Hacker Huntering, yay
By Ravenhawk | March 6, 2007
I’ve taken it upon myself recently to create a hindrance to the hacking menace on GunZ. Basically, this consists of hitting F11 whenever theres a hacker in a game I’m in.
This starts the recording.
Then after awhile I stop recording, and email a report, along with the attached recording of the player’s name, what type of hack they were using, etc.
It doesn’t take that long, and, unlike just kicking them from the game actually does something to prevent the hacker from continuing what they’re doing.
Tags: Uncategorized, GunZ, Hacking
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Review: GunZ
By Ravenhawk | January 20, 2007
GunZ Online was a third person shooter originally made by Miaet. It is currently being managed by ijji. In it you face off against other players using swords, guns, and grenades. There recently was also added a mode where you fight against npcs.
Grind: 7 GunZ has levels, but as far as Grinding in the tradition sense goes, its not that bad. Because it is almost purely a pvp game and because it is a skill based game has a lot of variety in the games. Unlike fighting a computer which can be the same thing over and over, games are much less predictable. The levels usually don’t matter as much as you’re in rooms which are tiered by level. It can be a bit difficult though, when you’re at the bottom of the level range.
Graphics: 8 As you probably know, I’m not a huge graphics buff. So, I don’t require things to look “real.” GunZ graphics satisfy me, easily. The people look like people, although their faces are fuzzy up close. The towns are pretty well rendered and the snow town looks very nice with all the lights. They don’t waste precious rendering time making things overly graphic, which would really be detrimental to game play as the lower end players would lag.
Sound: 8 GunZ has a soundtrack that, while not highly varied, definitely gets the job done. The tunes are pretty jamming, but they’re background music, not the kind of stuff you sit and listen to. Its the weapon noises that get your attention. Firing shots, drawing swords, cocking weapons, exploding ‘nades… You’re on a battlefield and in games with a lot of people in one room you can hear it.
Community: 8 Overall, the GunZ community is okay. Since the game doesn’t have much standing around time, often there isn’t much discussion between players besides smack talk thrown around. However, their new clan system is pretty cool. Five people can group together to make a clan. Others can be invited later, but thats the minimum. Then the clan members can take part in special fights to gain clan points. If you have a good run of victories in a row, its broadcast to the entire server.
Fun: 9 GunZ is action packed, fast paced, craziness. If you don’t have reflexes… Well, you could probably still play. The butterflies and SSers would slaughter you, sadly. But lack of playing skills doesn’t stop a lot of people from playing, and enjoying themselves to their fullest. If you like shoot ‘em ups, I definately recommend this one. Heck, if you just want to slash stuff, I’d still recommend it, you’d just want to play gladiator mode.
Overall: 8
Overall, GunZ is a great game. It’s awesome for those of us who’re tired of click and wait MMOs and want something that actually entails some playing skill. The only downside is the lively hacking community that has begun to spring up. ijji is doing their best to stamp them out however. Compared to the GunZ beta, ijji GunZ definately has a lot less hackers, which is good.
Sadly, you find lame people in all online games.
If you want to check out GunZ, or any of the other cool games they’re producing at the moment, check out www.ijji.com
Until Next time, Comrades.
Tags: Review, GunZ, MMOs, Third Person Shooter
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Well
By Ravenhawk | December 21, 2006
I’ve been a little off the ball lately with my updates. Blame the holidays. Or, if you want to be more accurate, blame the impending date when I have to pay my court fine. Thankfully, I was able to get my Driver’s License on tuesday, saving myself 200 dollars on my fine.
I joined the Exteel beta yesterday. I tried to come on here and make an update, but my computer crashed. Still haven’t quite figured out what caused it.
Anyway, I’d completely forgot I’d given them my email, so it was a pleasant suprise. I also hadn’t realized that Guild Wars and City of Heros were made by the same person who did lineage… Some MMO expert I am. /swt
The play is a little difficult to get used to, but it is exactly what I’ve been looking for lately; A skill based MMORPG. I’ve been tiring of the “click and go make yourself a sandwhich” games. I’m not sure if I’ll stick with it, I’ve only played it a little so far. I’ve also been playing GunZ which is also a great game. I played during the beta, and it quickly rose to one of my favorites. It’s out of beta now and has quests vs npcs and a great new clan system. I’m horrendous at giving really short summaries of things, so I’d just suggest checking it out. Oh, and if you plug “sayosaka” in the referral slot when you sign up, after you play 10 hours, we both get 5000 gold. Which is a lot. XP
Until Next time, Comrades
Tags: Uncategorized, Exteel, GunZ
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Pros and cons of degrading items
By Ravenhawk | November 26, 2006
Degrading items are an interesting issue to look at. On the one hand we have the example of puzzle pirates: The economy flourishes as people actually need to continually buy things. The normal inflation which plagues mmorpgs is staved off. In this example, the things which gamers don’t really need; fancy clothes, super weapons, etc. Wear away. The things that are more imperative adn difficult to get such as ships and homes, don’t. That, along with the vague terms used to describe age, prevent a sense of temporance from settling over the items.
To use a different example, look to the game Gunbound. Gunbound for a long time had certain items that could only be purchased through a cash shop and other items which you would purchase using your ingame money to buy. Nothing wore out, but things were expensive. At one point, they decided it would be a good idea to make it all the items cheaper, however, you no longer purchased them to own them. Instead you were “renting” them. Basically, they wear away after a short time. You could rent weekly or monthly.
At that point, I quit playing the game. Don’t get me wrong, it was a fun game, I loved playing. But if I no longer had the ability to own my items, if all my work getting enough to buy them would be thwarted after a week or a month, I didn’t want to bother. Of course, also on my mind was no doubt the fact that I had nearly gained enough to buy an item I wanted when suddenly I could no longer own things. And they didn’t drop the prices enough.
It wasn’t like you were going to be paying for that item on a weekly basis proportionate to what it would have cost you before. They dropped prices, but in the end you were paying more.
I recently started playing two games which implement a very similar system. Golf King and Gunster. Both allow you to buy items with your money, but they wear out after a month. I’m yet to be playing enough to see the end result in these games. I think in Golf King it won’t have much of an effect as I believe that the only items which actually change the way you play is your gold clubs. I’ve only played Gunster for a night, so I shall not even attempt to critique its system.
On another note, those two games are great fun. I’ll likely write a review for one, if not both of them soon. Relatively soon anyway. My laptop, which is my gaming machine, keeps being swagged by my parental unit who is staying for a couple weeks.
Until next time, comrades.
Tags: MMORPGS, Games, Cash Shop, Degrading Items, Golf King, Gunbound, Gunster, GunZ, MMORPGs
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