Sword of the New World: Granado Espada

It's tough to say how well things will mature when more players reach PVP level and above, and the political faction model comes into play. The game became completely fee-free about a month after release, either as an incentive for retention and new purchases, or because a "buy shiny stuff with real money" market brings in a whole lot of maintenance cash. For this reason only, it might be worth a try...but with so many other streamlined MMOs available, it seems hardly worth the learning curve. Only a revisit after about six months will reveal whether or not Sword of the New World manages to reach its potential...if anyone's willing to wait that long.

"Sword of the New World: Grando Espanda stands out from the crowd with its excellent visuals and action packed combat. Despite the patience stretching scope of the quests and achievements needed to unlock desired characteristics; its immediate game play is exciting and varied enough to keep you engaged. Both stylistically and game play wise it's probably the furthest away from the two mainstays of Orcs vs. Humans or the Elite clones that dominate the online market, and its appeal turns out to be more enduring than just this refreshing novelty. If you can overcome the, well….. slightly Korean-ness of some of the design features, you should find this quickly accessible and far reaching MMORPG a good contender for your Warcraft time. Certainly worth the free client download."

"Tedious quests and little payoff make this Korean massively multiplayer online game a real grind."

"K2 Network promises that the game won't be a dungeon slog, however. PvP branches out from duels to family battles and even whole cities waging war. And with Sword of the New World promising scalable graphics, an epic battle won't necessarily kill the performance of older computers, in spite of the detail-rich visuals. One of the biggest benefits to having your own three-person crew is grouping: no more languishing at town halls waiting for that high-level healer to show up, only to have the person bail 30 minutes into a run giving some tired excuse. With your team, you can effectively level up to three characters simultaneously and never waste time looking for other players. That said, there are plenty of opportunities to form squads and cooperatively tackle dungeons and bosses."

"You know, it's frustrating because as much as you want to like this game, unless Korean is your preferred flavor of MMO, you probably just won't. If you're on the fence there is the lucky option of the free-to-play download. Only lasts up to twenty levels with other limitations like no trading, but it's a way to test the water. After that, if you feel compelled, there's the relatively painless $8.95 upgrade and monthly subscription. The world looks great, with interesting environments and creatively designed monsters. The area theme songs get stuck in your head, and not because you hate them. The story is engaging and the dialogue is casual, often goofy, but when you get down to it, so much time is spent in a monotonous grind that deep down you'll probably know there is more fun to be had elsewhere."