Warrock: Duck and Cover! Company: Dream Execution XTRA! XTRA! The east is invading the west! Only this time it wasn't Pearl Harbor and it wasn't even the Japanese. The Koreans are continuing a heavier migration of their games in to the Western market. They have kept low key, yet they were always on the radar, and people didn't really pay them much mind. They have made several large BANGS with games like Lineage and Lineage II, but not so many of the smaller MMOLG's and shooters. Now its go time baby as they are strengthening their attack with WARROCK. DreamExecution CO. released their first open beta for Warrock in May of '05, but it wasn't really much of a game until November of '05. I had my first glimpse of this fast-paced modern war-themed FPS at the Austin Game Conference in '05. They showed great potential and great promise right off the bat with excellent in-game footage previews. Nothing pre-rendered or Photoshopped. Make sure to check out the link to Warrock at the bottom of the page. When you get in to the game, the first thing you are going to notice is that this game is designed to be played across a great variety of systems. There are many video settings you can tweak up and down to suit your system. This worked out extremely well when I tested it on a couple of different systems. The second thing you are going to notice is "engrish" every where. As this is a beta, the grammar is going to get you in a few places. You are also going to realize that you are not going to be able to read some of your fellow gamers' posts and in-game messages, unless you are fluent in: Korean, Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, and broken English. These are just the ones I have seen so far. I am told that you will also see Russian and a few others depending on the time of night. The control system is the same W,A,S,D that PC gamers have lived and breathed for years, with the unfortunate side that for right now, their controls are locked and you cannot change them to your liking. The in-game movement is very fluid and well done. You are not trapped in the FPS perspective either. You can see yourself in the 3rd person. You also see yourself in the 3rd person in vehicles. When comparing this look and feel to other games you may have played, many have said that it is a cross between Counter Strike Source and Battlefield 2. It is true that you cannot get very far, very fast without thinking you have played this before. Like BF2, you have five classes and they have a ranking system in place. You can play as Medic, Engineer, Combatant, Heavy Weapons, and Scout. The Medics will give you a shot revitalizing you, and the Engineer will use his "spanner" wrench to repair damaged vehicles - for those not familiar with this, it is identical to BF2. Your Scout is your sniper and Heavy Weapons carries your anti-tank paraphernalia, again just like BF2. The Combatant speaks for itself and uses grenades, pistols and a machine gun. There are also ground and flying vehicles available (although flying is not currently available in BETA - unless hacked - more on this later.) They have a flag system that runs on an occupation timer just like BF2, only it is faster. Like CSS, you will have to buy weapons (not currently enabled in BETA), and the movement and look is similar. They are using a proprietary engine known as LINDO, so all of the look and feel is strictly coincidental. Warrock has a nice and believable weapons fire variation, between running, standing, kneeling, lying down or leaning around a corner. They have a nice system for health as well. I like the fact that I can take and reciprocate a few hits even if it means we take each other out in the process. If you do not receive medical treatment and your wound is severe enough, then you will die from a lack of medical treatment. Now, we come to the part where I explain it is only a beta. But, already there are many hackers and cheaters online. It has become so bad, in fact, that it is starting to turn some of the weaker beta people away. I have been unable to make contact with anyone at DreamExecution directly to find out how their community moderators are dealing with this current influx of cheaters. The current process for their cheats are called Packet Trainers. People will accomplish something in the game and then go back and use a program to replay the "packets" over and over to achieve certain tasks. For example, one shot one kill head shots everytime, take a flag the second you get near it, seeming invincibility, never lose stamina, etc. I can go on, but you get the idea of the frustration many are feeling. Not all of the people playing the game are like that, but like any game, you have a few people who think it is cool or funny. Most of the people just want fun competition. There are enough of these players to keep the game going strong. They will find a way deal with cheaters just like all of the decent games currently on the market will. After all, it is only the BETA. They are also manipulating packets and opening up different weapons and unlocking some of the aircraft. I am sure that in due time, they will work out their bugs and everyone will be able to access all of the vehicles. All in all, it is a really fun game that has a lot of potential. I enjoy the true worldwide community, and the game has a lot to offer visually as well as being accessible to many different systems. Worth your time to check it out. Warrock on! And, see you in there. -WUMPUSJAGGER, GameVortex Communications AKA Bryon Lloyd Related Links: Warrock Dream Execution