Gunz the Duel

Genre(s): Action/3rd Person
Massively Multiplayer (MMO)

Metacritic User Score: 6.22 (out of 10)

PCGamer UK awarded Gunz the Duel a 55% (out of 100%) score in December 2005.

Price: Free

Link(s): http://ava.ijji.com/

Description:
Gunz the Duel also known simply as GunZ, is an FREE online third-person shooting game. It is free to play, with a microtransaction business model for purchasing premium in-game items. The game allows players to perform exaggerated, gravity-defying action moves, including wall running, stunning, tumbling, and blocking bullets with swords, in the style of action movies and anime

In Quest mode, players, in a group of up to 4 members, go through parts of a map for a certain number of stages, which are determined by the quest level. In each stage, players are required to kill masses of creatures, and the game ends when every member of the player team dies or completes all of the stages. Quests can take place in the Prison, Mansion, or Dungeon map.

Players can make the quests tougher and more profitable by using special quest items to increase the quest level that can be bought from the in-game store or obtained during a quest. Quest items in-game are stored in glowing chests randomly placed around the map; certain items may be dropped depending on the monster killed. Players run through these to obtain an item randomly selected from the possibilities of that

monster. The items obtained depend on the level of the character and whatever quest items are in use. By sacrificing certain items in combination, players can enter a boss quest. These items are normally obtained through defeated monsters or through the in-game shop. The quest system was designed to reduce the amount of time needed to prepare for boss raids that are typical in many other online games. A player is congratulated for killing multiple players in a short amount of time.

A significant and unique part of the gameplay is the movement system. Players can run on walls, perform flips off of them, and do quick mid-air dodges in any direction. Advanced movement and combat techniques are commonly referred to as “K-Style” or Korean style; a variety of techniques fall under this category. These usually exploit the game’s animation and weapon switch systems through a series of animation cancellations to allow the player to perform another action rapidly after the first. One example is the wall cancel; unlike the normal slow method of running on walls, the player can simply jump, dash mid-air in the direction of the wall, and upon hitting it slash or stab with their melee weapon.

This will cause the player to gain height with each successive timed dodge-slash, and it is possible to stay in the air near walls and travel along them indefinitely using this method. This, in addition to the fact that these techniques are possible as a result of exploiting flaws in the animation system, has resulted in them being controversial but they have become largely accepted as part of the game. The forthcoming sequel to GunZ will reportedly retain some of these K-Style features, though they may be implemented differently.

GunZ’s networking system in most parts of the game is peer to peer. Players connect to other players through their client, instead of through a central server.

Publisher: MAIET Entertainment/Ijji

Developer: MAIET Entertainment/Ijji

Release Date: June 2005

Players: Massively multiplayer online

ERSB: N/A, but likely “M” due to it’s warfare-like violence.

Sample Gameplay Video(s):