An exciting take on the MMO genre, where turn-based fighting is actually somehow VERY exciting, all for free.
Atlantica Online throws you into a large world, full of magic, monsters, and evil. Sure, its stereotyped. What isn't? At face value, Atlantica looks like any normal Korean MMO. Nice graphics, adorable character models, strange creatures and beautiful landscapes. But this all will become obsolete once you experience Atlantica's amazing, immersive turn-based combat.
Since it is the game's strong point, it would seem necessary to talk about it first. Upon impact with an enemy NPC or player, you will be instantly transported into a small combat instance. If you have ever played Final Fantasy, you would be very familiar with this setup.
You have nine squares, each acts as a space one of your characters may stand on. During battle, your simple goal is to defeat the enemy team, while trying to preserve yours. You may have a team of nine characters to control at one time, however, only eight of these are non-player mercenaries (Fully controllable though), and one is your main hero. Your main hero is the key part of battle, because if he or she dies, the whole battle is lost anyway. The combat is extremely fast paced though, as you only have a certain time limit to have all your mercenaries and your hero doing what they need to do. Often times (especially in boss battles) you will find yourself scrambling for the keys as your heart pounds in your chest at a million miles per hour.
Your eight mercenaries are gained systematically as you level up. Winning battles, fighting monsters, and doing quests all give your character experience, which then levels them up. The basic RPG experience. Battling becomes rather complex and tactical after a while due to placement of heroes, items, etc. It will take you quite a while to get a solid setup on the way your team will be arranged, but it is necessary to have it done.
PvP in the game is fun too, and you are able to link up your party with other parties; so you may have a large scale battle against other players. All in all, Atlantica online is a very innovative, excellent take on the MMO genre, and is a must if you enjoy tactical battles. But looking outside of the battle system you will clearly see, that it plays just like another MMO.
Which isn't a bad thing.