First Impressions:

As a seasoned MMO player, general game-player and consumer for many years – as well as a student of media – I am always sceptical of how much hype surrounds a game before its launch. I’m always very eager to see the language used to describe the game beforehand. Both Bioware and EA used comparisons to WoW and previous MMO’s, not saying how it will be better, but what they have learnt and where they could take a new angle – which immediately impressed me; as so many new platforms always seem the need to improve upon existing games, take an established blue print and tweak it, rather than try something new and different or even trying to become a WoW beater. Let me tell you, The Old Republic is an incredible game, a little buggy and the programming could use an update and a tweak, but it is an absolute marvel nonetheless.

Being slightly psychopathic and wanting to fulfil my utmost fantasies, I naturally choose to be a Sith Inquisitor, because let’s be honest, how many people in real life have you wanted to force lightning in a club on a typical Friday night…Comically enough I also choose to be an Emo with a gargantuan comb over, which reminded me of my years as a youth, modelling myself next to one of my favourite rock icons!

Resemblances aside and after about 1 hour of customization I began my adventure! It’s safe to say that at the time of writing this review, my character is now a Darth and level 50 (cap); cue evil laughs and tremendous displays or egotism. I choose to write this review at 50 so I had an overall feel of the game and that I had explored a lot of the content so I could write a fair and objective review. One of the first quests in the game as a Sith is delving into a late Sith Lords temple which you can find with incredible ease due to The Old Republics Questing and Map systems, whereby your target locations and special characters are highlighted for you, either in the style of a flashing icon or a radiating radar screen. Now some may argue that this ‘noobifies’ the game, but for me it is a welcome relief simply because The Old Republic is huge and running backwards and forwards like a headless chicken will be less than appealing to a lot of players, not to mention a massive frustration. The story is also very fluid, if you know where you need to be the story falls into place, rather than being compartmentalised by you – as a very distressed player, spamming in general where to go and getting some half-witted cocky answer from an internet troll.

The Storyline quests are supported by a number of off-shoot quests that are usually generated around the Storyline locations which you can tackle a number of different ways. Questing itself is broken up into 3 categories, you can either play the entire game Solo, or for some missions you can enter into a party and combat the Heroic missions on offer, perhaps if you fancy you can even do a Flashpoint which sets you and a party through a linear dungeon, complete with tasks, plenty of XP, loot and some very charming scenarios. It’s a very pleasant experience and also quite challenging, the mobs aren’t traditionally easy mode and you will be tested in terms of strategy and tactics to take down some of the harder, strong or elite opponents. However, you can tackle these obstacles throughout the game with the help of Companions that you pick up on certain planets and the main story line. Companions add a fun and exciting dimension throughout the game as, not only do they help you tackle enemies, but they can also craft from available schematics or do certain gathering missions for you to earn Credits, Materials or Companion Gifts, which allow you to make your own modifications, Lightsaber gems or armour. As an increased dimension of fun, Companions have affection ratings, which decreases how long it takes for a Companion to do a mission, but also increases their success chances and adds available dialogue options within the game, which when high enough – without giving anything away – will change how the companion feels about you and may spur on a certain chain of events.

If questing gets too mundane for you (but why should it?) entering into PvP also rewards a handsome amount of experience as well as badges and commendations that allow you to purchase items from a local PvP vendor. It’s very simple – just click on the icon on your map to query and when you finish the battle you get transported back to the location where you originally queued, it’s a very sleek idea that can distract you from the busy storyline as well as aid your progress in levelling up.

When you finally reach that all important level 50 a whole new world of options opens up. Aside from getting every Star Wars fans dream – in regards to the Inquisitor and Warrior – with the title of Darth there is also the option to repeat every Flashpoint in the game on harder settings, cleverly named ‘Hard-mode’. This content offers premium level 50 items in preparation for the ultimate goal of Operations. Operations are 8 and 16 main ‘raids’ which test a teams co-ordination, skill and ability to work together to defeat a number of bosses and challenges. To keep content fresh there are also 3 difficult settings, Normal, Hard and Nightmare, so players will find no lack of content as they prepare to conquer the enormous labyrinths.

Gameplay wise and disappointingly was the Light and Dark affiliation system. Three things; one is that your choice is clearly shown to you in the dialogue before you choose your speech option, which is an annoyance because half the fun of being good or evil – especially in Knights of the old Republic – was finding out the rewards or consequences of your actions after the scenario had played through, rather than being spoon-fed. It doesn’t quite capture the imagination as other Bioware titles do. The second is that your affiliation doesn’t really seem to matter. Your appearance does change and it does allow you to use certain items and weapons, but that’s it, no one treats you differently and you don’t get an extra cool perk each time you climb a tier in Dark or Light, which would have been a very nice touch. Lastly your companions can’t be swayed or act differently depending on your affiliation, whether this is true for the other classes, it certainly isn’t true for the inquisitor. For example, you can’t make a light side companion dark and vice versa and you can’t change their behaviour or attitude even if they’ve witnessed your actions first hand. This is frustrating as my favourite companion is a Jedi called Ashara and I was very much looking forward to turning her a bit evil – much like a strict dominatrix as I imagine it’s very Sith-like.

