A couple of us downloaded Silk Road Online for the PC and tried it out, and it is surprisingly good! It’s a typical RPG, but it is set in Asia (Silk Road, get it?) and the model sets are all Chinese. You can choose from about 25 different character models, and then in the game there are different combat skills and magic skills you can learn. Of course, you gain XP by killing monsters and collecting their loot. One of the best things about the game is that it is totally free!!! The ~500MB client is downloadable from their website, or fileplanet, and there is no subscription fee. I don’t know what their business model is, but I’m not gonna spend too much time worrying about it.

The graphics are very well done, the overall atmosphere is immersive and the animation is for the most part smooth. I chose to use the “Zombie” character model above. She’s pretty cool because she floats around instead of running. She reminds me of my favorite HK actress [url=%%dir[1″>%%20060302_joeywong.jpg>Joey Wong in “A Chinese Ghost Story”. The game does get a bit laggy at times, especially at the start point, which is where the game begins and where your character is resurrected after he dies. Naturally, there are tons of people at that location, and many player vendors have set up shop there. The sound effects are pretty repetitive, and the volume controls are buggy, so I turned off the bg music. Overall, I am pretty impressed with this game. Oh, did I mention that it is free? 🙂