Dungeon Runners is a free MMORPG brought to you by NCSoft (also home of Tabula Rasa, Guild Wars, and City of Heroes/Villains). It launched late last year, and has already had two major patches, with a third coming "soon". The game is both ad-supported as well as subscriber-supported, and for $4.95/month, subscribing players get some added benefits, and have the banner ads that surround the screen pulled. With the latest patch, free players really have a better deal here than they do in most "free" MMORPGs out there - they have an ad template that surrounds the screen, and only have a percentage chance to use higher-quality items in the game (which all subscribing players can use).
The gameplay is essentially Diablo as an MMORPG. Each level of each dungeon is randomly generated, and the enemies for each level are scaled to the character's level (or at least for the most part). Each set of dungeon levels has its own "theme" - there's a woodsy area for n00bs to start off in, then a set of caves, a winter wonderland, a dungeon, etc. The characters are nicely detailed, and the enemies have interesting names - but the creatures have nothing on the weapons and armor. Have you ever wanted to wield a Beefy Dimensional Hammer of the Cozy Bunny or wear the Motley Unclear Crystal Plate of the Unrivaled Tarantula? Well, in Dungeon Runners you can!
For those who are long-time MMORPG veterans, Dungeon Runners will likely get a little old a little quickly - the quests are primarily fetch quests, with some exploration or "kill the beastie" quests tossed in for good measure. But for the audience it's designed for, Dungeon Runners is quite a bit of fun. You're always left wondering what the next item you'll get is going to be, and that's really the driving force behind this game. If you're curious, you can check out my character, Sazerac, online.
The gameplay is essentially Diablo as an MMORPG. Each level of each dungeon is randomly generated, and the enemies for each level are scaled to the character's level (or at least for the most part). Each set of dungeon levels has its own "theme" - there's a woodsy area for n00bs to start off in, then a set of caves, a winter wonderland, a dungeon, etc. The characters are nicely detailed, and the enemies have interesting names - but the creatures have nothing on the weapons and armor. Have you ever wanted to wield a Beefy Dimensional Hammer of the Cozy Bunny or wear the Motley Unclear Crystal Plate of the Unrivaled Tarantula? Well, in Dungeon Runners you can!
For those who are long-time MMORPG veterans, Dungeon Runners will likely get a little old a little quickly - the quests are primarily fetch quests, with some exploration or "kill the beastie" quests tossed in for good measure. But for the audience it's designed for, Dungeon Runners is quite a bit of fun. You're always left wondering what the next item you'll get is going to be, and that's really the driving force behind this game. If you're curious, you can check out my character, Sazerac, online.