It’s also unfortunate that the game is riddled with bugs. From loot, to certain boss encounters, to particular small things like resurrection spawn points or interstellar transport. A mass annoyance to me also (and 375 pages worth of people through threads) is the almighty incarnation of the devil himself – Error 9000; whereby the game will randomly kick you, for what Bioware describes as “A very generic error” and have yet to fix the problem. As an end-game raider, randomly disconnecting in a boss fight is extremely frustrating. Unless fixed soon, Bioware will see dwindling numbers and frightened newcomers.

Sound:

‘Wrrrvvvroooam…..tsssh, tshhhhh, swwaaahvrom’ and in an instant fan’s will know what I’m replicating; a Lightsaber, one of the very sole components that made Star Wars. However it’s even nicer to have that power in my hands, to see it singe through the flesh of my enemies as it ebbs with warmth against my heart.

One of the greatest accolades Bioware has accomplished is its astonishing array and sheer scale of voice-acting. It’s said by various sources that this undertaking is the biggest scale project on any MMO to date, and it shows, well-bloody-done Bioware! It’s heartening to hear all the different tones, pitches and accents of the Empire and Republic characters; hearing a thick-tongued Glaswegian Imperial Trooper not only depicts a picture of the variety of voice acting, but also the humour and personality behind each character, you truly feel that every NPC is an individual, which only made me feel more immersed in a fluid, social world and that – while questing aside from my companion – I would never be alone.

Lucas Arts also gave Bioware the rights to the Star Wars music, meaning that upon superb voice acting, you have the legendary Star Wars orchestra as backing music. But wait there’s more. Within certain moments in the game, such as the scripted class quest scenes are when you use the special ability; Heroic Moment – Channel the force, the music changes in dramatic pseudo-movie style, meaning that whenever you use an ability or confront an enemy, the whole scenario is made all the more grander by the booming of a massive bass drum, or the ringing of violins and trumpets, it is nothing less than a marvel.

Couple all this with the familiar sounds of blasters, hyper-drive engages and the crackle of colliding Lightsabers, which all culminates in the authenticity of the Star Wars universe and welcomes players with open arms.

Graphics

Understandably some are slightly concerned about the Old Republic graphics and it’s slight cartoon style lack of detail in places, such as some types of armour and choice of headgear and robes, but people must understand; this is an MMO, meaning that the more graphically and computer specified diverse the game is, the more people will be able to play it. Take Final Fantasy online and the upcoming Planet Side 2 for example; you need a medium ranged PC to be able to play it, thus immediately shunning those who have low spec PC’s or laptops.

I for one have no problem with the Old Republic graphics, whilst they are slightly cartoony and do indeed lack the detail that most gamers expect, they are better than average, and I would even carry on to say that are of a good quality. The shading and precision in animation applied to character and monsters are enough for me to overlook the blocky blades of grass or awkwardly askew explosions.

For example…when I look into Ashara’s eyes and I see that they are glistening pools of deep blue, cradling two sets of black long lashes and the shine and pout of her lips…sorry, basically facial animation and detail are constructed very well, emotions that are shown throughout the game and the facial contortions of your characters successfully portray what they are thinking or improves dialogue by adding an additional layer during conversations.

Aside from facial animation, planets and cities on a scale are huge. The backgrounds and backdrops really make you feel as if you’re a tiny ant in a colossal labyrinth of concrete, woods or scorched earths. Implanted into the background will be a variety of different animals, buildings, battles and flying spacecraft which again heighten the sense of scale which can be rather intimidating – in a good way of course. You also get a chance to explore this whenever you take a Taxi service to another destination; you seem to fly above an endless amount of scenery and buildings, which is a lovely distraction considering that Taxi journeys can be quite long.

Final Thoughts:

I’d like to begin this section of Final Thoughts by dismissing a lot of rubbish that I’ve heard from other reviews and even gamers within The Old Republic. Below are the 2 main complaints and my response:

‘Old Republic isn’t better than WoW’

Well of course not, WoW is an 8 year established MMO, it has had enough time to tweak and adhere to their customers, time to grow and learn from past experiences and mistakes in order to create better content in future patches, to assume a game will be perfect off the bat is ignorant to say the least. Old Republic is very polished considering it is a month old.

‘This game isn’t innovative…it has typical Flag defend or capture the flag type matches, similar Flashpoint and Operations layouts and even the mobs act similar to that of other MMO’s’

This is not necessarily a bad thing, the phrase: ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ springs to mind. Capture the flag style PvP will forever be a staple in MMO-RPG’s as well as staggered Boss fights in Operations/Dungeons because it is a method that has successfully worked the best and cannot be changed. Being too innovative might ruin the game itself if it tries to be too pompous and completely obliterate a genre that has worked since the RPG was born. Mobs acting similar: re-spawning, threat generation and fixed position? Well of course, again it’s ignorant to think otherwise. When I’m logging out in a safe zone in a city, I don’t want to be attack by a group of mobs, die and then to resurrect miles away and as for the mobs re-spawning argument, ‘/facepalm’.

