This review from Stephanie Morrow takes a look at MGame USA's martial Arts MMORPG, Hero Online.

Overview

Developed by Netgame and published by Mgame USA Inc, Hero Online released in 2006 as a free to play (F2P) MMO that revolves heavily around martial arts and an intricate story line written by three generations of martial arts novelists. A very quick glance at this game may show little more then a constant grind for levels – but if you take the time to delve a little further in you may be surprised at what you find.

Read the Hero Online Review

Thanks for the info.  I personally like the martial arts combat style, but also want the depth.  I hope someone can come out with something that has both.  I always liked the little bit of martial arts movement you could get w/ monks in EQ, EQ2 and Vanguard, but would love to have more variety in combat movements.

Downloading game atm based on review 8)

I have notice in the reviews lately a lot of remarks comparing the game reviewed with other similar games.  The problem is, the similar games are rarely named...

"Fun to give it a whirl, and fun to play with pets and mounts but these days LOTS of games offer those exact same things, with better graphics and more depth."

Take the above statement.  Please name this other game that has "those exact same things, with better graphics and more depth".  I care because, number one, it's good journalism to give concrete examples to back up your position, and number two, because if I was tempted to try this game based on your review, I would obviously like these other mysterious games even better.  When comparing, please be specific.  It's important, and improves the credibility of the review.

I found the problem with Hero (and most F2P asian mmos), game was too dependant on potion spam.

Originally posted by protoroc

I found the problem with Hero (and most F2P asian mmos), game was too dependant on potion spam.

I don't know that this is unique to Asian MMOs.  To me, it just seems like something that is built into games where the designers made a choice not to include healing classes or a lot of healing skills.  A lot of non-MMO RPGs were potion-dependent, too.

Yes it sounds exactly like Silkroad Online with a few added twists.I am not surprised by their lack of GM support it NEVER exists in F2P games.I have said it before,do NOT be surprised that some of the GM's if not all are working with the RMT gold spammers,because they are never removed.

I am not sure how exactly the GM support is handled but i am guessing it is contracted out and all they have to do is VERY minimal.I am guessing judging by the feedback i got from several SRO emails,that all thye are required o do is reset the servers once a day,then of course all the botters have activated auto logins,so they return in massive drones upon reset.The other thing is obvious,you will see them spam gold sales right out in the open chat all day long and of course are never removed or banned,it is obvious there is some illegal wrong doings going on in F2P games,that is how they make their ACTUAL money.

The game does sound like it would be a tad fun for awhile ,just as SRO was for me,but their dedication to using the item mall and extreme grind makes playing these games a short stay.

Oh i forgot to mention...i am no jiu jitsu expert[well a ilittle lol] but i am sure that DAN and level thing is the same as saying Dan 10 >>10th degree black belt and so on for the other levels.

Same question, if there are other games of the same nature but doing it as good or better what are they? Because I agree I'd rather play them, just not sure what they are.

Ah Hero ,  I will always look back with  affection to a time when  thousands of people began what turned out for most to be a very hard experience , this game put alot of people to the test .

I began Hero during open beta ,  in it`s time it was one of the better FTP games on the market and drew quite a large crowd . There was no shortage of drama , we had our villians our heros and everyone knew everyone in this community , this game was and still is pvp centric with the ultimate goal of course for most to become the strongest player .

I have played 20 or more major mmorpgs over the years including EQ2 on Nagafen pvp server but I still have never experienced the kind of intense and dramatic pvp that I did in the early days of  Hero , this was strictly because of the community , the players made the game what it was and for the most part put their hearts into what they were doing every day and night . The term grind could have easily been invented here one morning in the Southern Plains  .

Most of them were banned or left because of the grind , others left because of the failed crafting system . I still have my original character from open beta but for me it`s not the same game without the original players , my rivals .

Hero is a pretty cool game with some unique stuff not found anywhere else but I`m not going to gloss things over for the sake of good PR , the bottom line is that  Mgame made the choice to allow RMT and that pretty much destroyed any balance in the game and any chance of it being what it once was .