MMORPG.com's Bill Murphy is in the Allods Online open beta test and today shares with us his initial impressions of the upcoming game.

WoW-clone is a pretty derogatory term these days. It symbolizes a lack of innovation, a blatant copying of concepts, and in general is used to associate a game with a player's angst toward the genre they love and hate. And while there's little doubt that Allods Online will be called a WoW-clone, my early impression of the game is that it's quite well-done, with a style all its own, and the potential to become the best F2P game available. Of course this is just an early impression after a few hours spent in-game, and who knows what issues more time playing will bring to light. But so far I just have an urge to get back to playing.

Now if you don't fancy Blizzard's mega-hit or games along the same line of content, I would steer clear of Allods. It's very much a traditional MMORPG, even if it is highly polished and playable. If you're tired of this type of game or just plain avoid titles like it, you can probably stop reading here. Still with me? Good. Allods Online is definitely deserving of a download and trial, and since it's free, you've got nothing to lose except time.

Read the Open Beta Impressions.