In general I defend SWOTR because people expect it to be better than World of Warcraft, when in truth it is a different game. Of course it has similar aspects – that’s because it’s an RPG! World of Warcraft is a fantastic game, but it’s nothing innovative, it just came at the right time at the kick-start to internet gaming, before hand – Everquest and Darkage of Camelot were the bearers of the torch, World of Warcraft just had a wider audience. People judge The Old Republic too critically when it is only just a fledgling, I will be interested in doing another review a year down the line, because I guarantee it will be a completely different game.

Gameplay: 8/10

I have massively enjoyed my experiences as a Sith Inquisitor, my ascension from slave to Darth and my dealings with a staggering array of characters along the way. The companion’s idea is something that stops the game from being stagnant and their affection and dialogue options fuel the game future. The main story arc itself is one that is reminiscent of Knights of the Old Republic – but improved upon and updated, it is sheer excitement all the way. The only downside is the aforementioned affiliation to Dark or Light Side and when questions on the distances you have to travel are sometimes too grand – if they improved the speed of the Taxi services, this would make it a lot smoother. Top this with a plethora of bugs and – quite frankly – a lack of programming lets this game down a huge amount.

Sound: 9.0/10

Aside from some rather dodgy voice acting, there is nothing to be said about sound within The Old Republic. The music is great, the sound effects – for example Lightsaber clashes – are great and for the most part, the dialogue is engaging. Brilliant.

Graphics: 9/10

It’s the Star Wars universe what can I say? The architecture and look of characters perfectly synchronizes with the Star Wars universe and the art direction very cleverly replicates universe millennia before the famed Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker saga. The character animation and design is spot on, although the universe is let down by lack of graphics and thought in some places along your journey, but nonetheless a fantastic and engrossing feast for your eyes.

Overall: 8/10

Fix the bugs and listen to your players Bioware! This could be the title that all MMO’s aspire to, if only Bioware could set the bench-mark by fixing their own game first, rather than focusing on future content.

The potential of MMO’s to further explore worlds giving greater scopes and perspectives is undeniable offering fans the ability to navigate and interact with these particular franchises at their own pace. Baring this in mind we’re now going to look at five classic franchises that could be worthy of the MMO treatment. There’s also the note that some of these already have MMO’s in the works, (such as free-to-play Doctor Who: World in Time), but we’re speculating about the possibility of them on a larger WOW type scale. If you have any ideas of your own let us know:

Doctor Who: Timewars -

Doctor Who spans the universe, both in time and space with its one key protagonist at the centre of it all; the Doctor. So there must be some room in there despite him supposedly being the last Timelord, (for the most part). With its first episode being broadcast in 1963 and ultimately being overshadowed by the assassination of John F. Kennedy it’s gone onto become of the BBC’s longest running science-fiction shows.

The thing with this is there’s only one key protagonist which is why it would seem that the Time Wars are a suitable environment for the action with many potential Time Lords to choose from. There’s also the option for choosing good/bad after players stare into the Vortex during their initiation into the Time Lord Academy. Doctor Who has a sizeable enough fan-base of ‘Whovians’ out there to get something like this off the ground, (as proved by the upcoming ‘World in Time’ free-to-play), so it would be feasible.

Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy -

Douglas Adams classic set of novels, radio and TV series and, later on; the film. Starring Arthur Dent traipsing across the stars there must be some space here? Originally starting out as a radio play again through the BBC in 1978 it’s seen various transformations through TV, book and even a game in 1984, (as Douglas Adams was no stranger to computers).

There’s plenty of room and races to choose from in what would essentially be an open-ended game offering it key component; humour. From trading to tracking down the meaning of life the possibilities are endless. Although Hitchhikers has a ‘cult status’ it has a broad enough following but it’s just the question of it being able to gain enough momentum in order to make it a worthwhile venture.

Discworld -

Everyone seems to have come into contact with Terry Pratchetts Discworld creation sometime or another, even if it is only fleeting. One thing’s for sure though; it is extremely vast. With his first book ‘The Colour of Magic’ published in 1983 it’s still going strong today with its 39^th novel Snuff set in its distinctive parody fantasy world.

Again there’s enough room to move about, even if it is on top of a turtle floating through space. What defines this though is the variety of idiosyncratic characters to choose and create. There are a vast amount of fans for this, many apparently already clamouring for a venture of this nature so it’s just a question of what’s holding it back and whether or not Pratchett would allow it to happen, (although he might be reticent after the previous poorly received game set in Discworld).

Narnia -

Okay, this is our more kid friendly option. The scope of this series of novels and C.S. Lewis’s imagination is enormous though stretching all the way from the back of the closet. Written by C.S. Lewis and published between 1950 and 1956, this collection of children’s fantasy novels have seen many forms such as TV and film.

As I said this would have to be family orientated, (so no epic bloodbaths or creepy older players hanging around). But the scope of the world and the ability to choose between good and evil, (I did always prefer Edmund over the seemingly dull and fascistic Peter), is all there. This maybe difficult to implement a kid friendly version of the game with its potential for a sprawling landscape which is why companies maybe a little reluctant with optioning it.

