic Arts also announced a new free to play FPS called Battlefield – It’s their second free to play FPS. Their first was Battlefield Heroes. Unlike Heroes though, this new game is supposed to look and feel like Battlefield 2. But that’s enough talk of EA. They aren’t the only Western company embracing F2P.

Turbine shocked the world when The Lord of the Rings Online became free to play in October, 2010. The European version of the MMORPG (Published by Codemasters) went free to play a month or so later in early November. The announcement that this game would go free to play shocked everyone, because The Lord of the Rings Online had always been a success. Turbine wasn’t desperate for cash or anything. When they made Dungeons and Dragons Online F2P, it was out of desperation. So making an already successful game F2P was a big risk, but it did pay off. Turbine reported that their active playerbase tripled and their revenues doubled since going F2P. Even Cryptic, the studio best known for Champions Online, threw their weight behind free to play when they announced in November that their super hero MMORPG Champions Online would be free to play starting in Q1 of 2011. I’m surprised that their older game City of Heroes will remain pay to play when their newer game is going free to play. Weird, huh? At least it has a free trial, hah. If Champions Online is a success when it drops its subscription fee, Star Trek Online and City of Heroes will likely also go free to play. On the topic of big western developers making their games F2P, Pirates of the Burning Sea will also be F2P early next year! Those who enjoyed playing Uncharted Waters Online or Voyage Century may want to give Pirates of the Burning Sea a try – as it’s a really refined visually impressive naval MMORPG.

We all the hugely popular Chinese MMORPGs like Perfect World and Jade Dynasty. Super popular Korean MMORPGs include Vindictus and Silkroad Online. Maybe a few years down the road, we’ll have some super popular American MMORPGs or European MMORPGs. Who knows. As is though, no American made free to play MMO is nearly as big as some of the Korean and Chinese games. The upcoming Forsaken World game looks phenomenal too. I can’t wait to play it, but I’ll have to wait till the second round of closed beta. Too bad no open beta date has been mentioned. On the Korean front – I’m looking forward to both Iris Online and War of Angels. I think both games just finished their closed beta phases and open beta should follow soon.

What do you think of Western F2P games? Will they ever be a big hit?

Genesis A.D, the new 3D MMOFPS from ijji is finally released. The game launched its pre-open beta test on November 4, 2010 and its crazy fun. Before I talk about Genesis A.D though, I think ijji has a thing for MMO shooters, because as of this writing nearly half of their games are MMO shooters. They have GunZ, Soldier Front, Alliance of Valiant Arms and Karma: Operation Barbarossa. I think ijji realizes that FPS games are super popular in the United States, so focusing on them has already proven to be quite successful for ijji. Too bad they never got around to releasing Huxley: The Dystopia – that game has been delayed more than a dozen times already. Anyway the pre-obt began for Genesis A.D on November 4, and I’ve been playing the game quite a bit since then.

Before I even get started about Genesis A.D, I want to mention that I’m quite happy with the entire ijji reactor experience. For those that don’t know, the ijji reactor is a steam like service where you can access ijji games like Lunia and Soul of the Ultimate Nation. The cool think about the reactor though, is that you can use it to download and log into non ijji games such as Neo Steam, HolyBeast Online and Atlantica Online. Instead of registering on Atlus Online to play Neo Steam, CyberStep to play HolyBeast Online and Ndoors to play Atlantica Online, you can simply play all of these games on the ijji reactor with your single ijji account. I think this system rocks, as having an account on every publisher can be quite annoying. I just wish I could play some other popular MMORPGs like Fists of Fu, Fiesta Online, Battle of the Immortals and League of Legends on the ijji reactor. Just imagine if you could play 150+ MMORPGs with ONE log in on ONE program like reactor.

Anyway, time to talk about Genesis A.D. I’ve always been a fan of MMOFPS games. Heck, I’ve played everything from Mission Against Terror to the more obscure Battlefield Heroes. The thing I like about Gensis A.D is that it’s a sci-fi themed MMO. It seems like most MMO shooters these days are tactical and modern themed, so seeing a game that’s NOT set during modern times, is definitely a breath of fresh air. The game has a good variety of weapons, game modes and maps. But what makes the game so good is its unique S4 League style wall jumping and boosting. The game mixes Counter Strike Online style tactical gameplay with more S4 League style crazy wall jumping mechanics.

