New Wave of MMORTS Games

The term MMORTS used to refer to cheesy empire building Evony like games. I say cheesy, because at the moment there are easily 100+ browser based empire building MMOs like Travian, Caesary,Tribal Wars, War of Legends and hundreds more. These games, for some reason, are absurdly popular. All of these games are browser-based as well. This is all about to change though.

GamesCampus – the company behind MLB Dugout Heroes, Asda Story, Shot Online, Legend of Edda and numerous other games, launched a revolutionary new MMORTS called Soul Master. I say revolutionary because it’s actually client based, and get this – fun. It mixes action MMORPG elements with pikmin like strategy. The combat is fluid and well paced. The levels themselves feel a bit similar to Dragonica Online and Divine Souls – as players can run through each level multiple times under different difficulties. For some odd reason, this particular system of progression has become really popular. Fists of Fu from Outspark and even Vindictus from Nexon employ similar progression systems. I think Lunia from ijji was the first game to have stage based linear gameplay. Each stage is instanced. Luckily, the main town area acts as a social hub where players can grab quests, buy items and interact with others.

Soul Master is definitely going to shake things up as it’s actually an original game. It feels a bit like Divine Souls, but with a twist. It’s not just a straight up action MMORPG. Players have to utilize clever strategy if they expect to complete a level. Luckily, if a stage proves too difficult, players can party up with others to complete it. All of this should be very familiar to those who have played Dragonica Online or even GhostX from GameKiss to a degree – as in its core Soul Master is very similar to these action MMORPGs. It only really differences itself by mixing RTS components with its gameplay, which actually work really well and are quite fun.

Have you played Soul Master yet? If not, definitely give it a chance! It’s a fun game.

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.