Terminator: Future Wars -

Terminator can be a bit of an iffy franchise with its deviation into Sarah Connors time-line and the dubious quality of the last two films. Whilst Terminator 2 might be its pinnacle there is still definite room in its future wars for an MMO. Beginning with the 1984 film from James Cameron featuring Arnold Schwarznegger it saw robots coming from a robot ruled, war-torn future overseen by the evil Facebook Skynet.

Set in the future with the choice of siding with either the robots or the humans this has apparently been considered before and for obvious reasons; with it set world-wide the possibilities are endless. With this idea having already been toyed with for a while it’s really just a question of time. There’s definitely enough people out there wanting it to happen.

The question then lies why not produce them? With the amount of money it costs to make a vast online universe along with the minimal target audience needed to keep it going there is the obvious element of risk to consider. But, with such ventures as Hello Kitty Island Adventure they don’t seem such crazy ideas to consider as concepts being worthy of the MMO treatment.

The future of MMO’s does look to be an exciting one though as opportunities open up offering these new and interesting ways to interact with our favourite texts. I’ll leave you with that though by saying we here on the Farmyard hope you had a Merry Christmas and look forward to a Happy New Year.

Weihnachtsgrüße!

Dragonica is a new free MMO-RPG from the publisher Gala Networks Europe, operator of the gPotato.eu portal, whom kindly offered for me to take it for a test drive. Little did I know how wonderfully packed and presented this game really is!

Let me start this review by letting all the reader’s know how critical and cynical I am, in my mind the glass is always half empty unless I see otherwise. So I was of course cautious around Dragonica – the manga styled free MMO (let me stress free). The joys of being clinically cynical are that when something miraculous happens, I have the pleasure of enjoying it even more than if an optimist was ‘expecting’ it the entire time – this is exactly one of those moments, Dragonica is nothing less than charismatically beautiful.

First Impressions

So where to begin…I guess the start would be a good place. Well as I said before I was lucky enough to have a press-pass, meaning I had free reign to high level characters who could do almost anything in the game, had the best gear and wealthy amount of money etc. I started my quest playing the class: Mirage, who was an actual physical human, but with a shadow-of-herself sidekick, hence the name I assume.

My special friends

A short loading screen later and I found myself in the port-town of Port of the Winds; A sleepy sea-side resort with whimsical characters and melancholy weather (think Cornwall as if a rainbow had been sick all over it). I had a little run around and was astonished at all the interactive NPC’s and the sheer amount of quests offered in this little town, in fact it’s rather bewildering and confusing at first but this passes after a few minutes getting your bearings.

I will keep this first impressions paragraph short as there is simply too many elements within the game upon introduction to give a quick analysis of, but if I had to sum up what I thought of the game just 2 minutes in, I would say it is artistically beautiful and immensely complex. I am very excited to dive in the deep-end.

Gameplay

Upon receiving a quest to go collect some crabmeat for a fisherman (which I thought was ironic because he’s the expert) I ran down to the sandy shores of Bearded Whale Coast in search of the little nippers!

To my surprise the basic combat system is reminiscent of Street Fighter: Double tapping forward makes you dash, do air kicks, ground kicks and repeatedly tapping attack unleashes a standard 4 punch combo highlighted by the bold text prompt at the side of the screen, ‘Cool!’ or ‘Combo 4’ and you get the idea. You level up as any traditional RPG, by completing quests and defeating monsters. However, what is most impressive about character development and function – aside from the easy to grasp combat system – is the sheer amount of skills from each skill tree you can unlock, to put it frankly it’s bloody massive!

Time to get out the calculator!

Upon moving your cursor over certain skills you are granted with an all too familiar wall of text, which intricately describes each skill, its role and the effect it has on the character. So with this in mind, other than just doing the standard attacks, you can unleash a maelstrom of kicks, whirls and even summon a pseudo wrestling ring.

In the red cornerrrrr!

Unfortunately this complex combat system is met with rather lacklustre enemies. I can only describe the way enemies behave in a comparison. Remember the game Lemmings? Well the lemmings are trying to get to the exit, but to their misfortune the golden gated exit is actually your fist, they just seem to walk towards you, ready enough to face their demise head on. If this wasn’t bad enough, the ones who aren’t walking are stationary but instead fire projectiles at you, how challenging (cue sarcastic tone).

However, Dragonica hosts a PvP system, whereby you can go head to head with another opponents or join a group and have team death-matches; this is a saving grace considering the disappointing bulk of PvE. There’s nothing much to say about the PvP system other than it acts as a buffer, upon first play-through it seemed pretty basic, but then PvP in its essence is basic also – it’s bashing the hell out of the other player.

This star is not in-fact happy - It's being punched in the face

Sound

Diagetic and Non-diagetic sound in Dragonica is disappointing and at times irritating to say the least. A harrowing example of this is in Port of Winds, whereby a 30 second soundtrack is looped continuously.  One, the overall longevity of the track is way too small, considering you’ll be spending a lot of time in towns this will get on your nerves – as it certainly got on mine. Secondly the music just isn’t that good, the town music sounds like a scatty low-bass track with sporadic upbeat synth; it’s weird and frustrating.

