Finally, a MMO worthy of being mentioned and shared under the arcade/fighter genre.
Graphics - 8/10: So DFO (Dungeon Fighter Online) is, in essence, a side-scrolling arcade-styled game. So we should be thinking back to the classic games like River City Ransom, where we had the player set into a 2d world with the ability to move left or right like in any side-scroller, but also with the ability to move up and down. That is essentially what DFO is. As far as the 2d sprites go, I have to say they did an above average job. They did two of the most regrettable things any MMO could do pertaining to the previous statement sadly; one is restricting your player to a static design, (Meaning there's absolutely no way to make yourself look unique amongst others except your weapon). The other problem is that they resized original sprite resolutions into a bigger or smaller mass, and decided to just add a bit of Anti-Aliasing or something to keep the outer black pixels smooth, but this actually caused the sprite to look blurred and almost deformed, but it's not so significant that it could make you rage, it's just a minor flaw of what one would call laziness.
But regardless of those problems, everything else graphically was above acceptable. The dungeons were dynamic and had different set-ups to prevent one from just zerg rushing to the boss area, and the level design between each dungeon set was refreshing; the player would always experience a different setting when transitioning from dungeon set to dungeon set. (NOTE: Dungeon set means that in a specific region, there would be 2-3 dungeons pertaining to that area. The setting doesn't drastically change in the same set, but there are significant differences). The various town's artwork were also appealing, and it gave each town a different taste when roaming amongst them.
Finally, the animations are also above acceptable. With a variety of skills and combos are your disposable, its hard to find yourself seeing the same animation every freaking second, (Because that's mainly one of the plentiful problems in many of the MMOs out there, right?). With all of these concepts tied together, the graphical content of this game receives an 8/10 from me.
Gameplay/Fun-O-Meter - 9.5/10: Now, giving a 9.5 to a section isn't to be taken lightly. It's bearing a lot of weight on it's user (me) in stating that this portion of the game had a considerably high score due to various reasons (which will be explained below). I want to give serious scores, so when I say it's a 9.5, most of you should agree with me when you try it out for yourself. With that out of the way, let's discuss "why" gameplay is so damn fun in DFO. I'm sure many of you have played the classics as I said earlier, and I'm sure you remembered how damn fun it was to play co-op in such awesome games. Well, DFO is no exception. As you start out, you begin with only a very few amount of skills and possible combinations, and that newbie feeling that makes you feel pitiful and rage-quit ready, so its no surprise if you're dissapointed in your first 5-10 minutes. But the moment you step into your first dungeon, you will honestly have a lot of fun, presuming that you like such arcade-based games in the first place.
Now of course, I can't just state such things without reasoning, so here's the nutshell of it all. DFO has an absurd number of dungeons with various difficulties that allow you to either solo it up or co-op with others if you wish. Considering the massive amounts of people I saw yesterday and today, I doubt you'll have problems finding people. But with that aside, when you step into your first dungeon, you'll feel quite epic even though you're still newbie facing off against hordes of pathetic pawns that die in one to two hits. But freedom of dashing around and jumping adds all kinds of possibilities to neutralize your targeted enemy adds in on the fun. The lag is also non-existent if you're soloing; parties use a peer-to-peer system that will lag if you're at considerable distances and/or one of the players is using a crappy internet. But the game will notify you if someone is lagging in your party specifically. Back to the point though, basically DFO is, once again, just like the classic arcade-styled fighters, but with absurd amounts of skills and dungeons to boot. And as for the best part of the game for gameplay, it is none-other then the dungeon bosses of DFO. Every dungeon has a boss, every boss is different from others, and every boss is insanely epic in health. It makes you feel epic just grazing around the boss pulling off combos and aerial styles that makes the battle feel intense. Of course, its when you hit the later dungeons that it becomes difficult to take them on without player aid, unless you're just beast at these type of games.
So what have you learned about the game-play and the fun aspects of DFO? Probably close to nothing since I didn't really cover everything from the game, since its really hard for me to describe. That's why I keep comparing to the classics on consoles because that's really what it is in MMO form. And since I'm a die-hard fan of such a genre, it's no wonder I gave it a 9.5. So, if you REALLY enjoy this genre, you better get this game now and see why I'm so excited just talking about it in a review. If you're not used to the genre, give it a shot. You probably won't find it as exciting as me and some others but that's just how you are. I hardly find any significant problems though that could drawback the score on its gameplay.
Sound - 8.5/10: This kind of score on an MMO for sound is somewhat absurd since it's hard to find a game with awesome SFX and BGM. Now, the SFX is average, acceptable if you wish; It's repetitive and repetitive and..yeah you get the idea. HOWEVER, there is but one aspect of sound that saved this game from falling into the bottomless pit of failure, and that is music. The music composed and presented in the game is short, and presumably can be made by any person talented enough to use something like FL Studios, but that hardly makes you care when you get into its rhythm. Every dungeon set has its own unique BGM track, both for the stage and boss. Now you're thinking, no wonder this guy is ranting so proudly on the music, he must've heard the boss track. That's right, the very first boss battle you encounter isn't necessarily epic in terms of what the boss is as compared to later, but the music changes from its somewhat ambiguous setting in the stage to a badass epic theme. It's so badass, it makes you feel like the world's going to explode in a few minutes unless you can defeat the evil mastermind behind this madness.
Everyone knows that an epic track for epic bosses is precisely the correct formula to a bump up in sound ratings, that's why DFO got an 8.5/10, for dynamic presentation of musical instruments that ties in to the setting, and kick-ass melodies for boss battles, and for SFX for being there, to give us at least something to hear when we stab that goblin to death.
Overall - 8.5/10: So, you heard me rant, cry, yell, express, praise and many other amusing verbs on DFO, and why I consider it to be the best online arcade-styled side-scroller action fighting game (In short it's just a arcade fighter really). I said it before, I'll say it again; If you care for such a genre, I recommend you download it now and try it out for yourself, you'll understand why I enjoyed myself the way I did when I played through it both alone and with others. If you don't care for these type of games, obviously this game is not for you and you just wasted 5 minutes reading this review for naught (Though how you stumbled onto it in the first place questions your motive as to why you're checking out the game anyways). If you never tried it before, give it a go OR go play one of the classics, (Seriously, I can't recall the names so I just used River City Ransom, don't mind me). You might just enjoy it.