The Best Things in Life are Free (Especially If They Involve Swords and Uzis)

Okay, I know I have been a little light on the EQ II front lately, but do you seriously want me to write about font changes? I was working on a lengthy post for today entitled "Lorem Ipsum" on the history of typography and how it relates to the new EQ II fonts. Then I decided to play Gunz instead. So be grateful...

Yes, Gunz. What a clever name. But remember this: it's free (open beta). I first read about this third person shooter MMO on an internet forum and I also saw it recently on Come to Gaze. And, since I had such a blast playing it, I thought I had better share it. You participate in deathmatches or similar fare with online opponents but as you do your character gains levels and bounty, which you can use to upgrade your clothing, equipment and weaponry.

The website compares the game to a John Woo movie or the Matrix and it is also reminiscent of a more violent version of the anime series Trigun.

Here is the official website where you can download the game (for free). And no, I have no idea what the heck is going on in this screenshot.

I am going to give you some tips because the documentation is nonexistent:

Most important - once you download the client and run it you will see the logon button is grayed out. That is because you have not registered. Go back to the webpage and look for the link in the top right hand corner that says join free. That's how you register. And don't worry; it's the smoothest, most hassle-free registration form you will ever fill out. You just need to pick an ID and a password.

You will most likely not be able to log in. Keep trying. There is a note on the launcher which says if you can not log in you should reinstall. This is incorrect. If you can not log in it is most likely because the servers are down or full.

The only difference I see between the classes is the equipment you start off with. The easiest weapons seem to be the dual smg's. You can get pretty far with those. I'm pretty terrible at shooters so this helped me.

Swords seem kind of useless but by all means engage in swordfights so I can mow you down with my smg's. For melee I find the knife works better. Instead of trying to kill people focus on using your knife to cause knockdowns with the right click special attack. Then, when your opponent is down, switch to guns and blaze away.

On the other hand, if you find yourself getting knocked down repeatedly by knife-wielders, hit the space bar as you are stumbling backwards and you will recover.

Double tap a direction key with either the gun or melee weapon to dodge or dash respectively.

You can cancel a move by using your melee weapon. For example, after hitting a wall jump press the left mouse button to cancel and then execute a mid-air dash.

The healing kit of the Gun Priest seems underpowered to me.

Prepare for lots of lag, serious server problems and balancing issues. But again, it's a free game. For now, you will probably be unable to log on more often then you will be able to. I expect they will add more servers soon due to the popularity.

As I said, I'm not at all big on first person shooters but even I had fun with Gunz. When it's working.

And if you really want some Everquest II news, well, my wizard hit 50 last evening on completion of the Fire and Ice quest. Now that's the kind of news I can get excited about.