That being said music in certain parts of the map brings back a sense nostalgia that I thought I had lost. The bearded whale bay hosts a delightful symphony of pirate-esq chimes, xylophones and what not. It immediately hit a chord in my heart, reminiscent of the music from Banjo-Kazooie within Treasure Trove Cove (let me stress, I loved that music). Couple this with the funny and hearty squeaks and squawks from when you pummel crabs and starfish and this makes for a very cute and enjoyable experience, albeit a little sadistic.

Dragonica Bay Music – Dragonica

Treasure Trove Cove – Banjo Kazooie

Another utterly annoying element however is that your character makes noises whenever he or she attacks, the first couple of ‘He! Ho! And Hieyas!’ are ok, but after a continuous and merciless battle I might as well have been sat in front of a women’s tennis match, even they make less grunting and pseudo-sexual noises! It’s just plain irritating and thus forced me to play Dragonica on mute with heavy metal in the background (Disclaimer: I don’t advise playing metal whilst watching something so cute and cuddly being beaten to a pulp, its rather sinister).

Everything apart from the nostalgic music, sound isn’t really a big part in this game, which is a shame because as a collector of game music (Final Fantasy, Metal gear, Zelda, etc.) it would of been nice to see some amazing guitar riffs or snazzy synthesizers considering this is a Manga MMO, Manga being known for everything big, bright and outlandish.

Graphics

With its colourful and bright, contrasting Manga colours and the plethora of different textures, scenarios and backdrops, Dragonica is captivating. We must remember this is a FREE MMO and therefore the production value won’t be as high as other current games, so yes I can hear it already “But it’s blocky, the graphics look like that of the late PS1”, that’s beside the point.

As an enthusiast of make-over programs (especially American Queer Eye for the Straight Guy) I love nothing more in RPG’s than to dress my character up, taking him from a ragged level 1 to a devilishly suave level 50 plus, ready to bring sophistication and good fashion sense to the most hellish of dungeons *snaps*! Some may ask why I don’t play ‘Barbie Dress-Up’ and ‘Bratz Style Bitch’ or other such titles if I love dressing up my characters, the simple answer is there is not the sort of customization you get in Dragonica (plus I have a greater intellect than a piece of fetid moss). The mirage player I’m currently playing has beautiful bear-skin leather armour, with what can only be described as two massive totem pole fist weapons upon which she unleashes her fury. If I wished, I could also purchase from the many vendors other such custodial and tribal looking armour, each piece unique looking as the last; which I must admit shocked me because a lot of armour featuring in RPG’s in my experience are just re-coloured models of the previous tiers. Let me turn your minds to the recent World of Warcraft expansions or even lower-key Fallout 3, very early armour models are simply replicated and added to and thus rejuvenated into end-tier armour pieces that don’t look particularly epic or legendary. Take for example the Warrior Tier 2 set which is re-coloured for a later Heroic Dungeon Set in the Burning Crusade Expansion, or in Fallout the generic looking Paladin Power Armour.

The next element of graphical wonder to make me chuckle is the enemy animation, especially when you smack them in the face. In typical cartoony style when you hit an enemy, certain organs of theirs will grow large – the typical eyeball popping etc.

"Why Mr.Crabby, what big eyes you have"

Whilst this isn’t anything innovative, it does add a very nice touch and makes grinding that little bit more tolerable.

Final Thoughts

I decided not to include an in-depth review of the Soul Crafting portion of Dragonica as this is pretty much just standard enchanting but with a different name.

Dragonica is a very enjoyable game, but lacks depth. It’s all well and good involving a massive amount of character customization, but if that character can’t perform out of the confines of dressing up then players are left ultimately disappointed. PvP also is standard, as well as how dungeons operate and how linear travel and the levelling up system works. Dragonica is essentially very fun in short bursts but as a serious gamer I just couldn’t get into it. That said this game does very well to appeal to the mainstream and casual.

Overall it was an enjoyable experience and the game includes all elements you expect in an MMO, but it doesn’t shine, it doesn’t do anything special to make me want to drop my excitement for Star Wars the Old Republic, World of Warcraft or EVE; maybe it doesn’t try to, maybe it does.

Gameplay: 8/10

Gameplay is fun if at times a bit grinding. This would be a lot better if Enemies had better A.I. or if they did anything else than just walk towards you.

Sound 6/10

Music and sound effects are great for the first 30 seconds, but then get on your nerves as they play on short 30 second loops.

Graphics 8/10

Customization and sheer amount of backdrops, weapons, clothes etc, etc, make this game exciting to get the next unlock or upgrade for. The cartoony Manga style is also visually pleasing.

Final Score: 7/10

We have teamed up with Gala Networks Europe to bring you an awesome little giveaway for Dragonica, the free-to-play hugely popular side-scrolling massively multiplayer online role-playing game or, as it’s more commonly known, an MMORPG. Think World or Warcraft without the expensive monthly fees plus added characters that look a lot more friendly and cute.

