browser-based
Latest
Turn-based League of Angels plans closed beta for late 2013
League of Angels, a turn-based browser MMO, will be going into closed beta by the end of the year, studio GTArcade announced. The title revolves around a group of angels fighting darkness and clothing (if the artwork is any indication). Players will guide a party of heroes with an angel at its core, and engage in turn-based combat in single-player and multi-player dungeons, as well as cross-server battles. A couple of interesting features include a rogue-like random dungeon mode and several mini-games (such as match-three) that will reward the player with extra goods. [Source: GTArcade press release]
MMObility: Crazy Tribes is crazy easy to put down
I've played Crazy Tribes before. Or at least it feels that way. I've played so many MMORTS titles, mobile and otherwise, that play exactly like Crazy Tribes that it's hard writing this without feeling as though I am repeating myself. It's not that the game is a complete dud; it's actually relatively well made in a few areas. The problem is that it does not do enough to set it apart from the pack of MMORTS games that already exist. If only Crazy Tribes would take at least a few cues from a game like Grepolis! I ran into issues almost as soon as I started the game. In the beginning tutorial -- if you can read the tiny, horrible font, anyway -- you'll be told to access a certain building in order to start upgrading. The problem was immediately obvious: Not only was the picture of the building different from the actual building in the town, but there are no labels on the individual buildings that make up your post-apocalyptic village. It's an annoying bit that could so easily be fixed.
Jagex upgrades RuneScape infrastructure after DDoS attacks
If you've been experiencing disconnections or prolonged lag while trying to play RuneScape lately, it's probably not just you. Service disruptions have been ongoing for "over a year now," according to a post on the game's official website. Jagex and its browser-based fantasy title have been "the target of numerous DDoS attacks," CEO Mark Gerhard writes. The motives "tie closely with removal of bots and gold farming," Gerhard says, before explaining that Jagex has just "made a multi-million pound investment" in IT infrastructure upgrades and is also working with global law enforcement "to bring the people responsible for these attacks to justice."
Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to Drakensang Online the dwarves go
Do you like guns, machinery, and beards? Then Drakensang Online's newest addition is exactly what you want to play. The dwarven Steam Mechanicus has just been added to the game, offering a new play option for those who prefer to reach out and touch someone with projectile death rather than the more traditional fantasy options. In lore, the dwarves are purely fascinated with mechanical gadgets for their own sake, not usually concerned with the larger world's politics. But a swarm of evil dragons descending over the land kind of forces even the gadget-happy to take notice, since they'll probably trash the local Fantasie Beste Buyye. The Steam Mechanicus carves his gameplay niche in the mid-range area, using a variety of projectile attacks, self-built turrets, and rocket-powered jumps to pull together a victory. This new class is exclusive to subscribers for two weeks, at which point it will lose its exclusivity but retain its overall fiddly qualities. [Source: Bigpoint press release]
Jukebox Heroes: RuneScape's soundtrack
How much music does the average MMO contain? It depends, of course, but I doubt that many games are able to reach the number that RuneScape does. Are you ready for it? It's 982 tracks. I'm dead serious. It's not just that RuneScape has been out since the beginning of the internet but that the team continues to add new music regularly. It's really insane -- just check out this list of updates. What's even neater is that RuneScape treats its music as unlockable content, just like other types of rewards. So while you start out with 70 or so tracks in your in-game music player, you'll have to go to certain places or perform certain feats to get the rest. Why have I never heard of this before? That's brilliant! So obviously, even if I had all 982 tracks on my computer (which I do not), I'm not going to take a week off of work to review them all for you. I love you, but that love has limits. Instead, I've listened to perhaps a tenth of that (including the new stuff by Composer James Hannigan) and chosen a few tracks to share that I feel exemplify this MMO's score.
RuneFest previews RuneScape's 2014 additions
Jagex hosted its third annual RuneFest gathering in London over the weekend, and among the festivities was a sneak peek at what's in store for RuneScape in 2014. There's an invention skill on the way, as well as a mobile app that will allow extra-game communication. Upgraded matchmaking skills are planned, as is the second World Event, a master quest featuring the return of Zaros, and something called The Church of You. This last bit looks to involve achievements in some form as fashion, as Jagex's press release says that players "can start to amass their own followers" who will apparently "worship their in-game achievements." [Source: Jagex press release]
MMObility: Grepolis mobile plays almost perfectly
Grepolis is one of my favorite browser-based MMORTS titles because of its simplicity in design and in-depth gameplay. I can jump into the game for a few minutes a day and survive or play it more than that and can actually become powerful. I've loved browser-based MMORTS games for those very reasons, but Grepolis continues to improve even more quickly than others thanks to Innogames' obvious commitment to the community. I've talked about the developer's recent community-based projects and have covered the developer a lot in the past. The company just seems to pay attention -- for the most part -- to its playerbase. Luckily my new 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 caught up with the rest of the internet, and I am now able to play Grepolis on Android. It's a nice little tablet, and the larger-sized screen really makes games look great. The Android version of the game is not much different from the browser-based version, but playing on a tablet just feels much more natural. I do have some gripes, however, but I have a feeling that they might be addressed sometime in a future update.
