Winterfrost Legacy

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      Winterfrost Legacy is a free-to-play 2.5D browser MMORPG set in a mythical world inhabited by humans, orc, and elves. The world is threatened by undead warriors seeking vengeance on the king who banished them long ago. In their quest for retribution, the undead warriors inadvertently release a powerful demon hell-bent on destroying the world. As heir to the throne and as a Child of the Winterfrost Prophecy, players are tasked with saving the world from impending doom. The game’s graphics are good, with colorful and detailed environments, flashy effects during combat, and awesome artwork. The sounds, however, are nothing special and seems like it was ported over from one of R2Games’ previous titles.

The Child of Prophecy
       Before players start fulfilling any prophecy, or save the world, they must create their characters. Players are given the option of choosing from one of four iconic classes: Warrior, Mage, Rogue, or Shaman. Without a character customization feature in place, and since all the classes follow the same storyline, class-choice depends on personal preference. Or, in my case, which of them looks cooler. After creating their characters, players go through an unskippable prologue that also serves as a basic tutorial, similar to previous R2Game titles. Throughout the course of the game tooltips appear to guide the player through new gameplay elements like distributing skill points, recruiting mercenaries, and setting up party formations. The game also constantly bombards players with microtransaction offers and discounts on Gems, the game’s premium currency. Unfortunately, there’s no way to turn both features off so you’ll have to deal with it. On a positive note, you do get to see scantily clad angels when offers pop-up, which makes things a bit more bearable.

Beguiling Guardians
      Winterfrost Legacy is basically League of Angels with a different story, better graphics, and even more alluring angels (called Guardians). Surprisingly, it has all the makings of a good MMORPG, including a good story, quests, dungeons, mounts, end-game raiding, and clan wars, if it weren’t for the fact that the game virtually plays itself with minimal interaction required from the player—another R2Games trademark. Quests, which usually involve clearing instanced dungeons, are how characters gain experience points needed to level up. Character skills, as well as certain game features such as the Tavern, are automatically unlocked by reaching specific levels. Not a problem considering that game progression is incredibly fast and easy, yet another thing that Winterfrost Legacy has with its predecessors. I reached level 5 within seconds of starting the game by simply speaking to two NPCs, and level 45 in less than an hour without even breaking a sweat. While this gives players the ability to experience end-game content faster, it makes the game feel like child’s play and I like my games with a bit of challenge to them.

Recruiting Mercenaries
    Combat in Winterfrost Legacy features a turn-based combat system similar to classic RPG’s. Players attack using one of the skills bound to their hotbar. Unfortunately, players have no control over which enemy unit their skills target. There’s an auto-combat option which is basically the same as regular combat except that the AI chooses the skills for you. Players also have control of their character’s position in the party along with any mercenaries they recruit. Players up front receive the brunt of damage from enemies and are perfect for tanks while units in the back receive less and are suitable for ranged DPS characters. While I do like the concept of being able to recruit mercenaries and having free reign on party formation, having absolutely no control over them defeats the purpose of the feature, other than making the game even less challenging than it already is. It’s bad enough that players can usually kill an enemy with one shot without adding powerful AI units to the mix.

Clan Wars
     Players who want to engage in PVP can join 1vs1 arena battles as soon as they hit level 40. They can also join Clans, or form their own, and join Clan Wars that take place twice a week at specific times. Players must be at least level 50 to participate in Clan Wars. During Clan Wars, the number one clan must defend their gate’s statues for 20 minutes. They win the match and receive a victory point if they succeed. Should they fail, they will be replaced by the attacking team until time runs out. The winning clan receives a buff that raises the merit they earn from merc trials and gold obtained from Crypt battles. The clan leader also receives the title “King of Clans,” while participating members get the title “Kings Watch.” All participants receive a participation prize if they stay for more than five minutes.

Cash Shop
      The fact that the game shamelessly bombards players with microtransactions at every turn should probably be enough to tell you that this is a pay to win game. Players can unlock guardians and buy gems that permanently increase stats as well as a variety of overpowered wings that grant huge bonuses to character stats. The items definitely break the game’s PVP aspect. The rest of the game however, with its automated gameplay, overpowered mercs, and relatively easy opponents shouldn’t be overly-affected, other than make things even easier for players.

The Final Verdict - Good
       Winterfrost Legacy is another production-line MMORPG from R2Games. I’ve played a bunch of their games and, surprisingly, they're starting to grow on me. The super-easy automated gameplay and the microtransaction bombardment might be a little off-putting, but you gotta love Winterfrost Legacy’s artwork—scantily clad angels aside. The game also features a storyline that may seem cliché, with its good versus evil plot, but still mildly interesting to say the least. Overall, Winterfrost Legacy is eye-candy and definitely not recommended for hardcore gamers.  Play Now

Magerealm: Rise of Chaos

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       Magerealm: Rise of Chaos is a free-to-play 3D browser fantasy MMORPG developed by Youzu Games and published by GTArcade. The game went into open-beta on June 18, 2015 and can be played through GTArcade’s game portal.

 magerealm rise of chaos loading screen
Magerealm: Rise of Chaos is set in a mythical world where players assume the role of the last surviving mage after the complete destruction of the Holy City, following a battle between the powerful mages Freya and the traitorous Anders. Players wake up weaker than they once were and set out on a quest to find out exactly what happened to the Holy City while working to stop Anders and his hoard of demons from taking over the world. The game’s graphics look really good for a browser-game when compared to other similar games like League of Angels and Monkey King Online. It features beautifully-done artwork, stylish gear, and cool flashy effects. The interface, however, is a bit cluttered which is usually common in these types of games. The audio is also good and changes from thunderous tribal music to serene melodies depending on the environment.

