digibutter.nerr

[Plastic Mario]

When people think of MMOs, they think of the huge ones like GW or WoW. Maybe Maplestory or Runescape. But Hero Online is deserving of a spot up there. It's completely free to download.

First off, it's a 3-D asian martial-arts based MMO. However, you rarely see any martial arts at all. It makes no difference, as the rest of the gameplay definately makes up for it. It also features a unique kill count system that rewards players for doing the work themselves, removing the annoying powerleveling service that everybody spams.

The gameplay is great, the community is friendly (Most of the time. Hint hint Amidaryu), and the graphics and sounds are greatly detailed. There's a "Bounty" system to get revenge at people that aren't being the nicest to you. This all sounds great, and you're all waiting for a "but". Here it is.

BUT, there's a few downsides. First, glitches are everywhere. Personally, I have to relog every few hours because the text messes up. Second, it's extremely grind-intensive. I remember going from level 49-50 took 13 straight hours.

There's bots in a few places, wandering mindlessly and taking your kills. However, this is also an upside, because you can wander around and kill any that have a bounty placed on them. Free money.

Of course, there's a system to use real money to purchase in-game special currency. Luckily, the items you can purchase are extremely cheap. Let's compare something. In MapleStory, you can send a message to all the people in your world (out of 7 worlds), for $1.30. In Hero Online, you can send a message to all people playing the game at the time. The price? $3.00 for 50 uses. That's more than 20x the value.

If you can learn to ignore the annoyances, it's a game that's definately worth playing.

________________________________

Graphics: 8/10. Somewhat messy in some places, but otherwise extremely good.

Sound: 7.5/10. A good variety of asian-styled music, but can get repetitive after a while.

Gameplay: 8.5/10. Not too bad. That's all I can say.

Story: 3/10. Unfortunately, the only story you can get is through a certain chain of quests.

Community: 9.75/10. If you ask for help, you'll get it. It's pretty much a guarentee. People get asked the same question hundreds of times a day, and they'll always answer. If you get ksed, people will usually apologise and either move away or politely ask you to move. It's rare to see somebody that will ks you on purpose.

Overall: 8.5/10. It's a great game in general. Definately worth a try.



I've only played on Dragon3, so I'm not sure if people are as nice outside of there.

[Popple]

Wow free money from rare character? That's almost if not better than rare items!

Glitches? Relogging in? Awesome! It makes the game much more engaging!

Paying money to use a feature standard in some MMOs? Innovative!

Grind based gameplay? Well sign me up and slap down money for dumb ass pay items! I'm going to go register right now!

[Plastic Mario]

Must you always do this?

[Lord Bob]

Sounds pretty good. I might try it out. Also IT'S ASIAN! ASIANS RULE! That's because their's an Asian in my grade. He's funny.

[Popple]

Only people near Asia what know how to make good MMOs is Korea. I mean the broadcast Starcraft tournaments on Television and our obsessed with everything Blizzard, including WoW.

[Aggrieved]

[offtopic]WoW sucks[/offtopic]

This sounds pretty interesting. I may try it out.