Do you love fantasy gaming or anime? Are you sick of the most popular and well known MMOs and looking for a new world to conquer and explore? Well look no more because Wartune has arrived from Kabam Games, a massively multiplayer turn-based RPG and Strategy hybrid that, unlike some of those ‘other’ fantasy epic games, will not cost you a dime to play, .
Wartune may have arrived on the MMO scene late but what it lacks in timeliness it makes up for in verve and eye-candy. It features some absolutely breathtaking artwork, and compelling game play all set in a fantasy world that is at least as cohesive (if not quite as iconic) as any World of Whatever has to offer.
Given that it costs nothing and doesn’t force you to download and install eighty thousand terabytes of data before playing the first time, it’s also a great choice for the more casual or beginning MMO gamer.
Wartune can be thought of, essentially, as a hybrid or cross breed. If Diablo and World of Warcraft got together and had a mad affair, Wartune might be the love child result. It offers a fairly standardized MMO type experience, but it runs a top-down interface very similar to Diablo and the original Sims games, all taking place within your browser. This alone makes it an excellent place to start for beginners that may feel a bit overwhelmed or confused by the fully 3D games but are still familiar with gaming in general.
The graphics in Wartune are gorgeous. That’s the best and only way I can describe them. The characters are well rendered, with sharpness and clarity so you can make out individual details of their armor etc. The backgrounds are interesting without being too busy, overwhelming, or cluttered. THe only real complaint I have about the graphics is the fact that the animations are a bit more jerky than I would normally like. however, the spectacular nature of some of the ‘special effect’ graphic animations makes up for this in my opinion. In any case, the graphics are very pretty, but not so intensive that they require a serious gaming machine to render, making Wartune another excellent alternative to mainstream MMOs.
The game play is Wartune’s real strength. They have taken some of the best features of the most successful MMOs out there, combined them with some of the best features of the most successful and loved games of yesteryear, and tried very hard to remove all the ‘fat’ of stuff we gamers hate. There’s replay value built in from the start, as you can repeat any section or quest as many times as you like, and there’s always something new around the corner as well. Levels, equipment and skills are all handled in a sane and understandable way so you won’t feel like there’s a huge uphill climb to learn how to play effectively. In fact, I was successfully winning combat within the first five minutes of playing.
The storyline you’re led through in Wartune is well-written, if a bit expansive but that is to be expected and even lauded in a fantasy MMO so it’s no downside to me. The only real downside I found to the game in general (not counting the lack of animated frames in some areas) was the fact that it can take a very long time to get anywhere at higher levels if you aren’t a VIP player. This kind of thing has been called ‘pay to win’ but I call it a minor annoyance and a challenge, personally. Since I don’t spend money on my conquests, they mean more to me than if I had just purchased a dragon’s head and mounted it on the wall without actually having faced the dragon. Until next time, my friends!
- Join Wartune here.
