First Impressions: Cabal Online

As you know, I recently downloaded the US version of "Cabal Online" yesterday out of desperation for a hack n' slash fantasy game. It was just me and a couple folks so luckily I didn't start out all alone in "BLOODY ICE" (oooHhhHh.)

First off, this is another freebie game powered by an item mall, so don't expect anything TOO extravagant. It's definitely no "Perfect World," (which I consider the bestest AZN F2P), but it's not terrible. The graphics are pretty nice a la "Rappelz,"' but with much more customization character wise (though certainly not as much as "PW".) You have six classes to choose from, which include the tank classes, mages and damage dealers (physical and magical versions of each.)

I picked a force shielder (who makes her own magical shield in battle), and my friends picked a warrior (think Cloud with short pants), force archer and wizard. (Click here for more character info.) We all ended up looking different, so that was a good deal.

Anyhoo, so we started on "Venus" which according to the blazing letters was "HOT!!" and noticed there were like 20 "channels" to choose from much like the worlds in "Dungeon Runners." You can freely move amongst "channels" as much and as often as you like depending on the server loads that day or to find a friend (escape an enemy.)

As for game play, you basically beat the shit out of everything. I believe there is an auto-attack however I enjoy mashing buttons over and over again. I thought the combat to be a ghetto ass DDO with way over sensitive WASD movement. Of course, after I learned I could char a snow bunny, knock it to the ground then pummel it with my sword, I quickly got over the oversensitivity issues.


Skill wise you buy the base skills, then by using said skills over and over again, you earn "skill points," which you can put into your basic skills to better them. Not a terrible system, and you can make a decent amount of cash whupping on shit. It seems that the number of skill slots you have per level are slowly unlocked, so choose wisely (I guess?) You can tailor your character to your liking through a combination of weapon skills, generic magic skills (like regen) and special class based skills as well.

There doesn't seem to be a lot of questing (looks like lots of grinding), but there are also a number of dungeons to battle through solo or with friends. I wasn't able to finish too much yesterday as COD4 was calling, but according to the broken ass engrish on the server, it appears that outside of the 3 small areas you can start in, there are other unlockable areas which you gain access to as you go along.

And of course, there's glowy weapons/capes for later on, world PVP (sometimes completely random), and stupid looking personal shops (a girl in a maid outfit for chicks, a butler looking thing for boys.) There is the occasional Loot-Kake, but mainly of the gold variety (boo.) Plenty of + weapons/armours to be had as well.

Over all, it's nothing new, it's nothing spectacular, and nothing really original. However, it does take on something like 2Moons or 12Sky and updates it with better graphics/animation, and improved gameplay. Like I said, it's free so give it a try if you're bored of "SRO" and want to try something a bit different, but if you're looking for something "new"...this ain't it.