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By Danny "Ralsu" Gourley

Week in Review

Okay, this week I finally dragged myself away from style="font-style: italic;">Atlantica Online
long enough to check out a new game: style="font-style: italic;">Florensia. style="font-style: italic;">You know what? I'm
glad I did. Florensia
was a fun experience. My goal is to bring readers my first impressions
of the game next week, but I'll repeat the basics here.

Florenisa
places gamers in the age of seafaring adventure. It blends the
traditional fantasy themes (complete with casting spells) with the ship
sailing action of recent titles, such as style="font-style: italic;">Pirates of the Burning Sea
(PotBS). I
thought PotBS was pretty fun, and I think style="font-style: italic;">Florensia is at
least as fun after a few hours of play. Rather than going for the
realism of PotBS, Florensia
has cartoon graphics. Enemies in the early going are mushrooms and the
like, giving the feel of a game for young teens. Still, the gameplay is
as complex as many subscription games, and it's worth a try. Look for
more details next week.

Meanwhile, the trend of free-to-play (F2P) games gaining
ground in the Western markets has extended to Ten Ton Hammer, too. If
you haven't heard about it already, check out Ten Ton
Hammer's The
Pulse. Basically, The Pulse tells us which games are the
hottest according to Ten Ton Hammer readers each day. Well, F2P
gamers, our day has arrived. In the past week, as many as four
F2P games have appeared in The Pulse, sending a clear message that F2P
is here to stay. Games from this Top Ten list (including style="font-style: italic;">Atlantia Online, style="font-style: italic;">Dungeon Runners, style="font-style: italic;">Mabinogi, and style="font-style: italic;">Runes of Magic)
have ranked higher than subscription-based games like href="http://eq2.tentonhammer.com/"> style="font-style: italic;">EverQuest 2,
style="font-style: italic;">Vanguard,
style="font-style: italic;">EVE Online,
and style="font-style: italic;">Tabula Rasa.

Despite all signs pointing to a shift in the revenue model in
the West, some people still resist. What's your advice to the gamer who
clings to his subscription while rocking back and forth in his computer
chair? Will F2P become the big thing in the West? Tell me href="http://forums.tentonhammer.com/showthread.php?t=36758">in
the forums.

The List

My one change this week is to bring style="font-style: italic;">Florensia into the
Top Ten. It's worth a look for most gamers. As I play it more, I'll
decide if it can keep its place, move up, or drop out of the Top Ten.

My next target is Cronous.
While I am testing out games so that you don't have to, be sure to
check out at least the games ranked 1-5. Something from that group has
to be right for you.

Here are my Top Ten Free-to-Play Games for this week.

Disclaimer:
The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed are those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of
the Ten Ton Hammer network or staff.

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colspan="4" rowspan="1"> style="color: white; font-weight: bold;">Top Ten
Free-to-Play Games

October 9, 2008 style="text-align: center; width: 75px; background-color: rgb(114, 105, 62); font-weight: bold; color: white;">Rank style="text-align: center; width: 75px; background-color: rgb(114, 105, 62); font-weight: bold; color: white;">Previous style="text-align: center; width: 105px; background-color: rgb(114, 105, 62); font-weight: bold; color: white;"> style="width: 334px; background-color: rgb(114, 105, 62); font-weight: bold; color: white;">Game

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