May 9th, 2009

Best Free Online MMORPG – Part II

As I promised two days ago, our quest for the best free online MMORPG continues, but we won't finish it here. Probably it's going to take at least another encounter with these awesome games, and I am sure there will still be some of them left. Why? Well, the reason is obvious - we're talking about a world that's changing as we speak, and what's free now may not be free tomorrow, while some interesting alpha-stage project may become tomorrow's king of the free MMORPG arena!

Last time, we had 5 stops, with 6 games, and today we'll probably have a few extra ones. Just keep in mind that I'm not trying to provide you mini-reviews of the games, especially since I didn't manage to play all of them, so best thing for you to do is to click the links and visit the official pages of each one and see for yourself. I'm just trying to be your "guiding light" here...

Oh, yeah - this may be second part of the quest for the best free online MMORPG, but I'll count from 1 to... 6-7-8 to make things easier. I hope that's OK with you. These being said, let's get things moving, shall we?

1. Entropia Universe is a MMORPG designed by MindArk, one of the few such games that managed to enter the Guinness World Records Book two times, in 2004 and 2008. The reason is not the number of players, but the most expensive virtual world objects ever sold...

...and the above leads us to the freedom of playing it part - while you can create an account and enjoy some parts of it for free, buying credits is the way to fully enjoy Entropia Universe and, if you play it well, maybe even make a profit out of it.

Regarding the graphics part, it's enough to say that soon, the game's engine will be CryEngine 2, and since Crysis uses it... draw the conclusion for yourselves!

2. Cronous is a game that was released in 2007, and has become free to play in the meantime, but still keeps an item shop where various premium items can be purchased for real money.

With pretty low system requirements for the year 2009 and decent graphics, Cronous can help you waste some time and have fun at the same time.

3. Dungeon Runners, published by NCSoft, is a free fantasy MMORPG that was released back in 2007. Now, the client software is free to download and use, with unlimited free gameplay... but paying an optional $4.99 fee gives you access to a bunch of features that will surely enhance your gaming experience a lot.

Why try it? Heh, here's my favorite part - Dungeon Runners' in-game music has been composed by Tracy W. Bush and is pretty similar to Diablo II's upcoming soundtrack, each of the boss monsters having a different theme song, from black metal(>:)) to synthpop and funk.

4. Fiesta comes from Korea, and features an anime style world and characters, but it's also available in English, German, French and Spanish.

Completely free to download and play, Fiesta has a "cash shop" for premium items, as most free MMORPGs you'll ever find. Anyway, this is another candidate for the best free online MMORPG crown you should check out.

5. Free Realms is a MMORPG developed by Sony Online Entertainment currently available for the PC, but a PlayStation 3 version is also expected to drop in the third quarter of 2009.

Released at the end of April, this is probably the most recent free MMORPG I found, although various subscriptions are being offered, including a $10 family account allowing five logins at the same time. Pretty sweeet, don't you think?

This is it for today's best free online MMORPG story, but be sure to check back in a few days. We're still far from the end of our road...