Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

By Danny "Ralsu" Gourley

In a world where Neo Steam is the most valuable source of energy, three kingdoms have risen for power. These three kingdoms fight an all-out war to decide who will be the rightful of the neo steam generator. That's the basic principle behind NeoSteam, a steampunk massively-multiplayer online game developed by JoyImpact and being published by Hanbitsoft. NeoSteam just finished its second Closed Beta Test (CBT), and I had a chance to play with the game just a little bit to bring you a first impressions preview.

NeoSteam features motorized vehicles powered by neo steam.

The Download and Installation
Before I had a chance to download and install NeoSteam, I was busy giving away CBT keys. Two days into the giveaway, I received the following email from one of our Premium Members who uses McAfee Antivirus:

I decided to try the download that night. The NeoSteam download process installs an ActiveX plugin into your browser (Firefox or Internet Explorer--I did not try with any other browser) that acts as a download manager. This part did not pose a problem, but the download manager could not begin the download until I disabled my antivirus. I use Symantec.

The download manager was a nifty graphical thing; it kept me abreast of my progress and looked like a computer screen out of a science fiction movie. After about an hour of downloading the 800MB+ installer, I scanned the installer for viruses. Everything came up clean, so I installed. Installation was easy. I chose my install directory, and the installer did all of the work.

The graphics in NeoSteam are better than those in the average free-to-play game.

After installation, I connected to the server--or tried to connect. Again, the client seemed to hang up so long as my antivirus was active. Once Symantec was disabled, the patcher did its thing and I was able to start the game.

Two weeks since I installed and played the game, I have not had any problems with viruses, popups, or any other computer nasty. Still, I think it is important to relate the email I received from the Premium Member and my own difficulties getting the game to run with my antivirus enabled. Many gamers will simply not bother to install a product if they feel it compromises the safety of their computers, and I feel the person who sent me the email did the smart and responsible thing. I suspect that her virus warning was either a false alarm or the identification of a virus she already had (the nature of the newwin32 virus is to attach itself to existing files), but it is worth mentioning to readers.

The Trailer
When NeoSteam first launched, I went to grab a drink from the kitchen. I came back to find the NeoSteam trailer in action on my screen. I was fairly impressed. The trailer, which shows life in a steampunk city and each of the four races in combat against a giant beast, demonstrates a conscious effort toward good presentation. Many developers settle for mid-range or lower graphics in free-to-play games to cut costs, but the effort behind rendering the NeoSteam trailer gave me hope that the game might just look good. I was so impressed that I fired up my video editing software and let the trailer play again so I could record it and post it for Ten Ton Hammer readers to enjoy.

There's more to this NeoSteam preview. Keep reading.