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

Even if you initially decided upon a character that was not appropriate for your play-style, hope is not lost. In fact, you can substantially modify your character to your own style of gameplay by purchasing skills that you wish to employ and donning any sort of armor or weapon you choose. Nothing is limited by class; if you want to wield that uber-sword you can, just don’t expect it to help out your spell-casting. Even the character attributes can be changed with the push of a button; NCsoft has incorporated a “Re-spec” button directly into the dungeon runner’s character sheet. On top of that, the speed of leveling, free sign-up and the general pace of the game help to alleviate some of this single character per account issue.

After completing character creation, you’ll be offered the option of choosing which game world you’d like to participate in. Each world has a cap of two hundred, so you’ll either be in a very crowded environment, or one that is a bit quieter. Each type is available, with some worlds always staying around the population cap and others hovering around the 30s-40s.

You'll find out quickly that Dungeon Runners is not your typical MMOG.

We’re Not In Kansas Anymore

Upon entering the Dungeon Runners world, you’ll get the feeling that this isn’t your typical MMO almost immediately. Instead of being dropped into a behind-the-character third person camera angle, your game starts out in the rather atypical 3D isometric view – more akin to a game like Titan Quest or Baldur’s Gate than it is to any 3D MMORPG.

Your starting area is fairly sparse, with only a few NPCs in the area to direct you on your quest. Here, you’ll again get the feeling that Dungeon Runners isn’t exactly the average MMO.  In reality, the game takes very few things seriously, as player’s will quickly find out when the converse with their first NPC. “WOW..This queue is taking forever,” stated my initial NPC. “I hope I get to see the dungeon today.” Perhaps the reference to another prominent MMORPG was unintentional, but this is the sort of humor you’ll find through Dungeon Runners.

As you check your items, you’ll notice that some of the descriptors are surprisingly…strange. For example, you may have a weapon in your inventory that has a weapon speed of “Grandma”, or you’ll notice that your sword isn’t made out of steel like you first though, but it’s actually described as the “Cardboard Two-Handed Sword”. There are numerous references like this throughout Dungeon Runners that will leave your sides aching, with NPC merchants stating that they can now “send their children to school” and making reference to how often they get clicked on.

Combat is as easy as click-and-kill.

 After you’ve accepted your initial quests, which are signified by the same yellow exclamation point that so many other MMOGs now use, you are shoved into the beginning dungeon. Hopefully your clicks-per-second haven’t diminished since your days with Blizzard’s Diablo, because Dungeon Runners is a very mouse-heavy game. Although characters can be moved with the WASD keypad, you’re almost doing more work than is necessary. In Dungeon Runners, you’ll be able to map your combat skills to your two mouse buttons, so when an enemy is near you can easily start swinging away without needing to put your hands on the keyboard. Like any of the common hack-and-slash PC titles, simply click your mouse buttons to swing away.

Throughout your adventuring as a dungeon runner, you may experience a multitude of monsters, but rarely are they dispatched in any way other than the simple clicking of a mouse button. Often the faster you click, the better. Strategy is something that is taken lightly in Dungeon Runners; you may choose to devise a strategy to defeat an enemy if you wish, but often you have just as much luck pulling a “Leeroy” as you do anything else. Switching between spells and knowing the exact use of a spell may come in handy, but it certainly isn’t necessary.