The
style="font-style: italic;">Wonderland Online
Closed Beta
began on April 9, and I decided to give it a try because I am always
looking for yet another solid free-to-play (F2P) game that can soak up
some of my time between play sessions of more intense games. In fact,
the F2P market is just getting started good here in the western
hemisphere, as many previous offerings have been of poor quality and
abysmal translations. In the case of
style="font-style: italic;">Wonderland Online
(WL), I knew I was dealing with an experienced company in Skyunion Co,
Ltd. They've been making F2P games for a while now, hosting them on
their Internet Gaming Gate Network (IGG).
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Players choose a
character with pre-defined aptitudes in
style="font-style: italic;">Wonderland Online.
The Download
WL is a
big file, weighing in at roughly 550MB. My ADSL connection needed some
time to deal with that, so I was able to go to the WL website (
href="http://wl.igg.com/" target="_blank">wl.igg.com)
and read up on the game. Wonderland
tells the story of a young person (the player) who is stranded on an
island after a shipwreck. The castaway first assumes the island is
deserted but soon meets up with other survivors. Before long, they
discover the island is actually rife with activity, resources, and
dangers. That's where players come in; they'll be looking to harness
the resources to get back home while making friends and enjoying an
adventure. According to the website,
style="font-style: italic;">Wonderland
contains all the features players expect from MMOGs today: crafting,
pets, spells, and exciting quests.
The
first thing I noticed about WL that seemed different from the typical
Western experience was the choice of starting character. Instead of
putting different faces and hairstyles on paper dolls as we are used
to, WL players pick from a set of pre-determined characters. Further
reading revealed that I'd be able to assign attribute points and pick
skills as I liked but that my choice of character would give me bonuses
to specific attributes and that some characters were better suited for
one path over another. That part did not seem too different from a
choice of race in most western massively-multiplayer online games
(MMOGs).
My download ended up taking 75 minutes or so, and I was
able to read up on WL and do some other things. Before I go on, it's
important to note that this took place on April 6 and that I was
unaware that the Closed Beta did not open until April 9.
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Ten Ton Hammer has a
Wonderland Online Closed Beta key for you. Click on this picture to
find out how to get yours.
Installation
WL did
not really throw anything difficult in my path during installation. I
was able to just launch the installer, agree to the terms of service,
and then sit back and let the installer do the work. With 550MB of an
initial download, you can probably guess that installation took a
little while. I took this as a sign that the game might have some
substance to it. I didn't really have to do anything thing, though. I
was able to just let the process take care of itself. When it
completed, I had the option to launch WL and was ready to go.
The Client
WL
launches in a window that is 640 X 480 and presents 4 options: Enter
Game, Sign Up, screen setting, and Leave Game. I immediately went into
screen setting and told the game to run in full screen. It didn't work.
I then returned to the main menu and chose Enter Game. I was
immediately confronted with a dialog box that asked me to Choose a
Download Point. Since my choices were Update and Other, I went with
Update. The game client connected to the host server and reported that
"no updateing [sic] files needed." Well, a little typo never killed
anybody!
I moved on to select my server (Aries is the only one
up for the beta right now) and told the client to connect me to the
server. When the connection failed, I was given the option to Return or
AFK. Through trial and error, I learned that AFK means "exit" for WL. I
went on to try to connect to Aries 4 or 5 more times before I decided
the problem required assistance. That's when I made a pleasant
discovery about customer service at IGG.com.
Keep
reading. Up next, I discuss my customer service experience and what I
found when I first got to play Wonderland
Online.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Wonderland Online Game Page.
