Published: Thursday, 27th August, 2009 1:38pm

Free Realms

by Narin Bahar

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PC

If Blizzcon - taking place this week in California and seeing thousands of World of Warcraft fans pretty much emptying their purses and wallets into Blizzard's already burgeoning coffers - proves anything it's that MMOs are still big business.

But while WoW, Guild Wars, City of Heroes and their ilk have big loyal fanbases, there's been no obvious MMO for youngsters dipping a toe into online gaming for the first time. Until now.

Free Realms which - as its name might hint - is free to play at its most simple, aims to set that straight. A web based PC game (although it's rumoured to be making an appearance on the PS3 impendingly) it offers a fully customisable MMO experience with a side order of social networking to make it perfect for tweens, all with parental controls and security to ensure that children can be safely left to play.

The game boasts a range of different worlds to visit, all offering quests and minigames to complete for coins and stardust. You can level up in different ways, ranging from traditional combat to quests and minigames depending on which job tier you're trying to advance - you can become a brawler, a chef (our favourite), a ninja, a postman, a pet trainer or a host of other professions, although some are decidedly more fun than others.

As a free game - you can pay to buy in-game items or membership (which gives you some otherwise unplayable jobs) - this is, simply, unbeatable for children and tweens. Its artwork is beautifully designed and rendered in a way that is a million miles from the plethora of easily-put-down Flash animated games filling the web. Sometimes launching it is a little slow, but for the quality of the game you're playing the patience pays off.

The other thing that's so great about Free Realms is the depth - or even the shallowness - of it. If you're a budding hardcore gamer you can go through every minigame, complete every quest, grind every character class and garner huge amounts of loot. But if you just want to potter about and play with your friends you can wander around the cute Animal Crossing style world, play the ridiculously addictive Bejewelled style tile game, or even just chat. It really offers a different game experience for every player based on their interests.

Four stars

* Sign up for Free Realms at www.freerealms.com