GameDroid

At all times, every new form of entertainment had to grow up some day. It seems, in the case of MMOs this is 2011, when the sands of the all-too-similar Asian martial arts fantasy are running out. Today you can find many genres on the market, moreover, the size of your wallet won't affect on finding a good game.

You can find so much free and also ambitious game, that a year maybe isn't enough to check them all out. Because of this I don't write about all of them, rather select some. So yes, I leave out a lot of them — if the absence of your favorite is bothering you, just describe it briefly in a comment. Maybe you will get some company for playing it.

The titles are links.

Lord of the Rings Online

Same as in literature, the most widespread genre of MMOs id fantasy. On the one hand, we are at the topic, and on the other hand, there is some similarity, so I tell you what I dislike so much in World of Warcraft (WoW).

Well, first, the very incorrect attitude: the Games Workshop (GW) logo was never displayed in Warcraft and Starcraft games, but the worlds of these are showing great similarity, respectively, to Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammerr 40K universes. They are so similar that a lot of gamers like to label the latter two as clones of the former two, although the latter two came years before the former two. I know, GW was backing out of the projects, but some declaration from Blizzard could clear the situation once and for all. My second problem with WoW is the obvious stripping of gamers: it's still asking a monthly fee, when there are a lot of excellent free games.

And Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) is among them. Gameplay is mostly similar to WoW's, and the too many troll like to give a sound to this in the public chat, but there's no need to pay attention to them. It worth much more if you pay attention to the tasks and landscapes, because during mission completion you can wander on landscapes with unique moods.

The world of J. R. R. Tolkien is a perfect place for tales, and the developers of the game really tell the players tales. It's common that even the most insignificant tasks have some little stories around them, and your character becomes a part of all these stories. The main tale revolves around the mission of the Nines: Your character is one of the countless heroes who helps to the Bearer of the Ring and his companions by acting in the background.

I have to add that the game is not entirely free, but as DDO (the other big score of Turbine), LotRO too makes it possible to get subscriber options during free play. Doing the so-called Deeds you get points, from which you can buy goodies from the game's shop — for example you can buy the quest packs belonging this or that area. If I mentioned the shop: You should get a horse as soon as you can, because this world is huge and walking is boring.

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited

In spite of the vast areas of LotRO, DDO is an illustrious representative of dungeon crawling style MMOs. This means that in the very big city of Sharn you can do your various quests in back alleys, in the depths of the sewer system, in extensive building complexes, or in orc camps and cave systems if you go out of the city. Briefly: Dungeon crawling means that you kill enemies, gather experience and collect treasures in closed, or at least on areas somehow limited in range.

So, based on the good old Pen and Paper (PnP) D&D role-playing game, the formula is simple: Questgiver + adventuring party = adventure. Of course, it is true for a lot of MMOs, but enemies don't throw money or valuable items. For that you have to complete your quest, and “party” is in the formula not by chance. Depending on your character and its development you can have fun in solo for a time, but it is unquestionably certain that sooner or later you will need some teammates.

All in all, there are only two big faults in the game. One of them is the methodical repetition, and this is why I regularly abandon it, just to go back after a time and clear some kobolds out of the sewers and alleys of Sharn. Unfortunately, to advance your character and buy things (for example, quest packs) in the game's store, you have to do the same quests again and again on hard and elite difficulty levels, and this repetition can be boring. The other problem is lesser: To make and develop an effective character, you should dedicate some extra time to learn the system, which means that you should get the PnP RPG, and that's definitely a combination sale.

Anarchy Online

After the two fantasy here is a classic sci-fi MMO, Anarchy Online (AO). I call it classic, because it works with the gameplay evolved in the heroic age of MMOs (I think it's the golden age now).

It was made free ages ago, then sometimes an expansion was pulling out and made to be part of the free merchandise. It's useless to write more about it: With its diversity, simplicity and classic gameplay it gives a great alternative to those, who wants to experience classic MMOs, but dislike fantasy settings.

Global Agenda: Free Agent

Global Agenda (GA) is really a fun game. First, it grabbed me with its minimalism: You can choose only from four character types, and each have only three ways of development. By mixing them you can get enough diversity from this few tools.

Recently, everything went on the usual way through the first 15-17 levels: Pick up a mission –> go and do it –> go back for the reward. However, abruptly the there were no more solo missions, and you had to play in teams. Forced teamplay means that players have no time to come to know each other (at least on the surface), and there will be no cohesion between them. Everyone just do their work mechanically.

The creators promised an expansion for early summer, with new solo missions belonging to a new area — it arrived in the second half of September. The only problem is that the new missions are too hard and you do better if you get a team for them.

From that matter, in team you can do PvE runs with three mates, or 10 against 10 PvP marches, for example, and above level 30 you can participate in AvA (Agency vs Agency) missions for areas on the map. Your efficiency is greatly influenced by how your character fits to your playing style. For example in PvP, two sniper can engage into exciting personal duels, and your teammates won't even recognize you are in trouble (snipers a pretty sneaky). Anyway, it is generally true that in fights the skill set and equipment of the character matter less than the ingenuity of the player.

It is worth and recommended to pay the one-time price of elite status. Without it you won't get into technical disadvantage, but you will get some little extra and another 50% of XP, which comes good, because a mid-level character advances with some difficulty. Of course, if you are the most efficient team member, then you can step levels easily even without the elite agent status.

Drakensang Online

The Drakensang role-playing game is frequently mentioned as german D&D. In tha last thirty years it appeared a few times on the computer screens too: First as the three parts of the Realms of Arkania series, then as the Drakensang series (Eye of the Dragon, River of Time).

