GameInformer

I had a chance to spend a couple of hours playing Battlestar Galactica Online (BGO)developed by Bigpoint and published by the Syfy channel. The game is a space combat simulator very similar in gameplay to the X-wing games by Lucasarts, but what sets BGO apart is that it is run entirely on a web browser.

Well I finally got Cataclysm after trading in a bunch of my old PS3 games. Why I still had Madden 09 around I will never know. Anyway, I am having a lot of fun leveling my main characters even though I have only seen the Vashj'ir zone. I did make a Worgen just to check out their intro cut-scene and get an idea about their starting zone.

Like a lot people out there I am currently without a job which means no money to spend on gaming. So I have been trying a lot of free-to-play games. Here is the list as of today.

I was able to get myself a beta key for Vindictus this past week. After an agonizingly slow client download I was able to spend a few hours playing the game. Here are some of my early thoughts about the game's beta.

I have been playing World of Warcraft since February of 2007 because of all the hype about the then recently released expansion The Burning Crusade. Believe me, I had a great time playing the game and getting many various races and classes to level 70. I got to experience raiding and the search for the best raiding gear. I also experienced battleground PvP and arena PvP. And although the end-game content was satisfactory I would always find myself creating new characters and leveling them up. When the expansion Wrath of the Lich King was released I got to experience the exploration of new leveling zones and the race to the new level cap. Which was something I did not get to experience when TBC was released because I never played what is called vanilla or the original WoW. Even though there were raids to progress through and new battlegrounds and arenas to PvP; I still found myself creating new characters and leveling them up.

I have been playing M.A.G. exclusively for the past 2 days. I had some hesitation purchasing the game since it is online multi-player only, but the game is surprisingly engaging. When I first launched the game I was intrigued by the vague story of the intro cinematic and so I immediately jumped into creating a character and getting into some action. If you are looking for extensive character creation you won't find it here. You simply get to choose from a list of preset faces and the in-game voice. There is a training mission which anyone familiar with any FPS will zip through without any problem although I did die when detonating a door because I was standing to close to the blast area. After the training mission you then can proceed to the first multi-player mission which is also a training mission against players on your own faction. This is where you begin to earn points to level up your character and unlock weapon upgrades and specialty perks, but you will also unlock the main game missions upon reaching certain levels.