Battleknight

Overview
Full Review
Screenshots
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Area: Global
Official Site: Battleknight
Publisher: Gameforge
Developer: Gameforge
Platform: Web Browser

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Overview

"BattleKnight" is a browser MMORPG that allows players to live the life of a Knight, fighting duels, going on missions, and working for lords.

Features

Progressively difficult jousts and missions
Allows players to choose good or evil knight paths
Free-to-play players are at a far less disadvantage than in most games
Actual character progression over time
A wide variety of equipment to pick from as you level up

Area: Global
Official Site: Battleknight
Publisher: Gameforge
Developer: Gameforge
Platform: Web Browser

Review

Reviewed by Brendon lindsey

There are a lot of browser MMOs out there, and a majority of them deal in large, macroscopic environments, where players control nations, worlds, or kingdoms and pit their forces against the forces of other players. Every now and then, though, you'll find a browser game that zooms in on the action, allowing you to control a single character as they partake in the grand scheme of things; "BattleKnight" is such a game. Unlike many other titles, in "BattleKnight" you control, you guessed it, a knight. Well, he isn't always a knight. Starting out, your "knight" will be a knave, the medieval equivalent to noob. You'll have a sword and a stack of silver to train skills or buy starter equipment, but otherwise you'll be thrown naked into the virtual text-based environment as you begin your journey toward actual knighthood.

This journey is accomplished by performing daily tasks, including going on missions (good or evil), dueling other knights for exp and silver, jousting, and working for silver. To help expedite the process, you can purchase gems, which are used to unlock NPC help, potions, and features such as a premium account (30 gems for 30 days of premium). One of the advantages of a premium account versus a free one is that you get more points to conduct missions each day, and can work for more hours resulting in more silver potential each 24 hour period. You can get gems on some higher leveled missions, so it's possible to get some of the premium features without paying, just not all of them. Obviously, the big focus in any game about knights is fighting. In "BattleKnight," fighting takes place primarily in three ways: missions, duels, and jousts. After completing a mission or duel, you'll be able to view the effects of the fight; who won, what kind of damage was done, how often blows were blocked, etc.

In the case of duels, there's an added visual layer, featuring two 3D models of knights hitting each other repeatedly with the same animations, until one of them groans and then drops dead. And not even directly after a hit; it's more like instead of the next hit animation, there's a brief transition, a groan, and then a dead knight. It's a nice idea, and the 3D animation looks nice for a browser game, but the repetition of attacks makes it boring to watch more than a time or two, especially since you can't fast forward toward the end of the fight. Outside of fighting, one of the more inviting features is building up your estate and castle. As you progress you can increase its appearance, and also the benefits they give you. Hire guards to increase defense, buy training dummies to increase training proficiency, etc. It's not quite as eventful as I would have liked, but it does make for a nice break from the working, training, and dueling in the rest of the game.

Unfortunately, I found the idea of "BattleKnight" to be a lot more glamorous than the game itself. For people new to the browser gaming scene, I can see how the game is a good way to introduce one's self to the world of browser-games, especially since knight-related concepts are so readily understood by most people. But for players well-versed in playing a multitude of online browser games, the focus on one character doesn't leave a whole lot to do in terms of strategy, and the repetition of actions is made even more apparent. It's a good game to try out since it's a novel idea in a well-presented package, but your mileage will vary.