59 - APB: Reloaded

Genre: MMO, 3rd person shooter
Rating: M
Developer: Realtime Worlds
Publisher: K2 Network
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2010

APB: Reloaded was known as APB: All Points Bulletin back when it was new. It promised a game like Grand Theft Auto where you could be the criminal or the cop. Depending on your side, you could have a gang of real life players or be on the police force with other gamers. The idea was interesting and since I've never played an online match of GTA IV before I unfortunately can't compare how similar or different they are. But at some point, APB's publishers realized there were not enough people flocking to the game. Pair that with an unusual new subscription method where you paid for hours instead of a monthly timeframe it seems people stayed away. And so APB died until it was picked up by K2 Network.

I'd always wanted to try the game before. I was invited to the initial beta of the title but my computer at the time was unable to run it. Now that the game is free and I have a nicer computer I can finally enjoy it. Funnily enough, I remember that when the game was being closed down I could still find pallets of APB games on their shelves. I guess they had to get rid of them somehow. They were $5 coasters basically but I still kind of wish I'd picked one up just for collector's sake.

Okay, back to the game again. I'm surprised at how much I enjoy it. This seems to be the theme of my recent MMO experiences. I really loved GTA: San Andreas and Saints Row and to me the game manages to capture the feelings I had for those games. It's not perfect and not quite as fun as those titles, but in some ways it is even better because you are playing with other humans. Sometimes that completely fails though as many don't know how to drive and will inadvertently squash their teammates. At the very least, working with a competent gang to do some crimes is exciting and I enjoy wasting time on it. I've yet to play the police path but you can create a couple characters on either side, thankfully.

The character creator is pretty nice. You can do a lot with it although you can't outfit your character until finally entering the Social District. Horribly, many of the clothes are pay items. Most others you will have to do a few quests for to pick up. Something really cool about the clothing is that you can also design artwork and logos for the clothes (and cars). It's very neat although it seems open to abuse if someone wants to write or draw naughty or disrespectful things.

APB: Reloaded is more difficult than the other MMOs I've mentioned before. It's very similar to a console action game so some degree of skill is required. Still, it's a fun way to pass the time if you've got nothing better to do.

PS: Here's my character. His shirt says "BAD GIRL" which is a homage to a shirt Travis wears in Killer7.

58 - Champions Online: Free for All

Genre: MMO
Rating: T
Developer: Cryptic Studios
Publisher: Atari
Platform: PC
Release Date: 2009

Champions Online came out a few years ago as a subscription MMO. I signed up straight away because it looked awesome but of course wouldn't subscribe. Superheros are something I find really cool and I did enjoy my brief stint with City of Heroes/Villains. I'd play Champions Online whenever they had free weekends which happened every once in a while. I didn't really like it though any of those times. Despite this, I decided to give it another go now that it is free.

I still don't really like it but some people probably would. It's a very simple game with a WoW-ish control interface. It has the bar of spells/attacks to cast and lots of boring old quests. Lots of hammering away at enemies and then returning to your quest-giver for a prize. It's all very dull business.

The biggest plus about the game is that it allows you to create your own superhero and in quite a lot of depth. There isn't so much depth to creating the body itself, but the costume has many, many options. I spent a great deal of time in there creating the best characters I could. The free version only has 3 or so character slots though. Interestingly, my old character is now a "gold" character. I guess it's due to me using him when the game was still subscription so I'm assuming I have extra features when using him. Haven't looked into it yet.

Anyway, the character creator is great fun. You can select what type of discipline you'd like your hero to focus on (firearms, melee, various superhero things). Unfortunately, the in-game characters don't look nearly as great as they do in the creator but that's to be expected. I don't really like the game but if you're really crazy about superheros and repetition you might find it worth your while.

PS: Here's my guy:

57 - Spiral Knights (PC)

Genre: RPG, MMO
Rating: N/A
Developer: Three Rings
Publisher: Sega
Platform: PC (Also: Mac)
Release Date: 2011

I first heard of Spiral Knights when it launched back in April. At that time, I figured it was just another MMO that wasn't going to be a big deal. It probably wasn't either until Steam picked it up for one of their first free-to-play games on the service. Now basically all my friends are playing it daily. Curious, I decided to check it out as well.

As it turns out, Spiral Knights is a lot of fun. To me it feels a lot like The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures. That probably stems from the cute art and top down perspective of the game. You also generally group up in teams of four to explore dungeon after dungeon. You can also choose to play solo if you wish, which pleases me because I've always been more than a bit wary of some online players. For single player dungeon crawls, you can even password protect your dungeon so nobody else can hop in. Fantastic!

However, since I have friends playing it I am happy to say I've had a bit of experience with the whole "online" functionality of the game. It's a pretty simple hack n' slash game with a bit of puzzling to do now and again. The goal is to go deeper and deeper to get to the center of the world (or something like that). Unfortunately, it costs energy to go down each level, so you can only play so many levels per day before running out. I've heard that becomes less of an issue when you level up more, but I'm still pretty weak.

I really like the game and if I hadn't gotten caught up in the likes of EVE Online I'd probably still be playing it a ton. Unfortunately, I just get in brief stints with Spiral Knights in between my other business. Regardless, it's a solid online game. It's very casual but very fun.

Would I play again? Yes!

MMOs and Me

Sometime very recently Steam started pushing out free-to-play online games for all Steam users. The games had been around before Steam, of course, but were now advertised for gamers who may have never heard of them before. Out of boredom and free time I decided to check out Spiral Knights as well as try out Champions Online: Free for All again. While doing this, I started to recognize other MMO games and am currently in full swing of a MMO obsession.

Every once in a while I go through these phases. What's strange about it though is that for the most part I really hate MMOs. I tried World of Warcraft some years ago and could never get into it. The layout was alien to me and the quests were too boring. For a long time I felt bad about it though. Why was it that I couldn't like the game when millions of other players did? Obviously that was a silly worry though a there are tons of "popular" games I have no interest in. Either way, over the years I've come to find many online games are basically WoW clones which is probably why I dislike them so much.

For a while, I did enjoy Phantasy Star Online with a group of friends. I think it was the friends more than the game itself that kept me going. After that, I found I kind of enjoyed City of Heroes. Excitingly, that game is going free to play later this year. Most of the games though are samey Korean MMOs that fail to catch my interest. For the most part, I'd have written off MMOs from my gaming life. That is, until this most recent meeting with new ones.

Spiral Knights whetted my appetite. Then APB: Reloaded went free-to-play and I tried it and liked it. Now I'm trying out the 14 day free trial for EVE Online and I really, really like it. That's probably the most worrisome though since it's still a subscription-based game and I know I'd never actually subscribe. That's just a little too far for me. Regardless, I'm amazed at how much I am enjoying these games. I suppose it took 6 or so years of WoW domination to make companies start making their own original things. Speaking of which, Hellgate: London is being resurrected as free-to-play as well I think so I'm going to check that out sometime. Expect to see my impressions of each MMO this week.