Nobody ever expects a great free MMO, we all wait for it but we know it’s not going to happen. So in the mean time we all look for a good one so that we might deem it great at least for a while, and so we come to Dragon Sky, produced by Sonov and published by Aeria Games and Entertainment.

Dragon Sky is a great free martial arts MMO that decided to take action and PvP to a whole different level. The game greets you with a pleasant login and character creation screen that promise a lot. I say pleasant because while the graphics are beautiful and colorful they don’t necessarily leave you gasping for air. Considering the system requirements a great deal of players will be able to enjoy the game with medium settings which provides a nice looking game with flashy and great looking effects. Those with medium to high end system can pump up all the settings and include some AA and AF for the whole experience which is more than decent for a free game. The sound is decent and depends mostly on each person to decide whether they like it or not. The attacks and spells sound about right but can get annoying after being used hundreds of times, and the monsters don’t make too much noise and if they do it’s nothing you haven’t heard before.

When it comes to character customization the game does not stray too far from the classic MMO formula. A few faces, hairstyles, hair color and two types of clothing are all the possible changes. The game provides a well deserved break from choosing a class because here when you create a character you choose your weapon, this choice guiding your path further in the game. There are four weapons to choose from: fist, sword, spear and hammer. Later in the game you will be able to dual wield these weapons which apart from looking cool does pack quite a punch. After generating your character and choosing your weapon you are thrown into the tutorial area. This area covers most of the game mechanics but leaves a lot of the intricacies to be found out on one’s own. Quests are pretty easy to find but not so easy to finish, at least not the ones over lvl 15. There is no trail, or coordinates that will take you to where you need to go, the world is huge and travelling is slow. This can be daunting for beginners considering that quest are an important part of leveling up.

From the get go you will realize that Dragon Sky is a grinder, but grinding without a party has never been as much fun as in Dragon Sky. Whether the producers meant for you to kill so many monsters to level up, or it was just by accident it doesn’t matter, they made sure that killing mobs for hours on end wouldn’t leave you yawning. The animations and effects for the skills and attacks look amazing and give you the feeling that those monsters are really suffering when you attack. Furthermore herding mobs and killing them altogether is simple since area of effect attacks are basically straightforward attacks which make grinding easier to bear. It is safe to say that killing 10 mobs is a lot more fun than killing one.

The game keeps things fresh in the leveling department as well. Here you level up both the Dan level which represents the body, and the Soul level which as you might have guessed represents the soul or spirit. These two are leveled up differently, the Dan is leveled up by killing whereas the Soul is leveled up by questing and meditating. There are also victory points allocated for killing monsters and much more involved in leveling up, that once you have fully grasped what everything does you will be able to appreciate the depth that this system provides. It is a much needed change of pace from the kill and level up that most games have.

Items are split into four categories from White (simple items), to Green, Blue and lastly Pink (unique). Crafting is as well straightforward. In order to upgrade them you need mystic stones for weapons and embroidery for armor, the rarity of these items is well balanced and anybody can obtain them from drops or mining.

Apart from the great action and intricate character development the game boast a really addictive PvP system which even if not revolutionary still is lots of fun especially once you take part in the Faction wars. The PvP works like a rock paper scissors game so fist beats hammer, hammer beats spear, spear beats sword and sword beats fist. Keep in mind that this does not mean any spearman will beat any swordsman, this depends primarily on the players and their skills but there are some advantages to be derived from this system. The guild fights are just about what you’d expect, two guilds fighting off at their own accord. But when it comes to Faction versus Faction fights the game really shines. There are objectives to be completed, guards to be slain and an opposing faction to destroy on a huge map with 200 people battling at once. It is pretty epic and whether you win or loose you just want to come back for more challenges and massive PvP fights.

Yes, it is a grinder, yes it is laggy and yes most of the game has been done before but the small changes and new features give Dragon Sky a somewhat fresh feel that veterans will appreciate and newcomers will enjoy in their search for that great MMO.

The Good: Nice graphics even on lower end systems, intricate leveling system, great action

The Bad: Grinder, takes some time getting used to, laggy

Graphics: 7
Gameplay: 8
Sound: 6
Story: 7
Overall: 7 /10