dmarusz's Full Review: Dungeon Runners for Windows
Starting out as a testing ground to see what MMO players like in a game, Dungeon Runners appears to give you a great game for free. However, the more it lives, the more it is not (free.) Trick? Perhaps. However, it was an interesting enough concept to get me to play … and then to pay.
This third person, MMORPG was easy enough to pick up. It was easy hack-and-slash fun. I started off on my lonesome and played with some fun right away. It was good that I enjoyed the solo missions at first because I was one of the first to play. There weren’t many people there. However, as I went on, I found it repetitive, and perhaps a tad too easy. Soon, I desired to play with others.
The problem with playing with others is that you can’t meet anyone “on the way.” The way NC Soft set the up game was that the towns were totally safe. This meant that the towns were really set apart (as a level) from the encounter/combat levels. You went through a portal to get to the encounter areas.
In the towns, you could meet and talk with people playing the game. However, if you went through the portal, your missions started and were void of party members. You had to pick a party and then go out. If two people went through a portal together without being in a group/party, they would end up in two identical maps, just not together. I thought that this killed the social nature that most MMO’s employ. I’ve always liked going out and meeting someone, teaming up with them, and then moving on when I got bored or wanted to cash in to a merchant. Having to play solo or get stuck with someone in a map was not what I was looking for, and I doubt others would want this either.
The maps and levels themselves didn’t seem polished either. The fog of war would reset itself such that a fully explored level would be blind to you now. What’s the point of having a mini-map if you constantly have to re-explore. Plus, on the level, the enemy respawn was a bit aggravating. I understand the need for a respawn in an MMO, but there were no paths to escape fights. So, let’s say that you have to go through three maps to get to the quest that you wish to finish. There is no way to avoid conflict on the way to the third map. You have to fight the same NPC’s there each time that you log onto the game.
I talked to another person playing the game, and his method was just running as fast as he could to the next portal, “training” a bunch of goblins and monsters behind him. Not the best set-up. Certainly not if you want to get something in that level before you go on to the next.
Not all of the game was bad. You could actually play from a phone modem with little lag. Some might say that this hurt the graphics, but it wasn’t a big problem. They used a very primary color, color scheme, which worked and didn’t seem to have an effect on the uniqueness of your character’s cosmetic attributes.
The interface that they used was real nice and easy to pick up. The whole usability was well done and well thought out. You can tell why Guild Wars was such a success. They know how to set up and make good game mechanics. They also utilized a good protagonist respawning technique. It wasn’t as painful as with other MMO’s where you get killed 5 times before you can loot your own corpse, or something like that.
The game also employed a lot of cute things that helped with the fun. They had funny character names, NPC’s with attitudes, etc. There were many types of armor and weapons to use. The variety almost seemed endless.
They actually used a two type monetary system. There was the regular merchant system. The second system included king’s gold which you could use with trainers and others to plump up your stats or abilities. That worked well, as money and items were plentiful, but king’s gold was not.
Of course, some of the items got out of hand. You could get seemingly big weapons right away. In reality, they just had an over-beefed system of weaponry and armor. It didn’t seem like a problem until you advanced farther into the game. After all, what really is the difference between a long sword + 137 and a long sword + 132?
There were a couple of other nagging things that didn’t work. They didn’t give experience points for quests. There was not a big difference between classes either. Or, at least not that I could see. It seems like with role playing, you would want both of these things. This is the bread and butter of past RPG’s.
After a short while, I grew tired of the game, and then the typical problem with most on-line games popped up. They played hide and seek with the ending of payment. Worse yet, I didn’t even know I was on the recurring payment plan. Apparently if you pay for 3 months at once, you automatically are. Great. Thanks NC Soft! Then, when I went to turn off the recurring payment, the home pages were rearranged so that it was hard to find. I guess if I had recently joined, it might be simpler. My guess now is that everyone is on recurring.
I could see some people enjoying this game, and it is a nicely made project. It just lacked those special extras that put a game over the top. I could see some people liking this, I just won’t ever play it again.
Adventure alone or form your own team of heroes to battle the menaces that plague the world Mix and match from the ever-growing list of skills and pow...More at Amazon Marketplace
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