MMO News

Divinity: Dragon Commander Review
Shotgun News 8/16: Guild Wars 2, Lego Minifig, Black Gold, and More
New PAL Online Posters and Trailer Unveiled for Gamescom
Infinite Crisis: New Champion; Atomic Wonder Woman
HeroesGo
Lifeless

Posted: 16 Aug 2013 12:48 PM PDT

By Darren Henderson (DizzyPW), MMOHut/OnRPG’s Mountain Dragon

Politics has always been a draw and a hindrance on the gaming industry. And no I'm not talking about congressional policies crafted by old white men that still use AOL as their homepage. I mean the attempt of luring young active politically driven men and women into a realm where policies matter and have actual impact on the gameplay. The MMORPG field is littered with failed attempts of such features and truly the only success seems to exist in the realm of real-time and turn based strategy games like Civilization and Rise of Nations. Yet even these tended to build their success more on historical politics rather than touchy edgy modern ideals still up for debate.

Thankfully a relatively unknown indie studio out of Belgium had the sense to build the backstory of their longstanding Divinity series of games as the stage for both addressing modern political controversies and creating one hell of an FPS RTS hybrid title. This is the tale of Larian Studios and how they won my heart over with one of the most innovative buy to play multiplayer titles of our time, Divinity: Dragon Commander.

Dragon Commander Full Review

Dragon Commander is a Buy to Play Multiplayer title that falls outside of standard field of coverage of MMOHut. If you’re interested in learning more on this and other popular multiplayer PC titles, be sure to check out the full review and others at our sister website OnRPG.

Shotgun News 8/16: Guild Wars 2, Lego Minifig, Black Gold, and More

Posted: 16 Aug 2013 10:41 AM PDT

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), European News Editor

Guild Wars 2 Hosting Trial Weekend

Along with the announcement that declares Guild Wars 2 the fastest selling MMO in history came a little notice of an upcoming trial event. They don't happen often. In fact almost never. But one week from today on August 23^rd anyone will be able to give Guild Wars 2 a go. Anyone interested in taking part can register their account beginning today.

Lego Minifig MMO Teasing Begins

The new Lego Minifig MMO from Funcom is now being teased on Funcom's website. Each day until August 29^th a new minifig will be revealed. What happens on August 29^th? Awesome. At Gamescom next week for the first time ever members of the press will be shown the MMO. So keep an eye out for our reveal.

Black Gold Releases Monetization Model

Snail Games' Black Gold will be free to play. It won't have a cash shop. And it is certainly blazing it's own trail in the MMO industry. "We're focusing on giving our players choices when it comes to their gameplay experiences – they decide what premium items to pay for and whether a play session is worth saving," says Shi Hai, Founder of Snail Games. Yes, you read that correctly, saving. Players will have save files which range from 1-6 hours and can chose to purchase those files to gain access to rare materials and gear. If those files aren't purchased within 24 hours of being saved they are deleted along with the sweet gear.

Grand Theft Auto Online Coming Soon

Always wished you could play GTA with your friends? Well Rockstar has heard your pleas and has announced GTA Online, a 16 player persistent world which will be free with every copy of GTA V. It launches on October 1^st.

Nissan Enters eSports Arena

Nissan is sponsoring an eSports team as part of the Your Door To More video contest. League of Legends players Team Curse are the team taking part in a massive social media campaign which encourages gamers to create short videos for a chance to be in a Nissan commercial and will a $1,000 Amazon card. The only thoughts on it here are that the real world is starting to bleed in.

New PAL Online Posters and Trailer Unveiled for Gamescom

Posted: 16 Aug 2013 10:25 AM PDT

Dream Square will reveal its next blockbuster title New PAL Online at Gamescom and the company is proud to present brand new posters and a gorgeous teaser trailer for the game today. The trailer, crafted by Dream Square, is directed by Yao Zhuangxian. Wada Kaoru, a Japanese music composer, wrote the music for the trailer. The teaser trailer gives a look at the massive game world and its huge plot twists which make the game a competent rival to client based games. New PAL Online is getting ready to become a household name at this year's Gamescom.

On the wedding night, the cute couple Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er make their wedding vows. They begin their love story again in the trailer entitled "Love & War". New adventures unfold. When people wish them a happy life, a Watery Ogre from the Miao territory appears to have their hopes and dreams shattered. Li Xiaoyao falls down to his own pool of blood. Zhao Ling'er fights for the guild and faces death without fear. Will she survive the war? Just check out the new spoiler-packed trailer.