So what exactly is Dragonica about? Dragonica takes place on the continents of El Grego and Angrakka, which had experienced a golden age where humans and dragons were able to live together in peace. However, these times were not destined to last, and the dragons and humans eventually went to war in what was known as the Dragon Age. Eventually, the dragons were banished to the ancient realm of Aether.

The leader of the dragons, the Dark Dragon Elga would continue to mount attacks on the land, but was pushed back when five heroes of legend were able to defeat Elga and trap him in a dark prison known as the Shadow Cabinet, essentially shutting him out the lands of El Grego forever. However, not even the Shadow Cabinet could hold Elga forever — a thousand years after being trapped, Elga has found a way to release his darkness into the world, sending minions to attack the lands in preparation for his arrival. It is up to the players to take up arms and push back these dark forces!

New Expansion: New Origin

A new expansion has just launched for Dragonica so now is the best time to get involved! There is a new race to choose; the Drakan, which is unlocked when you reach level 20. And a new city named Kareuza, a beautiful Drakan town to accompany the new race. It also introduces for the first time player mounts available from level 23 with additional mounts available at levels 40 and 60.

This expansion also sees the launch of a brand new dungeon system, in which players are able to enter dungeons and tackle their opponents with a group called a fellowship, of up to 8 people, unlike the standard parties which only allowed groups of 4. However, it wouldn’t be an expansion without new challenges awaiting the heroes – and the Akia Cave Dungeon (Level 45+) and Black Claw Nest (Level 75+) will see that all newly acquired armour, weapons and mounts are put to good use.

You can learn a lot more about Dragonica by visiting the official website here and a selection of screenshots are included below!

So to help new and existing players alike we have 10 Starter and 10 Advanced packs to give away. These packs are designed to provide players with premium items to help them along and get started in the game.  Details are as follows:

Starter Pack – worth 10 Euros.

Advanced Pack – worth 8 Euros.

To enter and be in with a chance of winning one of these 20 item packs just reply below with a post letting us know what class you are currently playing or will be creating in the near future and why. If you are a new player and want to know more about classes please read here.

Only one entry person and the competition will close on Sunday 2^nd October. Winners will be announced on our Facebook page so make sure you ‘Like’ us. You can either use the Facebook box on the right hand side of this page (scroll up) or visit http://www.facebook.com/TheElectronicFarmyard.

Good luck!

[Show as slideshow]

ThePrizeFinder – UK Competitions

Paradox Interactive today officially announced Salem, a free-to-play Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) game based in the harsh world of colonial Salem. The game focuses on crafting and player colonies as players discover the new world in a sandbox like environment. The game is being developed by the team at Seatribe and is scheduled to go live in 2011 on the Paradox Connect platform.

Salem has already garnered a lot of interest from the gaming community since it was previewed behind closed doors to members of the media in late January. Known for its controversial permanent death feature, an essential game mechanic that introduces risk as players progress in the new world, Salem is a fresh twist on the MMO genre giving players control of their towns in the game and introducing frontier justice in the open Player-versus-Player (PvP) environment.

“Salem is a free-to-play MMO game that is going to add something new to the genre with the concept of generations rather than just a single character through the game,” said Tom Söderlund, Project Lead for Paradox Connect. “If your character is killed in the game, and believe me it can be dangerous in Salem, their descendent has the ability to pick up where your character left off. The concept of revenge and towns policing themselves and even sanctioning hits on griefers is going to be a really compelling aspect. We know we’ll see some interesting things when the community finally has a chance to play Salem later this year.”

About Salem
Set in a fantastical New England, Salem offers free form Massively Multiplayer gameplay in a persistent, ever-changing, online world. Players take the roles of intrepid colonists from the Old World seeking to make lives for themselves in the New. The colonists are able to use a unique crafting, farming and building system inspired by 17th century alchemy.

Although Salem takes place in a light-hearted gothic setting with a charming and cute art-style, there is also open Player-versus-Player combat and permanent death. Players will also experience creatures based off actual colonist folklore like Squonks, Hidebehinds and of course witches in an open sand box world.

Features:

* Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
* Persistent and mutable world
* Crafting, farming and building
* Open PvP combat with permanent death
* Free-to-play

For more info:
Website: http://www.paradoxplaza.com/games/salem
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SalemGame
Twitter: http://twitter.com/SalemTheGame
Forum: http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/

GamerSyndrome.com is proud to announce that they will be giving away 100 closed beta keys for the Battle of the Immortals Closed Beta. Battle of the Immortals is developed by Perfect World Beijing and is being published by Perfect World Entertainment.

Information about how to obtain one of the closed beta keys can be found here: http://gamersyndrome.com/2010/video-games/battle-of-the-immortals-closed-beta-key-giveaway/

Additionally, if the GamerSyndrome Twitter or Facebook pages receive over 1500 followers, they will increase the number of beta keys we are giving away to 300.

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About Battle of the Immortals

Battle of the Immortals is a 2.5D multiplayer game that incorporates eastern and western cultures ranging from Norse Mythology to the Qin Dynasty.