Try Old School RuneScape for free this weekend
Plenty of RuneScape fans -- one million to be exact -- have been enjoying the nostalgia of the Old School servers that opened up last February. And now those who aren't paid members can get in on all the fun; Jagex is offering free access to everyone from now through Monday, November 4th. This event grants players the full member feature set for the duration of the weekend, just in time to participate in the holiday events (like going for the black Halloween mask, the first new one since 2002). All progress made during the weekend will be saved and stored so players can continue their adventures if they purchase a membership anytime in the future. Also on tap this weekend are the RuneFest 3 festivities (which players can catch via livestream) and the launch of the new PvP worlds. [Source: Jagex press release]
Jagex livestreaming RuneFest 3 on November 2
If you can't make to London's Tobacco Dock for next week's RuneFest 3, Jagex wants you to know that you can still follow all the RuneScape festivities thanks to RuneFest LIVE. Heck, even if you can make it, the event is sold out, so unless you've already got tickets you'll want to tune in. RuneFest LIVE is a livestream that starts at 11:00 a.m. GMT on November 2nd. In addition to all the usual convention coverage, Jagex says you can expect some new gameplay announcements and other reveals during the stream. Head past the cut to have a look at the teaser video. In other RuneScape news, the title now features the Well of Goodwill, which enables community members to give to charity using in-game wealth. Full details are availabe on the RuneScape website. [Source]: Jagex press release
RuneScape winning war on gold farming
Gold farming is a pervasive plague throughout the world of free-to-play MMOs, but RuneScape appears to have developed a cure. Jagex has announced that the recent introduction of Bonds (an in-game item that can pay for account-related and out-of-game benefits) has nearly eradicated gold farming in the game, reducing it by 81% in only one month. COO Riaan Hodgson stated, "While we anticipated that the launch of Bonds would impact the flow of illegal wealth into the game, we are thrilled the initiative has resulted in such a strong and immediate impact." The impact of Bonds, however, goes beyond just significantly lowering gold farming; Bonds have opened up more benefits to more players via the Pay-through-Play initiative. Additionally, more than 10% of RuneFest attendees have paid for their tickets to the November 2nd event at Tobacco Dock using Bonds. [Source: Jagex press release]
Browser-based Blood and Jade opens beta doors
Although browser-based Blood and Jade just barely kicked off alpha testing two weeks ago, the free-to-play game is already powering ahead into open beta testing. Starting today, players can get access to the Xianyang server and discover the drama of the Warring States for themselves by signing up on the official site. In Blood and Jade, players determine the fate of ancient China by becoming a master of martial arts, armed with ancient relics and accompanied by legendary Goddesses, and battling the forces of evil. Additionally, guilds can fight for territory and even ascend to the Imperial throne if they prove strong enough. [Source: R2Games press release]
MMObility: Combat Monsters still needs some tweaking
Combat Monsters is made by the folks at Rubicon, the same people who brought us the cute Great Little War Game and others. This made me almost immediately happy as I've spent a lot of time playing some of those titles and loved the way the developers kept things simple to play yet hard to master. Combat Monsters is supposed to be a multiplayer, turn-based, card-based, arena-style combat game with optional in-game purchases. I found it to be most of those things, but I also found that it still needed more time in the oven. You start off in a tutorial that does a relatively good job of explaining how everything works. You have a card deck with a limited number of cards, mojo for card creation that's earned every round, and several different types of cards that do different things during a round. It's all pretty straightforward... until the frustration kicks in.
RuneScape players will choose cards in themed Top Trumps game
What's in the cards for RuneScape players? The chance to select which monsters and villains will appear in the newly announced themed Top Trumps card game, Monsters of RuneScape. Today Jagex announced a partnership with Winning Moves to produce the first card pack based on the game, a move that Neil McClarty, Global Marketing Manager for RuneScape noted would "expand the RuneScape brand and bring the game to new audiences." Starting today, registered players can participate in 15 daily votes on the official site to select their favorite monsters to include in the game. Do you think Kalphite King or Kalphite Queen should wear the crown as best monster? Who deserves a place in Monsters of RuneScape more, Vorago or Nex? Make your choices known, then watch for Monsters of RuneScape to launch before Christmas. The card game will be available for purchase in the game's online store. [Jagex press release]
Free browser RPG Candy Box 2 is your next click-for-sweets addiction
Candy Box 2, the ASCII art-based sequel to the click-for-candy RPG is now available to freely play. Set up like other simple all-you-do-is-click games like Cookie Clicker and Clicking Bad, Candy Box 2 has players collecting pieces of candy in their browsers, trading candies in for items and equipment to aid them in quests. The game's blog describes changes to the formula introduced in the first game, noting that there are more items as well as hidden goods and fun Easter eggs; not every piece of equipment can be found in the text-based missions. French developer aniwey introduced an offline save system for Candy Box 2 so players can transfer their addiction progress to other computers.