Infinite Crisis: New Champion; Atomic Wonder Woman

Posted: 16 Aug 2013 10:17 AM PDT

Get an extensive look at Atomic Wonder Woman, the newest Champion available in Infinite Crisis, the upcoming free-to-play MOBA from Turbine based in the DC Universe. With unwavering hope and a chainsaw of justice, Atomic Wonder Woman carves a path to victory.

The Cold War reaches full tilt, and Earth’s Superpowers hold their fingers over the button. Wonder Woman's mission to forge peace is shattered by an object from space. It explodes above a small town in Kansas, sparking World War III, and no city or nation escapes from the nuclear firestorm. In the aftermath worldwide devastation, Wonder Woman realizes her mission is now one of restoration. A melee Assassin who builds momentum by revving up her chainsaw, Atomic Wonder Woman boosts her powers with expert timing.

Atomic Wonder Woman will become playable in-game beginning Wednesday, August 21 at the start of GamesCom.

HeroesGo

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 09:06 PM PDT

HeroesGo is a 3D fantasy MMORPG focused on dungeon crawling and customizable combat. Gear up and go for gold!

Publisher: ESTSoft
Playerbase: ??
Graphics: Medium
Type: MMORPG
EXP Rate: ??
PvP: Yes
Filesize: ~3.0GB

Pros: +Buffs assist with leveling secondary characters. +Arena PvP. +Class transformations.

Cons: -Currently no gamepad support. -Limited information available.

Overview

HeroesGo Overview

HeroesGo is a 3D, dungeon-based fantasy MMORPG. Featuring four starting classes (Breaker, Blader, Gunslinger, and Mage), players may adventure into dungeons to battle enemies, develop their skills, and acquire useful equipment and crystals. The game also features a crafting system, guilds, and a PvP arena.

HeroesGo Screenshots

HeroesGo Featured Video

Full Review

HeroesGo Review

HeroesGo – First Impressions

By Harry Ka-yan Cheung, MMOHut Journalist

Banner 620x96

HeroesGo was originally named Howling Sword and is a game that has a few years on it. It is kind of outdated compared to other games, but it does have a few unique features that is really enjoyable. HeroesGo is a dungeon crawler where players can group up and take down bosses and indulge themselves in the gameplay. My first impressions was that it was an outdated game, yet it still felt like a great game for being so outdated. It can really feed a person's need for a dungeon-based game with its rewards from dungeon completion, and its leveling up to advance and see new combos.

Graphics
There's no need to lie here. The game's a few years old and there doesn't seem to be any graphics update soon (if ever). The graphics lack texture but the character movements, movements of items, mob movements, and numbers for damage are a smooth and decently fluid. The lacking graphics are mainly only in textures but those can't be changed unless there is a complete revamp. The graphics are just lacking a flare of pizzazz that modern games have. If I wanted to put it in other words, it's basically a lack of high quality details.

Graphics 620x348

Screenshot of an area in town

Character Creation & Customization
When creating a character, players get to choose from four classes: Breaker, Blader, Gunslinger, and Mage. Each of these classes have two sub-classes which will specialize in different weapons and skills. When engaging the character customization screen, players will be faced with only four options to each part of the clothing. Certain combinations can be made by the different outfits but there is not very much of a variety. It seems cash shop is going to have choices for some cover-up outfits which requires real money.

Character customization 620x348

Character Customization

Gameplay
The gameplay is quite surprising for me. I was expecting it to be an easy hack & slash type dungeon crawler but it isn't. The monsters do a lot of damage! A player must stay alert to dodge monster attacks and also to use potions properly. Potions have a cool down, so the players do not have a luxury to just continuously use them. HeroesGo almost requires a party to do well in a dungeon. A boss hit will often take half or all of a player's hit points. Most skills are combo based and have to be used back to back to work properly. It's a matter of positioning your character correctly and using the right skills are the right time.

Gameplay 620x348

Gunner Fighting

Town & Dungeon Selection
When players first load into HeroesGo, they spawn in a town which is where players can resurrect, buy potions, repair items, etc. The town can be used to organize parties and buy some new equipment. Basic RPG stuff. Once players are ready, they can head to the designated gates with their party members and head into a dungeon selection instance. These maps are pretty interesting because they bring back the idea of RPGs and selecting a dungeon in a zoomed-out larger map. It really brought back some nostalgia for me.

