Like a Spanish missionary in the Polynesian islands some hundred years ago, I’m continuing my quest in the Free 2 Play MMO world. I bring forth a critical sense and warn whoever is willing to listen that there are pirates out there, who will leave you hanging for 2 mobs, a spear and some pink socks. Evil is watching, waiting, hunting, it’s what it does. And there are those cannibals who have a taste for missionaries like myself and are not swayed by the words of a “carebear”. However, we must pay attention, since you never know when something original, surprising and truly unexpected might pop-up.

The world is floating in the Internet cauldron on the Google boat, amongst all kinds of people, most of them normal. Many of them (myself included) have discovered that fun and relaxation is the best thing that the Internet has to offer. And from the numerous sources of fun and relaxation, some more “decadent” than others, the online game was born. Which brings some nice profits for those that use it wisely. Lately, the online game has become free, but there’s a catch – you eventually have to start paying. And every “business man” with an eye for easy winnings has jumped on this new boat, pushing their development team to release “something”. How hard can it be to make a character move with a mouse click and some numbers to bounce out of an enemy when you start hitting it? Not very hard, thanks to all the engines readily available for use.

But time went by, and the simple click wasn’t enough. Then the business man said “We need something original”. Through a vast intellectual effort, the same development teams started churning out originality. Not much, approximately one new element / game. Since then, every merchant can be heard bragging that “My game takes place in ancient Troy”, or “My game is so expensive that it has two subscriptions”, or “My game is so complicated that no one can seem to figure out how to actually play it”, etc. And so we’re both amazed and baffled by this flood of originality, quite necessary for continuing progress, the multilateral development of society and the well being of said business man.

Long intro, I know, but it serves a purpose. Oh, almost forgot… in my experience, some people have difficulties in noticing sarcasm in its various forms. So the “sarcastic” purpose of this introduction wasn’t to show the world what a bad idea the Free 2 Play model is, but to underline the fact that although these games aren’t necessarily based on quality, there are those titles which are born from such good ideas, that you have to try really, really hard to create a bad game. Such a game is Dragonica, which although doesn’t have what you might call an appealing European form, it makes a mark, makes you write a review, to tell people, to show them what you’ve discovered.

If this would have been the 1st of June and someone asked me “What online game should I give my 10 year old?” I wouldn’t be in the same trouble like 4 or 5 years ago. Because I could immediately recommend two titles – Wizard 101 and Dragonica. I’m not much of an educative games fan myself, because from what I’ve seen so far in the local market, all they do is teach the kids how to watch television.

Dragonica on the other hand has a very interesting design, being the first side-scroller MMO (read: you see your characters from the side). This type of perspective has been used a lot in arcade or puzzle titles, simple and with a 2D engine (the classic Prince of Persia, Braid, etc). And it’s hard to imagine how you can create an MMO on this concept. Well, apparently you can…

So what we have is a side-scroller, but one that also allows you to move in all 3 dimensions of space. This might make you think of an engine with a forced lateral camera. And yes, this is true in about 50% of the time. The other 50% is pure side-scrolling. Even when you feel like you’re moving “unnaturally” for this type of game, there’s still that sensation of a fixed character and the world moving around him. Which is a nice, “old-school” feeling, especially for those who witnessed the birth of this entertainment industry.

While the idea and implementation can be dictated by originality, that doesn’t mean that everything else should be left up in the air. Since it’s a game limited by its “not quite 2D, not quite 3D” appearance, Dragonica’s universe has been structured in a similar manner. A good example is the world map, that connects the zones just like in a puzzle. Or the circular city with a floating island in the middle. When you go for a walk, the general feeling of "Shiny, Happy People laughing" (R.E.M.) is unique for any MMO out there.

Those with a soft-spot for details will most likely expect me to start talking about the questing system, which is simple and straight to the point, about the combat mechanics, which requires you to press 8 buttons at most, the attribute and skills trees, which are as complex as the ones from Diablo, or the numerous instances, each one with multiple difficulty levels… but I won’t, because I want to relax while writing, just as I did when playing the game.

In fact, this becomes a very rare characteristic for any game released nowadays. MMO, through their social nature, have brought stress in the virtual worlds as well. And this makes me think about something a friend of mine said some time ago “Life, as in real or virtual, sucks”. No, he didn’t kill himself, but he did delete all his characters.