And now, Drakensang Online is in open beta phase. It has not much to do with the dungeon crawling and RPG legacies of its predecessors... but let's say it mixes them in itself. It doesn't matter from where we look at it, the point is the result: Drakensang Online gives a good little “diablo-like” game experience.

Nonetheless it's worth to mention that it is a browser game. You can cut faces and tel that it is automatically crappy, but it's not true. Technology has developed so much that even browser games has mostly advantages: It is simple, has no long downloading/loading time, but it is full of details and plays well.

Drakensang Online has another interesting aspect: It is a very serious project. For me it hits home when I see a machine translation, but this game has human translations for almost 20 languages. Sure as death. By profession I know this and that about translations and prices, and I can tell that the developers invested significant sum into their game.

So respect it and don't let it be put down the drain. Register and try it out, because even if you don't like it at the end, at least you made the statistics better. (It's not too bad anyway, because they already have around one and a quarter million registered players.)

Puzzle Pirates

Puzzle Pirates is another browser based (you don't play it in your web browser but in the game's own browser) game. It is a game with pirates, islands, seas, ships and battles — however, there is no visual action here, because you have to do every task by solving puzzles.

You can work at the alchemist, the blacksmith or at other craftsmen. You can also sail; in this case you can work with the pumps, the sails, the cannons, and so on. During plundering or a battle, the success of a fight depends on how effectively the working pirates (What a busy pirates!) are increasing speed and maneuverability, and how they handle the cannons.

To sum it up; the game is a pleasant alternative in place of the fighting MMOs, but I feel the free playing options are brought down too much — for example crafting is free only on certain days.

Iron Grip: Marauders

Iron Grip: Marauders puts pirates into another shape. It tries to win gamers by the wrongly neglected genre of steampunk. And by the eternal style of turn based strategy (TBS).

Steam tanks and zeppelins, factory-like military bases, and of course, “everything is better with pirates”. Fuck yeah!

Rusty Hearts

And if steampunk is mentioned, we shouldn't get by the new throw of Perfect World Entertainment without a word. Rusty Hearts is unique and not so unique in the same time.

Maybe the best description comes from the company itself: anime action. And this means the developers exactly knew what they wanted to create — and most likely they succeeded in reaching their goals. Rusty Hearts is a story-based game with four characters (in the story they are called on their original name), who are helping the crackajack and cavalry-like local military by clearing out every kind of closed spaces.

If you like the anime genre, then maybe you can find joy in too quickly performed combos. Fantasy-lovers can find the game's world reassuringly cozy with all the typical enemies, and fans of steampunk can take a look at another version of their favorite genre. The environment recalls Fullmetal Alchemist, but maybe it just shows my not-so-improved education in this topic, because there is no such emphasize put on mystic forces than in the aforementioned series.

Champions Online: Free for All

Since the creation of this form of visualization, comics fans make up a significant factor. Due to this it's no wonder that people had to pay for super hero MMOs from the beginning, and most of them is still not free. Champions Online stepped out of this row only a few years ago.

It's neither DC nor Marvel, but it is still a super hero game based on a PnP role-playing game. The setting and the system are around thirty years old, which means it passed the test of time, and the MMO game experience can grab players for a long time, but it's not entirely without repetition. Anyway, it's graphics is upgraded with comics shader, and that definitely makes comics come alive.

Bloodline Champions

I'm still trying to get used to the term Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA), but I already met an outstanding representative of the style when it was in closed beta phase. It impressed me much.

Bloodline Champions is continuously watching the accomplishments of the player, and ranking it by complex calculuses. You have no fixed character in the game, and because of this there is no option for character development in the pack — but you can have some game modes, a big heap of various characters, many different locations, and sometimes team-thinking players too.

The only troubled detail is that if you are too efficient, your enemies will remember your name. And if in an exquisitely balanced system (balance is declared to be the most important part of the game's development) you get two or three opponents on your back in the same time, then you have not much chance to survive the clash. Simple math: If every character is equally efficient, then two or three opponents on you at the same time automatically makes the game twice or thrice harder.

If you can get over it psychically, and if you can find some not too solo-minded (in a team-based game!) teammates, then you can have a long lasting experience.

Age of Empires Online

The title tells everything. The merits of the AoE series are unquestionable, and it is obvious that an MMO loyal to the great predecessors gives the same experience. Seasoned with either cooperative or hostile relationships, this RTS goes through ages — and it will sail for a good time on the ocean of online multiplayer games.

All Points Bulletin: Reloaded

According to newsletters I get regularly, the successor of the ill-starred APB, APB: Reloaded is not just living and blooming, but the team is continuously developing it to be more cool and fun to play. If you like GTA series, or if you just simply would like casual ride, shoot and gang up, then this is your game.

Goodies in APB: Reloaded surely mean the finely selected music, the full customization of characters and vehicles, and of course some feeling of being in a gang of daredevils. When you give gas, rock is roaring from the loudspeakers, and gangmates are leaning out of the car windows with guns in hand — that's definitely a Game Experience, with capital G and E.

Unfortunately, I cannot let the only problem unmentioned: There are lots of people around the world who don't play this game, just because that crappy GamersFirst LIVE! Doesn't allow them to download it. I can't really understand why it is still a problem and I don't know when it willl be fine tuned, but they obviously loose players this way.

World of Tanks

Finally, A need to mention a game without big names or extra background. Coming up to its title World of Tanks offers nothing else than tanks. It has no unique world, the gameplay is PvP only, and you can find a lot of tanks based on vehicles existing in reality.

It's said that battle locations are also based on real battlegrounds, which means that the target audience is the mass of World War and tank fans. Personally, I don't belong to this class, but I respect the attitude and efforts of the developers.