[Game Review] Khan: Absolute Power
by Jason Erick Masipiqueña & Frank Tan Jr.
With the rise in popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) in the country, it’s no wonder software companies and network service providers are all trying to get a little piece of this new (and large) cash pie. Enter Mirinae Entertainment’s “Khan: The
Absolute Power” — one of the latest games to hit the Philippine scene.
Khan is an MMORPG set in different territories of the Mongolian Empire during the 13th century. This historical setting should not lull the player into expecting an equally historically flavored game. Though the game world gives you the feel of being in 13th Century Mongolia, China, India or Europe, varieties of monster hordes roaming around will immediately make you realize this game is still more fiction than history. The concept of historically based MMORPGs is still quite unique in this country, and this could draw the attention of gamers tired of the pure-fantasy premise.
Visuals. The textures on the surfaces of objects like building facades, roads, footpaths and mountainsides are artfully drawn. The game’s graphics engine is entirely in 3D, and gives players the opportunity to experience moving around and interacting with NPCs and other players in a very lifelike and threedimensional way. The graphics this engine produces are best viewed zoomed out. The look of the characters and monsters are quite outlandish. Character animations are fluid enough. The visual effects of character skills are average for this type of game: nothing too fancy, but nothing too bad either. There are a few occasions that the game will give bad camera angles, thankfully the angle can be adjusted (but not the pitch) to clear up the view, though this might a little hard to do if you’re in the heat of battle.
Gameplay. There is the ever present hack and slash concept (kill monsters to gain experience which increases your character’s level), the local in-game economy (player to player item trading), et cetera, et cetera. Khan presents slight tweaks to these essential RPG elements, but still presents more or less the same game experience as any other game currently out on the market. First off, the character leveling is a little different in Khan. There are two things you get when you kill monsters in the game: experience and Ki. Experience points only increase a character’s level while Ki points are what players spend to increase their characters statistics (strength, dexterity, intelligence, etc.). These are gained separately from each kill, so theoretically a low level character can have very high stats (since Ki gained from a kill can vary from 40-3400 or even greater; experience points gained are a lot more constant). This presents an interesting game mechanic that is quite different from conventional RPG gameplay. Another modification is the automated placement of skill points.
Parties, or groups of characters banded together for easier leveling, are the heart and soul of every MMORPG (remember the acronym). Khan’s party system, though easy enough to get accustomed to, presents a rather exploitable gameplay characteristic. Low level characters can join parties with much higher level characters, and with an experience sharing feature, all the lower level character would have to do is simply follow the stronger one around while he kills monsters for his weaker companion to gain trouble free exp. Though it may seem a convenience, people could exploit this feature by making tank characters, or characters who do all the killing and damage eating, to level up their weaker characters.
The game’s interface and control system closely resembles that of another popular RPG, Diablo II. Its general layout is quite the same; the attacks and skills are wired to the left and right mouse buttons respectively, even the shortcut keys/hotkeys are similar (except for drinking potions, among other things). This is quite an efficient setup and provides a control system that’s easy enough to learn within only a few minutes of play.
Sound. The sound effects and music in the game are of good quality. The music is a mix of synthesized and medieval themed tracks.
Khan: The Absolute Power attempts and succeeds in being a non-traditional MMORPG through the unique gameplay concepts it has presented, but with all the online RPGs swamping the local
gaming industry, we will still have to see if it does stand out among the rest.
by Jason Erick Masipiqueña & Frank Tan Jr.
With the rise in popularity of Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) in the country, it’s no wonder software companies and network service providers are all trying to get a little piece of this new (and large) cash pie. Enter Mirinae Entertainment’s “Khan: The
Absolute Power” — one of the latest games to hit the Philippine scene.
Khan is an MMORPG set in different territories of the Mongolian Empire during the 13th century. This historical setting should not lull the player into expecting an equally historically flavored game. Though the game world gives you the feel of being in 13th Century Mongolia, China, India or Europe, varieties of monster hordes roaming around will immediately make you realize this game is still more fiction than history. The concept of historically based MMORPGs is still quite unique in this country, and this could draw the attention of gamers tired of the pure-fantasy premise.
Visuals. The textures on the surfaces of objects like building facades, roads, footpaths and mountainsides are artfully drawn. The game’s graphics engine is entirely in 3D, and gives players the opportunity to experience moving around and interacting with NPCs and other players in a very lifelike and threedimensional way. The graphics this engine produces are best viewed zoomed out. The look of the characters and monsters are quite outlandish. Character animations are fluid enough. The visual effects of character skills are average for this type of game: nothing too fancy, but nothing too bad either. There are a few occasions that the game will give bad camera angles, thankfully the angle can be adjusted (but not the pitch) to clear up the view, though this might a little hard to do if you’re in the heat of battle.
Gameplay. There is the ever present hack and slash concept (kill monsters to gain experience which increases your character’s level), the local in-game economy (player to player item trading), et cetera, et cetera. Khan presents slight tweaks to these essential RPG elements, but still presents more or less the same game experience as any other game currently out on the market. First off, the character leveling is a little different in Khan. There are two things you get when you kill monsters in the game: experience and Ki. Experience points only increase a character’s level while Ki points are what players spend to increase their characters statistics (strength, dexterity, intelligence, etc.). These are gained separately from each kill, so theoretically a low level character can have very high stats (since Ki gained from a kill can vary from 40-3400 or even greater; experience points gained are a lot more constant). This presents an interesting game mechanic that is quite different from conventional RPG gameplay. Another modification is the automated placement of skill points.
Parties, or groups of characters banded together for easier leveling, are the heart and soul of every MMORPG (remember the acronym). Khan’s party system, though easy enough to get accustomed to, presents a rather exploitable gameplay characteristic. Low level characters can join parties with much higher level characters, and with an experience sharing feature, all the lower level character would have to do is simply follow the stronger one around while he kills monsters for his weaker companion to gain trouble free exp. Though it may seem a convenience, people could exploit this feature by making tank characters, or characters who do all the killing and damage eating, to level up their weaker characters.
The game’s interface and control system closely resembles that of another popular RPG, Diablo II. Its general layout is quite the same; the attacks and skills are wired to the left and right mouse buttons respectively, even the shortcut keys/hotkeys are similar (except for drinking potions, among other things). This is quite an efficient setup and provides a control system that’s easy enough to learn within only a few minutes of play.
Sound. The sound effects and music in the game are of good quality. The music is a mix of synthesized and medieval themed tracks.
Khan: The Absolute Power attempts and succeeds in being a non-traditional MMORPG through the unique gameplay concepts it has presented, but with all the online RPGs swamping the local
gaming industry, we will still have to see if it does stand out among the rest.