'Old School' RuneScape grows to 1M players, opens God Wars dungeon
The "Old School" version of RuneScape has proven to be a hit with players, growing to over one million users. Jagex trumpeted the milestone along with a new update to the game bringing back the God Wars dungeon. Executive Producer Phil Mansell thinks that this shows classic servers have strong appeal for the community: "Seeing RuneScape Old School hit the million player mark so soon after launch is a great milestone for the game, and our players have joined the celebration by voting for the game's most epic update to date." Over 89% of the playerbase voted for the inclusion of the God Wars dungeon, in which groups will face-off against four bosses for a shot at a legendary Godsword and other shiny gear. You can check out the dungeon video after the break. [Source: Jagex press release]
MMObility: Checking in on location-based MMO Life is Magic
The mobile market is a great place for unique games as well as remakes and games that are influenced by past titles. But mobile is sort of a Wild West right now, one filled with titles that are obvious ripoffs of more popular games or games that are advertised as MMOs but are nothing like an MMO. I don't mind coming across a game or two that is MMO-like, but when a game claims to be something like the "most popular MMO on the market" or "the first mobile MMO," I get a bit peeved. Luckily there are a lot of great titles to choose from, games like Arcane Legends from Spacetime Studios or Grepolis from Innogames. There are also games like this week's Life is Magic, a neat location-based MMO that comes from Red Robot Labs. It leans a bit more to the pseudo-MMO side but is still a lot of fun when you want some turn-based action.
Clicking Bad is the darker side of Cookie Clicker [Update]
The latest strangely enticing phenomenon, Cookie Clicker, rewards players with cookies for every click of the mouse. Among the list of things more addicting than cookies is methamphetamines, the drug central to the plot of the popular, recently ended TV show Breaking Bad. Capitalizing on both properties is Clicking Bad, a free browser game in the same style as Cookie Clicker that has players cooking up drugs and selling them to upgrade their equipment. Clicking Bad launched its public beta roughly a week ago and just recently hit version 0.6, which added more manufacturing and selling tiers as well as changing the cost structure. The game tasks players with managing their drug creation business by either manually clicking "buy" and "sell" buttons or using in-game money to purchase upgrades like sleazy lawyers and abandoned trailers, each providing a boost to sales or production. The upgrades may also impact the odds of authorities catching on and seizing your meth-cooking labs as well as the purity levels of your drugs. The game's Twitter account notes that an achievement system "may or may not make it in this week," indicating that more updates are on the way. We're waiting for the right moment to introduce Clicking Bad to our own Richard Mitchell, who recently opted to stream his Cookie Clicker obsession for all to pity. We're worried about him enough as it is. Update: The game has just been updated to version 0.7, and sure enough, it now includes achievements.
Choose My Adventure: Indecision 2013
My goodness, it's been a long time since I've done Choose My Adventure. I cannot wait to dive into it again. But first, I should probably break down the rules and let you know how my Choose My Adventure will likely differ from those who have come before me. Besides the weekly column that comes out on Wednesday, I will also run a livestream whenever I play the game. Of course, Massively's livestream sessions are abbreviated, so I cannot stream on that channel for the number of hours that it will take me to accurately get a taste of what the game is like. So I will run the regular livestream on my channel, then take over Massively's stream when I can. That also means that some of the choices made during the course of this adventure will be made on the livestream and not in this column. However, I will attempt to let the readers of this column make the major choices. So let's decide what game I'll be playing for you. After the break, I've listed five games that I am interested in revisiting or visiting for the first time. Read the descriptions, then at the end, vote on the game you'd like to see me play. I will have to close the voting on Fridays, so that I will have the weekend to actually implement the choices you make. Happy adventuring!
RuneScape introduces new Halloween-themed questline
Jagex has announced a spooky new quest released today for RuneScape's Halloween event. Missing, Presumed Dead introduces players to a new area, new puzzles, battles against the walking dead, gods, mortals, and a host of new rewards to sweeten the pot. The quest will also set the scene for a brand new core storyline in RuneScape's lore. It can be played through the game's new Bonds system that allows players to purchase membership with in-game gold. Check out the behind-the-scenes trailer after the jump and the official announcement for more information.
The Mummy Online shuts down today
Do you remember The Mummy Online? It was a browser game by Bigpoint, it was in beta testing, it... you don't, do you? Apparently a lot of people didn't, seeing as how the company is shutting the game down as of today without much fanfare. According to the official announcement, Bigpoint has determined that due to the dropping playerbase it simply made more sense to sink more resources into games with an active group of players rather than trying to revive something slowly drying out. There's a metaphor in there. No word has been given on any kind of compensation for players who had spent money on the game. Readers may also note that the game never technically left beta testing, making it one of many titles to fold before an official launch. Our condolences to any gamers or developers affected deeply by this loss. [Thanks to Scott for the tip!]