One problem with Genesis A.D. Is that it has some fairly high system requirements. Another little issue is that it’s not mac compatible. Unfortunately, there really aren’t that many Mac MMORPGs or Mac MMOs. That likely wn’t change anytime soon though. It also takes quite a while to download, as the game is some 3+ GB big. It’s not as big as the free MMORPG Dungeons and Dragons or Runes of Magic, but it’s still big enough that it could take a long time to download on a slower net connection.

There are dozens of MMOFPS games, but only a handful of good ones. I find it interesting that every MMO publisher from Uforia to ijji has their own MMO shooters. Netgame has Operation 7, Uforia has Mercenary Wars, Suba Games has Mission Against Terror and the list goes on and on. The remarkable thing about this little fact is that almost every single one of these games are almost identical. They’re all tactical MMO shooters with M4s, terrorists and counter-terrorists. They all have the same exact interface outside of matches and they all have the exact same game modes. You can bet that every single MMOFPS game has a plant-the-bomb defuse-the-bomb style game mode as well as a team deathmatch game. MMOFPS games are all the same nowadays. It’s funny how Nexon’s Combat Arms is so popular, even though it brings nothing new to the table. I think most of these games copied Sudden Attack from GameHi. If you don’t believe me, try Sudden Attack. The game came out in like 2004 or 2005, and it seems like every other shooter just copied it.

Obviously not EVERY other Shooter, but every other TACTICAL modern shooter. Games like S4 League from Alaplaya, Battlefield Heroes from Electronic Arts and GunZ from ijji aren’t included in this simplification – because these are all third person MMO shooters. MicroVolts is a tad bit different too, as it’s also a third person shooter. Other non FPS shooters like Alien Swarm, Wold of Tanks and Heroes in the Sky are different too. Heroes in the Sky Especially – it’s a World War 2 themed MMO from GamesCampus. It features some crazy fun dog fighting. I don’t think any other game, aside from Ace Online has dog figthing.

The funny thing is out of all these MMOFPS clones, there are only a handful of genuinely good games. I think Alliance of Valiant Arms and Wolfteam are two of the best MMO shooters. Alliance of Valiant Arms because it has top notch graphics. Really, it does. I don’t think any other MMO shooters comes close to it. Plus, the game has a unique class system, unlockable skills and achievements and much more. It also has looks and feels different than all the other modern tactical games. WolfTeam from Aeria Games is fun too. Unfortunately, it shares the same core gameplay mechanics as other games, but it has one really neat little feature that no other shooter does. Players can turn into huge melee-oriented werewolves at the press of a key. Told you, no other game has anything like it. I think CrossFire from Z8 Games is fun too, but my only “beef” with it is that it doesn’t bring anything new to the table. The gameplay mechanics are polished and all, but it just looks and feels like other modern day shooters.

So what’s your favorite MMOFPS game? Answers in the comments below!

A lot of people ask me, “What’s the difference between MMOs and MMORPGs?”. So I figured I would write a short blog post about it. I’ll talk a bit about both MMOs and MMORPGs and point out the differences. Here’s a quick warning though – there are no “official” definitions for these terms, my explanation below is just my opinion.

An MMO is any game that is Massively Multiplayer and Online. Some people like to believe that an MMO must have a “persistent world” to be a true MMO, but that isn’t true at all. MMOFPS games like Alliance of Valiant Arms, Cross Fire and Mission Against Terror are all MMO shooters. They meet the qualifications as they are all “massive” – as hundreds of players are online at any given time. They’re all multiplayer as they all have game modes with upwards of 16+ people in a single match. And of course, they’re all “Online” – as you must be online to play any of them. So these games all live up to the MMO acronym, but those aren’t the only qualifications. For me to consider a game an MMO – it must have SOME persistent element. This means players must “earn” something for playing and winning matches. That can include money that can be spent buying new persistent weapons and armor or it could mean experience points for players to “rank up”. That means games like Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory or Quake 3 aren’t MMOs. Games like Need for Speed World from Electronic Arts and Drift City from GamesCampus are 2 examples of racing MMOs. Both are massive, multiplayer and online. In fact, both of these games have a fairly large persistent world too. So in conclusion, a game must have a lot of players, be multiplayer and require an active internet connection to be considered an MMO in my book. So even games like FreeJack, Zone 4: Fight District, League of Legends, Lost Saga and even Tales Runner can be considered MMOs.

