When I quit R. O. S. E. and Gunbound, I gave up on online games. I was sick of the people and the time wasted leveling instead of having fun. When a friend told me about GunZ The Duel, figured I'd check it out despite my prejudice against the online community. As an open beta, it was pretty well done despite a few gripes I have.

As with most games online party games there's a story behind the games image, but of course nobody playing cares about it. Short story is you have guns and blades and so does the enemy, who will fall first. Granted there is a variety of weapons and armor for your character so you can customize to your particular fighting style, but nothing too wierd.

gameplay seems on par with most 3rd person action games. You dash, tumble, wallrun, and climb through a mess of modern and archaic landscapes and maps. And because this is a realtime action game, there is little time to type nonsense and troll other players with out getting killed by another player.

The sound effects and music seem to fit the game well. I can't even get the violins out of my head when I'm not playing.

Now for the bad news. This game is far from perfect in many ways too.

Unfortuately the game focuses a lot on leveling characters. Which interferes with the goal of having fun. plus it gives some players too much of an advantage. Having to upgrade ones equipment is also a bit of a headache as well.

Then comes my favorite annoyance of the game. It promotes too much stupid gun and sword play. Most shoot-outs are with amateurs in close range with poor lighting and horrid accuracy. Further more, most people are critically injured by just one bullet wound, there have been documented cases of people dying after accidentally shooting themselves in the foot, and most forms of body armor are cumbersome and lowers ones agility. Granted they got the accuracy and lighting right for the game, but most of the chacters can take more bullets to the chest than 50cent. In fact I was able to unload an entire submachine gun clip into a person yet they were able to turn around and kill me as I reloaded the weapon. Also the rocket lauchers seem to be pretty weak as well. I've seen players shoot these off at people point blank with them both caught in the blast, yet they still were standing alive and well. Also, for some odd reason tumbling out in the air, even out in the open, makes it harder for the other players to hit you. Most amateurs learn quickly that John Woo moves are just a quick way to die, and the best bet usually lies in cover and suppressive fire.

But despite all of my whining, GunZ is not unforgivably horrid. Unlike R. O. S. E., Ragnarok Online, and many other MMORPGs, this game had the one thing they were lacking - GAMEPLAY. And as a free open beta, it was pretty fun. If they ever get rid of the leveling, balance the weapons and armor correctly and realistically, and just allow full avatar customization it would be fantastic. Though I will probably delete this game off of my computer in the next week or so, I won't regret playing the game.