TenTonHammer.com - Taking MMO Gamers to the Next Level!

By Danny "Ralsu" Gourley

Most games have about three hours to impress me, and Deco Online from Joymax only needed about 30 minutes--but I played for hours. After a couple weeks of watching the ads for Deco here at TenTonHammer.com, I was intrigued enough to write down the title as one to investigate for my Top Ten Free-to-Play Games, a weekly segment I put together for those who like to game for free. And it only took one play session for Deco to make the list. Read on to find out why.

Download and Installation
Before downloading any game, it's always best to check out the system requirements. Deco Online has modest system requirements, which are listed below.

System Requirements

Minimum Recommended CPU Pentium III 733MHz Pentium 4 1.8GHz RAM 256MB 512MB VGA 64MB 3D Graphic Card 128MB 3D Graphic Card HDD 2GB Hard Disk Space 2.5GB Hard Disk Space OS Windows 2000 / XP / Vista Windows 2000 / XP / Vista

Deco Online looks familiar to gamers her play free games often.

Gamers can download Deco Online directly from the official website. The download is 624MB.The install size on my hard drive is only 626MB despite what the system requirements note. I don't know if it will download more content as I reach new areas, or if the system requirements are just estimates that never came true.

Installation was simple. I just double-clicked the installer and let it do the work. When it finished installing, I was able to login using the account I had created during the download. After a short patch period, I was able to play.

Character Creation
Character creation for Dec Online is a decision of might or magic. Players first choose a faction: Millena or Rain. Millena is home to the physical fighters. Swordsmen, Archers, Knights, Mercenaries, Slayers, and Snipers all come from Millena. Rain has the magic users: Magicians, Shamans, Prominas, Priests, Holy Avengers, and Psyches. I favor magic over might, so I chose to make a character from Rain.

Next I was able to chose my gender and pick form a few spartan customization options. I would call this aspect of Deco bare bones. Each of the options (hair color, skin color, face, and maybe eye shape) had four choices. With many other free games having deeper options (and a game like Perfect World having some of the best in any game anywhere), this stands as a black mark against Deco.

With limited options, it's likely your character will look like somebody else's.

Interface and Controls

Deco drops starting players in a newbie area with tutorials to teach the basics of the interface, combat, and inventory management. In addition to the dialog box that encouraged me to talk to particular non-player character (NPC), I could see that Nad Lucas (the NPC) has an big exclamation point in the air to signify a quest.

I found I could walk by clicking, the common method in many free-to-play games. A mini-map in the top right of the screen noted the location of the NPCs near me. I could see menu buttons in the bottom right to access my inventory, character information, skills, and more. A hotbar for skills tied to the 1-0 keys sat int eh bottom left. The chat box was above the hotbar. In the top left corner was my character portrait with vital statistics. Just right of it was a small row of four buttons, one of them labeled for pet options.
 
There's more to Dec Online. Keep reading.