Taking up the mantle of relic hunters, players can expect to travel throughout the world from the ancient tombs of past emperors in the East to the mythical Mount Olympus in the West. They will also be able to explore the Great Pyramids, uncover the mystery behind the Lost City of Atlantis and delve into lost temples deep within the Mayan jungle. Players will engage in epic battles against other players for the right to battle monsters, control cities & rule supreme.

About Perfect World Entertainment

A subsidiary of Perfect World Beijing, Perfect World Entertainment is a leader in publishing and operating massively multiplayer online games. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Redwood City, Calif., Perfect World Entertainment is bringing the pinnacle of online gaming to North American and international audiences.
Perfect World Entertainment offers all their games free-to-play, operating the microtransaction business model. All players can download, access and play the games for free and can later purchase non-essential game enhancements like character customization or convenience items.

Last Online, a Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG), developed by Eden Entertainment is a PC-based online game with a console quality.
Last Online is an action MMORPG and is set in a modern Europe during Mana Revolution, which is similar to Industrial Revolution. Last Online unfolds a story of heroes who fight against Another World and provides a variety of tribes and occupations as well as unique game system.

Last Online features unprecedented techniques in online games: a variety of camera movements depending on zones and battles as well as non-targeting MMORPG set Last Online apart from other games.

Last Online provides diverse battle modes from PVP, PVE, 100 vs 100, guild battle, and castle siege. In Last Online, like a console game, a character is able to change weapons from short-range to long range simultaneously.

To do so, Eden Entertainment has developed a proprietary game engine optimized for the game. The company said “we do not scarify anything from action, graphics, to system to satisfy not just us but also users.”

Last Online is expected to enter a Closed Beta Test in the first half of 2010. More screenshots are available on the official website.

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Paladins are a female class of Humans with natural toughness and resilience, which makes them strong defenders in close combat. They are formidable warriors, able to wear their opponents down with melee damage while providing healing and protection to allies. As with other classes in Karos Online, a Paladin can specialise into different careers at level 15: she can rally her group with protective buffs as a Defender, or become a Holy Knight radiating powerful defensive auras.

The Paladin joins the previously announced classes of Blader (two-handed melee attacks), Rogue (dual-wielded attacks), Bowmistress (ranged missile attacks), Mystic (ranged magical attacks) and Sorceress (magical attacks and debuffs). More details and features will be unveiled as Karos Online draws closer to commercial launch.

Karos Online – Stunning 3D Action Fantasy MMORPG

Karos Online (http://www.karosgame.com) is a brand new free-to-play fantasy MMORPG developed by Galaxy Gate (lead developers of Laghaim and Last Chaos), to be published in Europe and North America by NHN Corporation. The English version is currently in open beta, with a German version to follow in 2010.

In Karos Online, players take the role of a hero determined to defeat the curse of darkness falling over the world of Asmara and ascend to ultimate glory by becoming the mythical Karos warrior. Through questing, guild clashes and mass PvP, they enter the fight for domination over the world’s vital energy source, Fletta. Fletta provides the basis for the game’s unique and complex alternate progression system; alongside traditional leveling within the game, Fletta energy can be used to increase stats, give buffs, buy resources and enchant items.

With a strong RPG component, wide range of class skills and fantastic visual combat effects, Karos Online offers a rich player experience and an exciting end-game for guilds, including castle sieges and resource control points. There are a variety of dynamic dungeons to explore, with shifting paths and surprises to challenge players as they progress in level. The economy is well-developed, with mining, fishing and crafting elements, and a consignment system for storage.

Karos Online offers rare graphical quality for its small client size, has low minimum requirements, and will be accessible to a vast range of computers. Videos demonstrating graphics and gameplay are now available on the official website at www.karosgame.com, and more features will be revealed as the beta test continues.

Karos Online features

• Breathtaking 3D graphics and combat action effects
• 5 different races and 9 original classes, evolving into 36 different specialized classes
• Dynamic, evolving dungeons with shifting paths and surprises
• Guild wars, territory control and large-scale castle siege battles
• Alternate Fletta level progression system
• Elaborate mining, fishing and crafting system
• Small client size and low minimum PC requirements
• Keyboard and mouse control both available

Atari, Inc., one of the world’s most recognized videogame publishers, and acclaimed MMO developer Cryptic Studios™, announced today that the highly anticipated Star Trek Online for PC has entered open beta, bringing fans one step closer to playing in the final frontier. The open beta runs through January 26, 2010. Fans with valid open beta keys can explore the Star Trek universe and play the first-of-a-kind massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).

Information about where to obtain open beta keys and where to download the open beta client can be found on the official Star Trek Online website at: http://www.startrekonline.com/openbeta

“We are thrilled to give open beta access to fans as we draw nearer to the official release of Star Trek Online,” said Craig Zinkievich, Executive Producer on Star Trek Online. “We are looking forward to the launch of our first-of-a-kind MMORPG with anticipation and excitement and we expect Star Trek Online to explode onto the scene, giving fans and gamers a Star Trek experience like no other.”