Dungeon Selection 620x348

Dungeon Selection Map

Dungeons & Dungeon Completion
For the most part, each dungeon will only administer one quest; in other words, when a player receives a quest, they will finish it in one dungeon and then receive a quest for the next dungeon. As players venture through dungeons, they will run across monsters and bosses. They will need to gear themselves up with better items and equipment. Most of these better items will come from the dungeon themselves. Players have the chance of picking up higher quality items from the chests at the end of dungeons. I, personally, really like the chest selection at the end of dungeons because it gives a feeling of suspense when opening a chest to try and get something nice from it.

Dungeon Completion Chest 620x348

Yay, Chests!

Skills & Skill Tree
Every main offensive skill in HeroesGo is a combo-based skill. Basically, most skills have multiple parts to them. For example, if a player puts a skill in a hotkey and presses the key multiple times, they can use the multiple parts of the skills. There are also "single" skills that are buffs and others that allow players to counter, which require timing. As players level up, they will start to see that certain skills are based more for certain sub-classes. Out of the four classes, there are also two sub classes for each one. It's not a huge selection but the differences are noticeable from what I can see. Once a player chooses to advance at level 20, they receive a skill reset and they also receive a set of completely new skills.

Skill Tree 620x377

An example of the skill trees

Transformations
Apart from the regular skills, players also receive a transformation. In order to transform, players must charge a bar that is located under the mana bar. This bar can be changed by completing dungeons and charges very quickly by dying. The transformation gives players increased basic attacks and combos. I personally liked playing with my real skills much more than using the transformations but the transformations does make the character look very cool.

Transformations 620x182

Transformations

Overview

Graphics – 3/5 – The graphics as a whole are pretty outdated but the movements of monsters and characters are smooth.

Gameplay – 3/5 – The gameplay is pretty hard. It's decently demanding but the control of characters is also hard in a sense. Certain combos are too strange to aim.

Community – 3.5/5 – Players are pretty conversational and joining a party isn't a pain since there's a party bulletin board.

Customization – 1/5 – There's not much customization other than the basics and the option for cash shop items.

Features – 1.5/5 – There aren't any features worth mentioning. Most of the features are pretty common.

Overall – 2.4/5 – Overall, the game is decent but there are many outdated things about it which kind of keep it at a middle ground of being great and being too bland.

Screenshots

HeroesGo Screenshots

thumbs 264413 442879292471480 48800248 n

thumbs 385926 441399689286107 1121382478 n

thumbs 396784 442879222471487 547745533 n

thumbs 428456 442878952471514 121356626 n

thumbs 479234 441813855911357 205109880 o

thumbs 538008 441399699286106 871129675 n

thumbs 554602 441399705952772 477288413 n

thumbs 58127 441399662619443 1928016932 n

thumbs 601768 441399745952768 1334736585 n

thumbs 63088 441399722619437 1688973902 n

thumbs 601872 441399652619444 1757193404 n

thumbs 931283 441399739286102 610100797 n

thumbs 934888 441399759286100 401164567 n

thumbs 936369 441399659286110 476515725 n

thumbs 942366 442879249138151 324855625 n

thumbs 946919 442879175804825 1234462076 n

Videos

HeroesGo Videos

HeroesGo Open Beta Trailer

Links

HeroesGo Links

Official Game Site

System Requirements

HeroesGo System Requirements

Coming Soon…

Lifeless

Posted: 15 Aug 2013 08:12 PM PDT

Lifeless: a dangerous, horrifying world in which your decisions not only decide your own survival, but shape the world around you. Are you prepared?

Publisher: Rigid-Soft Studios
Playerbase: ??
Graphics: Medium
Type: MMO
EXP Rate: ??
PvP: ??
Filesize: ??

Pros: +Fortification building system. +In-depth survival system. +Weapon customization.

Cons: -Limited information available.

Overview

Lifeless Overview

Lifeless is a zombie survival game in early development by Rigid-Soft Studios, featuring a blend of FPS and RTS elements. Take care of your physical needs including hunger, thirst, body temperature, and individual limb health. Build fortifications with the help of allies and scavenged parts to survive the night. Preparation is key: randomized, intelligent zombies and world events are waiting at every tick of the clock.