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.
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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.
To read the latest guides, news, and features you can visit our Dungeon Runners Game Page.
