Made by Chinese developer NetDragon Websoft Inc. and published by TQ Digital, Conquer Online is a free-to-play, MMO (massively multiplayer online) game for PC that's been around since 2003 and boasts 10 million players worldwide. Earlier this year, NetDragon partnered with a major Japanese mobile network and developer, DeNA, and then unveiled both Facebook and iPad beta versions of its MMO at GamesCom in August.

The Facebook version of Conquer Online launched two weeks ago, but unfortunately has been plagued by lag, log-in issues and strange bugs. (For instance, setting my character on auto-path caused her to bare her arms in a spread-eagle sprint.) The official YouTube trailer also tries so groan-inducingly hard to appeal to Western audiences (music that sounds like the TV opening to Roseanne should not be scored with a game set in ancient China, people!), paying attention to it hurts my brain.

If you do manage to get in, things don't fare any better. Like most Chinese MMOs, you're presented with (at best) passable graphics, music, user interface, and the gameplay is always ridiculously heavy on the grind. There's also something very amateurish about this kind of game. What they lack in finesse and cohesion, they compensate with an aggressive, workman-like execution and gorgeous still art--in this case, the kind of style you'll find in Chinese wuxia comics.
This thing might be on Facebook, but no changes have been made to accommodate Facebook gamers. Nexon's MapleStory Adventures does a much better (and certainly fantastic) job of making itself accessible to newcomers. And not just through gameplay, but aesthetics, too. To hammer home the unfriendly nature of this game, a more optimistic reviewer noted Conquer Online is an open PVP (player vs player) environment. This means that random players can come along and just kill you in-game, if you're not careful. On the upside, if you've never played Conquer Online, you can now save yourself the trouble of downloading a several hundred megabyte file and just run the game on Facebook in mere minutes (though it will prompt you to install Kalydo before you can begin).

Click here to play Conquer Online on Facebook now >

How many MMOs have you ever played? Do you think I'm being too harsh on Conquer Online? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment