Perfect World Entertainment’s latest MMO game, Rusty Hearts, recently launched into open beta this Tuesday and while it was a bumpy start, it was well worth the wait. I only say it was bumpy because there were a few issues with downloading the client and patches where they wouldn’t update properly, so it took a few days to get things working.
I really can’t remember the last time I played any type of side-scroller, maybe on the original Playstation, but I’m glad Rusty Hearts re-introduced me to the genre. While it is a side-scroller, the maps are fully 3D, however the path you walk on behaves as you would find in any side-scroller.
Starting out you select from one of four characters, in open beta it’s actually three as one isn’t selectable. I’m not quite sure if you have to unlock the forth character, buy it or if it’s just not available in open beta. I selected Frantz, a melee character who specializes in swords and axes.
You start off in the corner of a small town, with the rest of the town being inaccessible until you unlock it, and with a few NPCs stating about. It’s a bit overwhelming when starting out as there’s a lot of options and things to click on, but you’ll quickly get acclimated to everything.
There is a overall story-line with every quest, but thankfully there is also a skip button so you can just get the quest and move on. The quests are given in the old RPG style where a chat box appears, in this case the bottom right, and there’s a back and forth dialog between you and the NPC.
Once you have some quests, you head over to a huge glowing door, step into and the dungeon screen loads. Every dungeon in Rusty Hearts is instanced and is broken down in levels. So the first dungeon has 4 levels, with each level having 4 difficulty modes, Normal, Hard, Very Hard, and Blood Mode, although the first dungeon you go into doesn’t have Blood Mode.
Higher level dungeons require you to be a higher level, so you’ll have to beat lower level dungeons multiple times on harder modes before moving on to the next. But with a harder setting comes more reward as there are better drops and some quests require you to beat certain dungeons on a certain difficulty mode.
Now comes the fun part, combat. Rusty Hearts is by far the most fun I’ve had in a MMO game in a long time and it’s fun from the get go. Combat is fast and furious, you’ll learn new moves which can be comboed into devastating attacks. Dungeons thus far have been short and sweet, about 5-10 mins each, so the game move on very quickly. You’ll also level quickly, with only a few hours in I’m already level 12.
Rusty Hearts also keeps track of your time and awards points for speed, so for those of you who enjoy speed runs, and I do, it’s just another plus. Every level dungeon has a boss fight, who for the most part is challenging, but only at the harder difficulty levels, really only on Very Hard. Later on you’ll see some of those same bosses reappear as regular mobs.
Graphically, Rusty Hearts is one of the most beautiful games out there. Gorgeous graphics, fluid movement, amazing visual style and effects. It also doesn’t hurt that every women character is a super-model showing off the goods. They pretty much all look like the image below.
Being heavy on the style, Rusty Hearts gives players two sets of gear to wear, one for combat and one strictly for cosmetics. So if you don’t like the way a certain item looks, you can replace it with a cosmetic item.
For just launching into open beta, the game is very polished. I haven’t found any actual bugs yet, but my first inbox message was in Chinese, so it looks like they haven’t fully changed everything over. Other than that, the camera movement could use some slight refining and there’s some wall clipping if you running up into it, but it’s nothing that greatly effects the gameplay experience.
Overall I’m loving Rusty Hearts, it brings back that side-scroller gameplay I used to love back in the day and gives it a complete make over while combining a little bit of combo style combat we see so often in fighters like Street Fighter. Check back here for our full review of Rusty Hearts after is officially launches.
One huge point you failed to address. PWE. All their games are shite. You know at some point, probably around lvl 20, mid to high level. The game is going to turn into “How to beat the cash shop” type of game. You will need to acquire certain things to stay alive in the instance battle field. Your going to probably farm them, if possible to get said item from farming. Ok, no problem…but if Forsaken world has any example to show. BIG PROBLEM. And of course PWE has a great way to slow update, and basically keep things as is. With side scroller, it is super important to update just about eveyr 3 to 6 months as this genre is super boring. If you are not playing Dragons NEst, you should, as it is the non cash shop reliant solution to any action adventure MMORPG out there. End of story really…
September 16th, 2011 at 3:02 pmQuote
Rusty Hearts in my opinion is one of the best games I have PWE, and I’m sure will have more, games that has made me boring you but this is a game made by a great artist and clearly took ideas from other games but came true many players play this type of gameplay further with control, that was the most fabulous, over his “copetencia” Dragon Nest, in a game if I attempt to Browl toys and compare and the truth is in their hearts Rusty glory, as dragon nest almost have to move mouse forces with the graphics because if they leave much to be desired and they seem cuddly characters and the story metallic leaves to be desired but hey everyone has their point of view and one view but better to speak out with clear strengths and without saying “shit” for my rusty herats rating earns a 9.5 in looks forward to further improvement.
September 16th, 2011 at 10:04 pmQuote
Actaully Dildolian,
1.) your points are just as invalid as the word “shit” – “that was the most fabulous, over his “copetencia” Dragon Nest, in a game if I attempt to Browl toys and compare and the truth is in their hearts Rusty glory, as dragon nest almost have to move mouse forces with the graphics because if they leave much to be desired and they seem cuddly characters and the story metallic..” – Whuaaatt??? This makes no sense, you don’t even use subject replacements or punctuation, I have no idea what game you are referencing in this argument. Moving ON!
Rusty hearts, can not achieve a 9.5 as you mentioned, it brings nothing new as far as story or characters. In fact character customization is super limited. How that deserves a 9 is beyond me unless you are… yes a fan boy. I mention Dragon nest as it has cut scenes, and you are forced down paths. Although there are numerous forks in the path, and you have more 360 view, not a side scroll bull crap. I do say bull crap because if you want an aged and working eample of side scroll… Maple story. You can’t beat these models, You will hit a level point in PWE and see, just like MapleStory, the cash mush flow. So break free from side scrolling shite.
Im still laughing..” truth is in their hearts Rusty Glory…. ???” WHat? IS that english? LOL!
Any ways, as you can see folks, the fan boys have played this crap to the point they no longer can write cohesive sentences. Chose wisely, play Dragons NEst, or whatever, I don’t care, hell play the other boring genre that is out there, Leauge of LEgends, just don’t waste the next 6 months of you life in this anime wakadoodle cockamimie style of a game.
September 17th, 2011 at 4:16 amQuote
I gotta say, this Rusty Hearts is pretty good. The pvp is intense and balanced without the whole “100 hit combo” crud to juggle you until your next birthday, the graphics are extremely good for a free game, and the story is really well thought up, with interesting characters all over the city it takes place in (when your not fighting). It might need a bit of improvement when it comes to customization, but it’s excusable, since most action mmo’s bring that aspect in based on the gear you wear rather than using skill points, meaning that most to all action mmo’s need customization option improvements. As far as this butt guy goes with his DN stuff above, it’s a good game too, but it looks worse in all aspects (sorry, but it’s more than true), it REQUIRES a mouse or gamepad, and Nexon is the company backing it up, meaning that content will get in, but tickets won’t get answered with the haste that PWI has. The game as of now isn’t really cash shop reliant either, similar to DN, and if side scrolling being an older style of gameplay is an issue, then it’s a personal one, and should be taken into account before even trying the game, because saying that is like saying Tekken beats Street Fighter solely because you can move left or right. It’s an awesome game, and it’s just starting out, so here’s hoping that it continues strong (like Dragon Nest)
September 18th, 2011 at 6:44 pmQuote