The past Oct. 13th, 2011, the facebook version of Conquer Online launched its open beta test. Given the game’s success on the PC end, and the growth of FB as a gaming platform, it’s no surprise that the publisher would choose the social networking giant as the platform for a browser-based version of the game. As one of the most popular free PC MMO, Conquer Online has been running for 8+ years. There are only a few games out there could have stood up for such a long time and still being vibrant.

It was a bit laggy when I first logged into the game with my facebook account and I assume that’s because of people crowding in? After that, everything went just fine! It took me actually less than 5 minutes to finish the initiation download stage (different from the client based version, instead of downloading a 600MB client, you only have to download a small package when playing on Facebook for the first time)

The game starts smoothly with character selection and creation, of which the animation is beautiful. The game provides 6 classes - Monk, Trojan, Ninja, Warrior, Archer and Taoist. Each of them has its unique skills and specialty. With that being said, the class system has its unique connection in between, players can choose to relive their character in another class when reaching the cap level without wiping the previous life memories, while I haven’t arrived at that stage yet but I assume will certainly make difference.

Once I’d made my character, I was good to go, beginning with a series of newbie quests. Although the official release said that the gameplay would be exactly the same, I still found some tiny modifications at the beginning – there is no birth village, the characters will be put directly in the main city and the newbie quests started right away at the Kungfu Boy. Also, you can choose to play in full-screen and mute mode by clicking on the two new bottoms on the top bar.

The newbie quests have covered the basic operations and NPC functions - store, warehouse, job center (the place where to learn skills), equipment repair and upgrade and many more. New players don’t have to worry about getting lost because the system will directly take you to the destinations. Just follow the tips. Also you can locate a specific NPC by clicking the name in the path finding, which is very convenient. It would be better if we can spend a bit less time running around. There are several maps along with area specific quests. Each world has its own set of challenge to complete.

Players control their characters with the mouse, moving and attacking enemies by simply clicking. Most combat quests ask you to slay monsters until you fulfill some quota, either of dead monsters or particular drop items from dead monsters. Most areas also have additional quest-givers who hand out challenges specific to the monsters in that area. Fulfilling them usually takes extra time, but lets you unlock special equipments and skills, which is a big satisfaction as you can see your character is being improved. Besides, you can choose to invite friends to join your team, helping your completing the quests. It could be a lot easier and faster and you can share one another’s experience.

Conquer Online allows open PvP, which means anyone could come over and kill you. You just need to be very careful when you’re out there.

The gameplay is fulfilled with quests, so you don’t have to worry about nothing to do. Leveling up is fast and smooth. It unlocks new skills to learn, new areas, new gear and new items.

Apart from the PvE gameplay, social interaction is also one of the biggest parts of the gamming experience. Facebook CO inherits a load of interactive features from the PC client-based version – chatting, trading, market, friend/enemy list, house, marriage and mini games like horse running and Texas Hold’em as well as intense PvP tournaments, such as guild war. player will have some pleasant time in game socializing - teaming up with random people, selling items on the market and joining a guild might be not ‘social enough’, while dressing up your character, throwing a party in your own virtual house, dancing around, making friends, getting married, horse racing and playing Texas Hold’em in Casino is ‘quite social’ – you can find all these features in the game and there are lot more enjoyment to discover.

In terms of graphics, Conquer Online’s Chinese ink-wash painting style animation is pretty lively and vivid and the full screen mode display visual is surprisingly good. The graphics were performing at an extremely high level. Despite the characteristics of a 2.5D MMORPG, it showed us some prospects for how well graphics for 2.5D can be used.

Facebook Conquer Online is a fairy enjoyable game, despite being a bit repetitive. It’s a great addition to facebook lineup of MMOs. It’s accessible enough to welcome inexperienced gamers and complex enough to provide MMO vets with a decent challenge. RPG fans should give it a go.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 20th, 2011 at 5:42 pm and is filed under MMO News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.