Why Are Some New MMOs Terrible?

You’d think as time goes on and technology improves, newer MMOs would be…. better? I’m not talking about gameplay, as whether a game is good in terms of gameplay is completely subjective. I’m talking about a game’s graphics and mechanics. Just look at Mission Against Terror from Subagames which just launched in North America in September 2010. I hate to say this, but the game is absolute trash. You may be thinking – sure it released in North America in 2010, but it could have been available in Asia for much longer, much like Digimon Battle from WeMade Entertainment, Monster Forest from AsiaSoft, and Uncharted Waters Online from Netmarble. – but that’s not the case here. Mission Against Terror LAUNCHED in Asia in late 2009, making the game less than a year old.

That means Mission Against Terror is newer than Alliance of Valiant Arms from ijji, newer than Wolfteam from Softnyx, newer than Combat Arms from Nexon and much newer then S4 League from Alaplaya, but if you looked at the game you’d think it was at least 7 years old. Visually, the game stinks. Unfortunately, we like to pretend graphics don’t matter, but graphics do matter. How about in terms of gameplay? Wolfteam and Combat Arms each have 25+ weapons available in their item stores, Mission Against Terror has like 8. In terms of level designs, the game fails even more. The game’s developer – Kingsoft just COPIED, literally copied, the famous De_Dust2 map from Counter-Strike. I’m not suggesting that the two maps are similar, I’m saying there are identical – because they are. What about the game’s music? Sure, I didn’t go into the game expecting a splendid musical score like the ones I found in Ragnarok Online or Sword 2, but I expected something. To my surprise, the game literally stole the Pirates of the Caribbean main theme. It plays in the background randomly while you’re gaming. How shameless can you get?

Mission Against Terror, sadly, isn’t the only new game to disappoint. Avalon Heroes from Alaplaya also sucked. Erebus Travia Reborn and Fists of Fu from Outspark were both bad games too. I say bad because there are better alternatives to all of these games. Fists of Fu isn’t a terrible game by itself, but compared to very similar games like Dragonica Online from Gravity, Fists of Fu does suck. If Dragonica didn’t exist, Fists of Fu would be decent. I know this article was a bit negative and I’m not always so angry, but seriously – Mission Against Terror is such a bad game it hurts.

I’ll end this post with a bit more positive stuff. Company of Heroes Online from THQ is a blast. I played the game during its beta and really enjoyed it. If you never heard of it, it’s basically Company of Heroes (The retail PC game), except with more features. Yeah, they made it completely free to play and added more features. Craft of Gods recently went free to play and it’s a decent game too. I would never consider paying for it, since it’s a pay to play MMORPG gone free to play, it’s decent.

MMORPGs on the Horizon – August, 2010

There are a bunch of cool free to play games on the horizon that I’m looking forward to trying. I don’t know if I’ll stick to any of these games, but August is starting to look like an awesome month for MMORPGs! The first game on my list to try in August, 2010 is the elephant in the room – Vindictus from Nexon. The game is scheduled to begin its closed beta in mid-August and I was lucky enough to get into the closed beta. I’ve been a fan of Nexon’s games since the release of MapleStory back in like 2004. I’ve also played Mabinogi quite a bit and still play Combat Arms regularly. I think it’s actually safe to say Combat Arms is the most successful free MMOFPS game in the U.S. I know Sudden Attack is super popular in Asia, but not so much in the U.S. In fact, Sudden Attack is considered the “Counter-Strike of Asia”. There are so many tournaments for it!

Anyway, I’m getting a bit distracted. I also plan on trying Divine Souls and Fists of Fu from Outspark. Both games went into closed beta in mid to late July, but I suspect they will both begin their open betas in August. I didn’t want to play either game too much in closed beta, as there will almost certainly be a wipe before open beta. Another upcoming MMORPG that looks awesome is King of Kings 3 from Gamigo. I actually made sure King of Kings 3 would be available to U.S. Users before I got excited over it, as Martial Empires from Gamigo announced they would ban U.S. Ips when it launched. So I wanted to make sure King of Kings 3 would be playable from the U.S. And it will be. I’m looking forward to playing it because it apparently has excellent PvP. The game’s guild system is awesome and it player housing as well, something most games just don’t have.

On the “MMO” front I plan on trying MicroVolts when its closed beta begins on August 12. A lot of sites are giving away closed betas keys for it, and I got mine a few days ago. I’ve always been a fan of shooting games, so I suspect I’ll like MicroVolts, especially since it has the whole Team Fortress 2 cartoony look to it. I also played a bit of FreeJack last month when it began its closed beta, but I’m hoping it fully releases this month, so I can play it some more. FreeJack is cool because it’s one of the only racing MMOs on foot. Think Tales Runner, but with more awesome graphics. The tracks are awesome and there are a bunch of little features in the game that make it fun.

I think I covered just about everything that’s coming out in August, 2010. If I missed anything let me know in the comments.

MMORPGs That Will Never Release

I hate seeing awesome new MMORPGs sitting in perpetual closed beta, or perpetual “coming” soon status. Some of the games I’ve been waiting for will unfortunately never see the light of day. One of those games is Dance Groove Online from OutSpark. The game had its first closed beta 7 months ago, but since then there’s been zero update. The official site says “open beta coming soon” but it’s been that way for 7 months now. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to launch anytime soon. This sorta sucks, as I’m a fan of games like Audition Online from T3Fun and even Dance Online from Acclaim. These rhythm based dancing MMOs are surprisingly fun. I was looking forward to Dance Groove Online because the game was developed by Electronic Arts, so it was bound to be very high quality, as EA’s other free to play games including FIFA Online and BattleForge are quite amazing. It seems like Outspark will never launch Dance Groove Online, just like they never launched Blackshot and Erebus: Travia Reborn.

Another MMORPG that looks like it’ll never release is Huxley: The Dystopia from ijji. I’d bet anything that this game will never come out. The game was originally designed and planned out as a console FPS, but for some reason decided to be a pay to play MMOFPS. In its latest development the game decided to be free to play and announced that ijji would publish it. After two closed beta, the game has been in “coming soon” mode for over 5 months now. This is too bad, especially since Huxley looked pretty original compared to ijji’s other MMO shooters, which include Soldier Front, Genesis A.D, Karma: Operation Barbarossa and Alliance of Valinat Arms. The reason why Huxley was different is that it had persistent world MMO elements and actual RPG style progression. The only other game like that was PlanetSide from Sony Online Entertainment and that is a pay to play game with a free trial.

Yet another game that’s likely to never release is Altis Gates from IGG. It’s supposed to be some cool new turn based MMORPG, but its open beta has been delayed twice now and the second time it has been delayed “indefinitely”. When Open betas MMOs get delayed, it’s never a good sign. Hero:108 Online delayed its open beta for only one day just recently, but when a game delays “indefinitely” it’s always a bad sign. Uforia recently delayed Camon Hero indefinitely, so I’m a bit upset about that. Camon Hero looked awesome, but I haven’t lost hope on that one yet. I’m starting to get worried about Land of Chaos Online from Alaplaya, which has no defined open beta date. Not having a clear beta schedule is also a bad sign.

If I missed any other MMORPGs that will never release, let me know in the comments.