Corum Online
Review
It may seem like just another knockoff, but manages to hold its own against the more well-known games
by zr122
reviewed on PC
Free games compete with commercial ones?
With Action/Adventure games taking a more solid grip on gamers across the globe, it becomes harder and harder for Free to Play games to find a playable market. Many gamers are of the opinion that Free 2 Play games are of a lower gaming caste and don't compare to the big names like Warcraft and Guild Wars. Gaming company GPotato has just released Corum Online, the fourth game to come out of this relatively unknown company. GPotato has made a name for themselves with their unique advances in the realm of Action/Adventure games, especially with the third release, Flyff, where your character could fly at will in order to traverse the landscape. With Corum Online, GPotato has created a brand new world yet again, and it is their their most ambitious yet.
An unfortunately bad start
Despite the relative hype this game has generated among gamers fond of the genre, Corum Online displays some problems right out of the starting gate. As the game can only be accessed by downloading the files from one of six servers (which in itself can take nine hours or longer), it stands to reason that the gamer will wish to jump right into the game. Contrary to that opinion, once Corum Online is installed, the gamer must then download no less than four patches from the official site or else the game will not let the player into the servers.
Downloading these patches, while annoying, is not easy either. When you finally manage to find the link to the required files through the forums, another interminable amount of time is wasted trying to succeed in the downloads. The patches will often stop the download, even though the window shows that the information is still being processed. It is possible to get these patches, no matter how difficult, so perseverance is necessary. You might get lucky; it is possible that the game will work perfectly for you and you won't have to go through the tedious searching and downloading. After the February 27th patch the game downloads the patches successfully, dispensing with the atrocious situation some of us have had to endure.
The bare necessities of online role-playing
Once past the aggravating set-up situation, the game takes a decided turn for the better. Logging in to the game requires an account on the GPotato website, but registering the account is free and takes only seconds to complete. Character creation is also a fairly easy procedure, with the options varied and yet not too overbearing. After inserting the characters name, it becomes a mere sequence of class and appearance selection.
Corum Online gives six class selections, each one sporting a unique ability list and appearance. You can pick from Fighter, Priest, Ranger, Summoner, Sorceress, and Arcus classes, giving a wide selection while not overlapping skills and abilities. Fighters are the strongest in physical damage, and have a move-set that reflects that with skills like Bash and Light Sword, an attack that hits enemies at a distance. The Ranger is an archer-type class, and the only character capable of equipping bows as weapons. Some of the Ranger's skills affect enemy stats, while bolstering her own.
The other four skills are all magically based, emphasizing healing and elemental magic in their move-sets. Summoners are exactly what they sound like; There are some magical abilities that are basic in general principles, but the addition of being able to summon three different elemental monsters and a select few moves that interact with those creatures are the real gems in the Summoner's arsenal. Priests and the Arcus deal with healing, both of HP and status effects, while the Arcus also has an ability to control monsters. Sorceresses deal with basic elemental magic, such as calling forth Fire, Lightning, and Frost. The only other way of defining your character comes in a most unusual way. After selecting the class of your character, you are given an option to change their hairstyle. There are a handful to choose from, with various designs and colors, but unfortunately you aren't able to customize them yourself.
7.0
fun score
No Pros and Cons at this time