The Holy City
Players start off by choosing from one of three pre-made gender-locked characters. Unfortunately, like most browser games, Magerealms lacks any sort of customization feature apart from naming. After choosing their characters, players are treated to a quick cut-scene which shows the Demon Lord making quick work of the city guards with one powerful attack. Most of the game will be punctuated with these types of cut-scenes to move the story along. After which, players complete a series of quests as a high-level character which culminates in a fight against the Demon Lord. The game lacks a formal tutorial but instead relies on tooltips to walk players through most, if not all, of the gameplay elements.

Child’s Play
Auto-pathing and auto-combat have become a staple of most browser MMORPG’s, and Magerealm is no different. While auto-pathing and auto-combat do have their perks—like not having to walk to the next NPC, for example—it makes the game a too easy. Some might even hesitate to call it a game, considering that you can get through most of the game by simply clicking on one button. Although, you can still play manually if you want to. The tool-tips also seem over-the-top since they tell players exactly when and what to do, even for gameplay features that have been previously covered. When you gain a new skill, for example, tooltips tell you exactly which buttons to click. This is OK the first time, but when it happens every single time you gain a new skill that’s just too much. Even equipping newly-looted items can be done with a single click of a button. I’m all for convenience but, personally, too much hand-holding can ruin a perfectly good game.


Down To The Basics
Magerealm: Rise of Chaos is pretty much your standard-fare MMORPG and has almost everything players look for in one, including dungeons, companions, mounts, raids, and crafting. And, like typical MMORPG’s, the game is reliant on breadcrumb quests to move players from one area to the next and move the story along, while rewarding players with in-game currency, gear, and experience points needed to make them stronger. Quests reward players with plenty of experience points to make character progression fast and easy. I was able to get to level 20 in just under an hour. Dungeons come in different forms, and range from the typical mob-runs to more unique types like smashing as many eggs as you can within a time limit. This adds variety to the game which is rarely seen in browser games. Combat uses the classic point-and-click and Tab-targetting system—not really important if you’re going to use the game’s auto-path and auto-combat feature, but worth mentioning anyway. Players’ stats automatically increase as the player gains levels and acquires better gear. Skills, on the other hand, need to be manually unlocked and improved by spending Amethysts, that players can get from quests or by participating in Daily Events.


Heroes and Angels

Taking on the baddies can be tough without companions to help players out especially since most, if not all, the quests are completed solo. Fortunately, Magerealm lets players recruit from a large roster of angels and heroes that they can summon to help them in battle. Guardian angels do not participate in combat; however, they grant players buffs and access to powerful spells that they can cast when in a pinch. Heroes, on the other hand, are more like mercenaries and actively assist players during combat. Players can only have one Guardian Angel at a time and up to two Heroes in their party. As players progress through the game they will be rewarded with a variety of free heroes. Unfortunately, only one Guardian Angel is given for free. More heroes can be recruited from the Recruit Heroes menu, where players get to randomly draw for training materials needed to recruit heroes. Players can also use diamonds, the game’s premium currency, to increase their chances.

Honor and Prestige
Like most MMORPG’s Magerealm let’s players duke it out in old-fashioned PVP combat. Aside from the usual 1v1 Arena-style combat, that players can unlock upon reaching level 29, players can also create their own PVP rooms to challenge both friends and rivals. Players can also enter Competitive Mode, provided that they’ve finished their daily PVP quests. In competitive mode players can challenge any player regardless of level. If normal PVP isn’t enough players can also join Prizefights where both players place their bets and the winner takes all. In all PVP modes players gain Prestige and Honor points regardless of whether they win or lose the match. Prestige points determine the player’s PVP ranking, while Honor points can be exchanged for rare items in the Honor Shop.

Diamonds Are a Player’s Best Friend
Suprisingly, unlike most free-to-play browser games, Magerealm isn’t too heavy-handed when it comes to the cash shop. Players aren’t bombarded with pop-up boxes urging them to buy premium items. The cash shop contains the usual upgrade items, as well as rare heroes and angels that players can exchange for diamonds, the game’s premium currency. Players can also buy costumes and convenience items like potions and keys to open rare dungeon chests. In my opinion, the game is more pay-for-convenience rather than the usual pay-to-win schemes found in most browser-based games.


The Final Verdict – Great
For a browser game, Magerealms: Rise of Chaos has almost everything a player looks for in an MMORPG. It also features better graphics than your usual browser-based game along with cool artwork and audio. The Prizefight PVP mode is also a great touch and allows players to put more on the line aside from their pride and honor. The game also has a very large playerbase and a highly-responsive community. While the game would definitely have been better without the auto-combat system, the game is still fun to play and offers a wide variety of features that can keep a casual player occupied for hours on end. If flashy effects, scantily-clad women, and PVP-focused gameplay is your thing give this game a shot.  Play Now