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

By Cody “Micajah” Bye, Managing Editor

Just over a year ago, I got the notion to download NCsoft’s Dungeon Runners. Advertised as “a free to play MMOG that doesn’t suck,” Dungeon Runners definitely got my attention with their tongue-in-cheek attitude and obvious parody of the MMOG genre. After a thorough play session, I deemed that Dungeon Runners was a great game but a number of gameplay elements detracted from the overall enjoyment of the title, including the vast array of unequipable items by non-members and lackluster graphics.

Since that time, the team at NCsoft has truly embraced their free to play MMOG and are setting a swift course for amazing success with their dungeon-delving free to play game. Not only have they opened up a number of the items in the title to non-members via their in-game ad program, but they’ve also gone ahead and released a retail box of Dungeon Runners, which seems to be selling remarkably well.

A photo of the Dungeon Runners retail box.

Priced at only $20, the retail box version of Dungeon Runners seems like an absolute steal. Yes, you heard that right - the $20 boxed version of a free to play game is a steal.  With a six month membership included with the purchase of the retail game, players essentially get $30 worth of game time for only $20. For most gamers, paying $5 a month isn’t an extreme investment, yet the retail copy of Dungeon Runners drops this price point even lower. On top of that, the retail version of Dungeon Runners also comes complete with the obnoxiously cute Bling Gnome, a creature that can save you precious minutes during your dungeon questing.

But is all this worth the price of $20? To answer this question, I jumped back into the game after nabbing a copy of the retail version of the title. Would the game truly be a better experience post-retail? Was the membership worth it? Would the fabled Ten Ton Hammer finally fall into my hot little hands?

After reinstalling the game onto my recently upgraded computer, I flipped through the DR retail instruction manual to see if there were any secret tricks to upgrading my account to the retail version of the game. Luckily, NCsoft didn’t feel the need to require previous Dungeon Runners to open a brand new account to add the six months of play time and the Bling Gnome to their account. With a smile on my face, I plugged my NCsoft account information back into the log-in screen and popped in the serial code. A few seconds later, my account was upgraded – I was a premium member of Dungeon Runners complete with my very own Bling Gnome!

In Dungeon Runners you can actually wield the Ten Ton Hammer!

But what does that mean? First, one of my major complaints in my original review of Dungeon Runners was the inability to get many of the “premium member” only items in the game. As a free to play gamer, you can only equip a certain percentage of the items within Dungeon Runners, which severely limits the overall enjoyment you can get from the title. Dungeon Runners is extremely item-centric and if you don’t have access to the best of the best, it really feels like a downer in-game.

With the $20 retail pack, the NCsoft developers have made it extremely affordable to got a membership package and therefore get every single item available int he game. With a monthly cost of $3.34, almost any gamer should be able to dole out the cash they need to get their online gaming fix. Honestly, that’s less then renting a movie from Blockbuster or buying a gallon of gas. If the price gets any lower, NCsoft will be paying us for their content.

On top of this great price reduction, NCsoft has made some tremendous improvements to the graphics, sounds, and gameplay mechanics in Dungeon Runners. Instead of point-and-click movement being the default, NCsoft has opted to use a WASD movement options with mouse-clicking to attack. This option is much more MMORPG friendly, and the only issue I’ve had with control options is accidentally picking up items, which is a nuisance when you throw the Bling Gnome into the mix.

While the pricing and upgrades are great features for Dungeon Runners, I wasn’t overly thrilled with the Bling Gnome. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the Gnome, it’s important to explain what he does in the game. Rather than forcing players to constantly go back to town to sell their hard-earned goods (ala the Diablo games), the DR team has opted to give retail purchasers a “Bling Gnome” that converts their items into gold. He also picks up random gold lying on the ground, which keeps players focused on the gameplay portions of the title.

The Bling Gnome craps out gold for the players.

Although his functionality works and does reduce some down time, the Bling Gnome does have a few problems. As I was saying earlier, with the new control system I often find myself grabbing random items that are dropped on the ground mid-battle. Without the Bling Gnome, this wasn’t a problem and I’d simply click again to drop it while actively swinging my sword. However, if accidentally pick up any items, the Bling Gnome’s gold-eating ways are negated. Due to some construction of the game’s code, players aren’t allowed to pick up any items that they want the Gnome to convert into gold. Players also can’t drop items from their inventory for quick gold conversions, which is really frustrating for players that only want to quickly assess the stats on their new items.

All in all, the Dungeon Runners retail package is a great value. In the past, I stated that Dungeon Runners was the sleeper hit of 2007, and I still think that’s true. However, with the retail box the NCsoft team has a chance to really take Dungeon Runners to the next level. If players continue to join the game in swarms through the boxed version, I can see NCsoft employing this strategy on all of their upcoming titles in the future. While I unfortunately still haven't come across the fabled Ten Ton Hammer (whish is a fabled, rainbow-colored weapon), you can read all about the in-game hammer by clicking here!