MMORPGs on the other hand are a bit more self explanatory. Any Massively Multiplayer Online game with RPG elements is an MMORPG. Fantasy MMORPGs like Fiesta Online and Runes of Magic are two popular free to play examples. On the pay to play front you have games like Eve Online and World of Warcraft. Linear MMORPGs like Fists of Fu and Soul Master can also be considered MMORPGs. As even though they’re stage based and linear in order, they still have persistent elements and RPG features. I would even consider games like Fantasy Earth Zero and Legend of Edda to be MMORPGs. Fantasy Earth Zero sort of looks and feels like an MMO, but it has real persistent world RPG bits to it too. So in conclusion, any game that has a lot of players, is multiplayer, requires an active net connection and has roleplaying game features, is an MMORPG.

The only controversy that could arise from my definitions is whether a game like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 could be considered an MMO. Well, the game does have ranks and other persistent elements, so it could very well be called an MMO. Sure it doesn’t have a huge persistent world like Global Agenda and Planet Side, but having a huge persistent world a part of the acronym. I consider any game with SOME persistent elements – whether that’s a world, ranks or stats doesn’t matter. Just some persistent elements is good enough for me. Browser games can be considered MMOs too. Games like War of Legends, SeaFight and Adventure Quest Worlds are all MMOs too!

Browser based MMORPGs like RuneScape and Neopets have been quite successful in both North America and Europe, but more bland browser games such as Shakes and Fidget and Dark Orbit have been unusually successful in Europe – Germany especially. It seems like while Western gamers prefer 3D MMORPGs like The Lord of the Rings Online and Fists of Fu, Europeans prefer browser based games to an extent. Client based MMORPGs like Metin 2 and Runes of Magic are obviously big business in Europe as well as North America, but it seems like browser based games are much bigger in Europe than they are in North America. Games like Cultures Online from Gamigo and Tribal Wars from InnoGames for example are MUCH more popular in Europe than in North America. I say “much” in all caps because these games derive most of their revenue and playerbase from European users. Obviously people in the United States and Canada play these games too, but most players reside in Europe. Tribal Wars and Cultures Online are just two examples – I can name a dozen or so browser games to prove my point, but I don’t think that’s necessary, as the browser game developer GameForge who makes Bite Fight, Ogame, Gladiatus and numerous other titles already admitted that browser games are more successful in Europe.

I have a theory that explains why these games are more popular in Europe than in the U.S.. European countries, unlike the U.S., have a fairly large value-added tax. And because of this personal computers are much more expensive. This means that the average household computer in Europe is weaker than the average PC in North America. This means that many European computers can’t handle 3D MMORPGs like Iris Online, Vindictus, and Jade Dynasty. Client based MMORPGs are much more popular Japan and Korea too because internet speeds in South Korea and Japan are some of the fastest in the world. Japanese MMORPGs like Dynasty Warriors Online and Uncharted Waters Online can be 3D, because people in Japan have the bandwidth to download these games. Many European MMORPGs are browser based too – just like at GameForge – they’re one of the biggest browser game developers ever. I think my argument is best exemplified by looking at the MMO market in Australia. Internet service providers in Australia cap their customer’s bandwidths, so most customers cannot download more than 20GB worth of stuff a month. This means that people in Australia cannot even download games like Dungeons and Dragons Online (4GB) and Age of Conan (20GB). 3D MMORPGs are just too big in terms of file size. Company of Heroes Online is 10GB big! That’s half of a person’s monthly bandwidth! Instead of downloading these huge games, playing games like War of Legends and Urban Rivals just makes more sense.

The thing is, a lot of browser based MMORPGs aren’t bad. Games like Adventure Quest Worlds and Grepolis are top notch free to play titles. I personally think client based games offer more depth, but that’s just my opinion. A lot of people HAVE to stick with no download browser based games because either their internet connections or PCs are too slow to play better more advanced games. I think games like Grand Chase from Ntreev and Conquer Online from TQ Digital remain popular because even though they’re client based, they don’t require high end PCs.