GameLight - Zentia

Quick note: Anyone remember the game All Points Bulletin (APB)?  Yeah, the MMO that lasted only 79 days before shutting down.  I was disappointed that I didn't get to play it longer during beta (some customer service problems).  But I heard a lot of players had problems with hackers, subscriptions, errors and all, so the game had to be shut down.  Rumors of it going free to play is still going and is becoming more of a legitimate announcement as Gamasutra reports that GamersFirst is going to be launching APB: Reloaded next year sometime 2011.  APB looked like a really fun game to play, but I just never got the chance to get into the meat of the game.  I'm glad that another company was willing to pick up the game and relaunch it and continue the efforts the developers put into making it.  GamersFirst has some other free MMOs worth checking out (I currently play Sword 2, used to be called Granado Espada: Sword of the New World).

[Zentia - ChangYou - PC]


Source: Youtube Channel ZentiaTheGame

Zentia is one of the better Chinese MMOs I've played so far.  It's quirky characters and cartoon-like graphics has a sense of charm that distinguishes itself from other MMOs in the market.  Despite that, it still follows the main structure of create, find, and kill that is so evident in MMORPGs of its genre.  One of the biggest differences in combat I noticed was the ability to dodge by back-dashing with the shift key and to go into a defensive stance using the space bar.  What amazed me was that it worked!  When I went up against boss level enemies to fulfill a quest, I was able to press shift and move out of harms way while counter-attacking with a ranged skill.  Players get a pet and mount early on so that auto-routing and traveling is eased by the animal companions.  There are 24 characters to choose from and so there isn't any character customization; however, between those 24 characters is the option of choosing one of eight classes.  I chose to be a Blade Warden which allows me to tank with melee attacks while still being able to DPS (Deal damages per second) with my ranged skills.

Screenshot by Shuriken

 

Pros:
-Auto-routing is implemented so that finding the desired destination is easier
-Game flow is pretty balanced (so far) and is not meticulous (no need to kill 100 baddies at a time)
-Graphics are not demanding, so it can run smoothly on even older computers
-Combat has a nice structure.  Not new, but at least it's not broken either
-Interface is organized (a lot of Chinese MMOs tend to have complex and intimidating interfaces)

Cons:
-There will be a lot of traveling between places.  Good thing you get a mount and a pet to lead you
-The game feels a bit unpolished, but it is open beta.  It should get better
-Nothing drastically new to offer to the MMORPG genre, just another take on it

In all honesty, I enjoyed playing Zentia thus far (perhaps compared to CardMon Hero) and "might" continue to play it.  I already play a large library of MMOs and I've been playing more retail games lately as a part of study in game design that I decided to partake in.  ChangYou surprised me with Zentia since the other two games did not seem very appealing when they first announced international launch.  I've been keeping up with ChangYou before they released games internationally, and now I'm even more curious as to how far they'll be able to expand in the market.