Review as dated 21/05/2007

Silvarianne

To start with, Goonzu is one of those "free for life" games that now seem to be on the rise from Korea. The English version has more or less weathered the translation process and while you might at times find "Engrissh" (poorly translated or mis-spelled words) they did a well enough job that the game communicate what it wants to say well enough.

Visually, the game is not the best out there. Meaning that it cannot compete with the likes of Guildwars, Everquest2 or even some of the other "free to play" games like Rappelz. However, if one were to judge this game solely on its visuals, then a good portion of the game would be overlooked. Unlike many games of the genere, its one of the few games that has a true player based economy. That is it to say that almost everything you need and use in the game can be made by players with the exception of certain premium items that are only available from the Item Mall.  Monsters in this game unlike many others don't drop coin and equipment, instead killing certain monsters will yeild craftable materials. For example, kill a chicken and you get chicen meat, feathers, straw and such, which you can then use to craft items to be used in the game ranging from food (chicken soup for example) to arrows and other items that'll require said materials.

To help transactions, most towns have a "global" market which depending on if its a player owned town can have different tax rates. So visiting a town with low tax rates would mean that whatever you sell or buy from the town in question would save you a bundle. Along with banks, post offices and variable vendors most towns are the center of trade and commerce.

Which brings up the political nature of the game. Most towns in the game are "friendly" towards one another however, just as in the real world sometimes town leaders or town residents can get into a situation where one town "hates" or have issues with another. That's where Town Sieges come into play. At appointed times  towns can siege one another though usually these sieges are "friendly" in nature in good natured competition. However when tempers flare or a town is bent on "punishing" another town they can go all out and "conquer" the other town. In which case, the loosing town looses town funds and certain features might have to be rebuilt before they become available again. Which makes being a resident of a town both rewarding as well as having more then just getting yet one more chat access.

Goonzu at this point of time have its gameplay improved with the inclusion of PGMs (Player GMs) who run events and town invasions where players are encouraged to defend a town against a horde of monsters. Though for the most part, due to the nature of the economy, most times players are "hunting" more often then not. This depending on your tolerance for such can determine how much fun you get from the game. For some it might be a bit repeatitive, for others its just a part of the game where gaining materials is a means to wealth and stature. The one problem I see is that the game does not have a "story line" based quest system. Most of the quests available if not all are based on the 'kill xxx creature to get xxx items and come back to me"   which aren't very compelling to start with. Perhaps in time that will change. However if you are comfortable with hunting, crafting , playing the merchant, politician or just want a game that you can waste an hour or two Goonzu might just fit the bill.  Its as simple or complex as you want it to be.

 

Silvarianne