Taking place in the year 2409, Star Trek Online boasts extraordinary features and lets fans both new and old experience unparalleled adventures. Players will have the opportunity to become a high ranking Starfleet officer and will participate in missions that will take them into the depths of space, across exotic planets and even inside other starships. Star Trek Online offers total customization, where every ship players command can be customized, from color to construction. Additionally, anyone can create their own species in Star Trek Online, as well as customize the look of their avatar’s uniform.

Star Trek Online allows players to become a warrior in the Klingon Empire or join the Federation’s esteemed Starfleet and explore a never-before-seen, completely interactive Star Trek universe.

Gala Networks Europe, the leading online games publisher that operates the gPotato.eu game portal, is proud to announce the launch of the free-to-play MMORPG Rappelz Italian official website. Boasting over three million players worldwide, the critically acclaimed MMORPG will be available for free to Italian players with fully localized game and dedicated servers on the official website http://it.rappelz.gpotato.eu/.

Rappelz is a free-to-play MMORPG taking place in a fantasy world and giving players the opportunity to tame fantastic creatures and lead them to battle. Developed by the Seoul-based NFlavor Corp. company, Rappelz has been acclaimed worldwide and is currently live in a dozen different territories, with French, German, Turkish and Polish versions available from the gPotato.eu game portal. Rappelz recently became the first ever MMORPG to be fully localised into Arabic and Gala Networks Europe Ltd will launch soon a version for players in Italy.

The Italian version of Rappelz will be available through the gPotato portal http://it.gpotato.eu and the official page http://it.rappelz.gpotato.eu/. The game will be fully translated in Italian and will be supported by an Italian team from Gala Networks Europe. The closed beta is scheduled to start during the third week of February 2010 and will last for two weeks. At the end of the closed beta phases, players who have reached the level 20 will be able to keep their name, friend list and they will receive a unique gift, for the Open Beta phase which will be commence at the beginning of March, shortly followed by the official release without any character deletion.

The Italian release version of Rappelz will feature the forthcoming expansion Ep. 6: Resurrection, adding new content and features. The pre-registration for the closed beta version of Rappelz is available at the following address: http://it.rappelz.gpotato.eu/ad/. Don’t miss your chance to be the first to enter this exciting fantasy world!

About Rappelz
Rappelz is free-to-play MMORPG published in more than 11 different languages by Gala Networks Europe Ltd. The game has about 3 million users worldwide. Rappelz is set in a medieval fantasy world, which is dominated by 3 main races: Deva, Gaia and Asura. Rappelz players can go up to level 170, choosing from 27 distinct classes and taming 22 various creatures. Rappelz enthusiasts can purchase special gPotato points to use them as a virtual currency and acquire unique items to customize their characters.

Games has announced the start of Beta for its first browser-based flash game, Fragoria. The company has a long history of publishing popular downloadable online games, so the launch of Fragoria marks Aeria’s long awaited entry into the browser-based market.

Fragoria is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that has achieved major success in Russia and Germany. The game offers beautiful visuals and a large, detailed world that players can access from a web browser without any download required.

Fragoria boasts a range of amazing features rarely seen before in browser-based games. Players can create and customize their heroes with incredible weapons and armor; enhance their equipment; control pets and lead other players into battle; explore dungeons, the deepest depths of the ocean, snow capped mountains; and embark on a variety of exciting quests.

To celebrate the launch of Fragoria, Aeria Games is offering 400 Aeria Points (AP) to the first 250 players to reach level 15 for a total of $1,000 worth of prizes. Participants must post a screenshot with their final character’s level displayed in the event forum thread to be eligible.

For more information about Fragoria, or leveling contest rules, visit the official website at http://fragoria.aeriagames.com/node/19.

Recently I began researching MMORPG’s in preparation to write a feature article. With so many MMORPG’s out there, whether subscription based or free to play, I have been literally swamped in websites, forums and fansites trying to learn as much as I can about each one.

This morning whilst I was checking the Press Releases, I noticed one for 4Story and realised I hadn’t yet checked out their site. I was very surprised when I did so. 4Story, www.global.4story.com , developed and published by Zemi Interactive, revealed its newly designed intro footage to MMO lovers this weekend. It is expected the new update will be a turning point to visually and audibly inspire new visitors. And it definitely inspired me.

Combining beautiful artworks and epic scale warfare movie clip with a high definition, it is providing stunning visual effect and a quick registration spot to allow new visitors to make their way to the world of 4story in a trice. Showing tremendous game comments written by eminent individuals from outstanding webzines is also worthy of close attention encouraging users and giving them a confidence of the game.

The graphics (in my opinion) are comparable to the worlds biggest MMO; World Of Warcraft, and considering this game is free, could we have a competitor? No. Of course not. Unfortunately ‘free to play’ MMORPG’s will not be able to compete at the same level as World Of Warcraft because they just don’t have the budget of the Development Team size to ensure regular new content. And that’s what players around the globe love about WoW.

That said, I might actually bless 4Story with some game time and write my own review on the game. I already have 2 reviews outstanding one of which is for Divinity II: Ego Draconis for the Xbox 360, so expect it later next month.