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Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Written by: Melaisis
I admit it. Browser-based gaming has never really appealed to me. The nearest I ever came to really indulging into such forgotten - and nowadays somewhat taboo - art in an earlier life was my Neopets days when I was like, ten. With the rise of wider accessibility, lower playing costs and healthy competition of the 'real' MMORPG market (games ranging from World of Warcraft, to Guild Wars, to Lineage II), the playerbase for the more traditional, solely semi-interactive online role-playing has declined dramatically within the past decade or so. Which is why, when a true, well-oiled MMORPG machine becomes available, it really does shine clearly above the rest. Especially when it is as polished as this one.
Fallen Sword, surprise-surprise, is a cliché, medieval fantasy-based game in which you roam around such 'creative' locations as mountains with hostile natives and caves full of trolls. Alright, so it isn't the most original thing out there. But so what? Where Fallen Sword fails to shine in regards to definite, elaborate backstory and innovation, it picks up points in other, more openly advertised, prominent categories. The gaming interface, for a start, is exceedingly simple. You can slip right into killing rats (or whatever else) literally within a minute of signing up. The controls are easy to adapt to, and are hardly rocket science to work with onwards; truly how a browser game should work. Unlike many of its worse brethren, Fallen Sword allows a player to switch from managing their character profile to fighting with a click of a button. In regards to the aforementioned: Customisation of your respective alter-ego is, as expected, very limited at first but expands to almost infinite possibilities as you progress. Battles are automated, but control over them is not restrictive. With both examples, a tasteful balance has been set by the designers of the game; and it works superbly.
The graphics engine is hardly sublime and the soundtrack is non-existent. But check out so-called 'current generation' free, online games such as Last Chaos or even RuneScape for comparison. Does their graphical supremacy alone allow them to reign over the rest of the independent market? I didn't think so. If anything, their reputation as online games has deteriorated thanks to ~12 year olds being attracted to such shiny and accessible things. The last thing this game needs is a forced cosmetic advancement which would do nothing but push it towards being another Korean grinding clone. Browser-based RPGs such as this one attract an extremely novel (albeit niche) market and that is how it should remain. That makes me sound atrociously elitist, but I personally do not want to be hounded by gold farmers and prepubescent teens alike whilst clicking around the map, as is the case with the aforementioned examples; yet not with Fallen Sword.
As humbly predicted, where Fallen Sword really shines, is in its community. Hardly a typical one-hundred hardcore players as is with it's generic kin, it claims to reach into the millions. Such participation by the people is even evident from the very first page after log on: Updates, to the day, on the movement of guilds and merchants alike around the world. As is with the rest of the game; the information is widespread, descriptive but yet, not overwhelming. It really can be as pressuring or causal as you wish it to be. Heck, some people may not even ever wish to take part in the large-scale events or any other pushes for uniqueness that Fallen Sword does choose to boast about. Of course this hardly makes the experience less enjoyable - but rather highlights the grand flexibility which the game offers to players.
Fallen Sword is a return to the days of old school MMORPGs, but with new players.
Oh, and I am yet to see a gold farmer.
Fallen Sword.
Don't buy it. Don't rent it. Just join it if it's your thing.
Labels: Fallen Sword, Free Online Games, Review, The Three Rs
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