Hopefully you cast “Read On,” because it sounds like NEStalgia creator, Ben Mallahan, has made something really special. Described as “Dragon Warrior 3 meets World of Warcraft,” NEStalgia combines all the charm of 8bit RPGs with the MMO genre.

More than just a superficial hybrid, the game also brings the turn based mechanics of old school RPGs into an MMO setting. You can team up with a party of other players across one of the available small scale servers or fight each other in some PvP battles. There’s even an auction house where you can trade your epic loot between other players.

Best of all, NEStalgia is completely free to play. Of course, if you want to show your support to the game, you can sign up for a $9 annual subscription or $20 lifetime subscription that unlocks four additional character classes and a few other optional features. Either way, the world of NEStalgia is just a download away.

News Credit: Joystiq
Official Site: SilkGames.com/NEStalgia/

EA and Dice’s new third-person-shooter / MMOG, “Battlefield Heroes”, has finally opened to the public. It takes the basics of the Battlefield series and boils it down to a much more simplified version of the game.

Once you get past EA’s overblown login system, it is a simple matter of making a character and hopping into a random game.

They have stripped down to only three classes: The Soldier, The Gunner and The Commando.

Each class has their own unique play style. The soldier is the most balanced, with medium armaments and the ability to throw grenades, the gunner is slow, but has a high defense and a shield ability, and the commando has a sniper rifle, a knife, and the ability to cloak.

I highly recommend making one of each character so you can find a play style suited to you. Personally, I chose the gunner. I love getting “all up ons” in the middle of a battle.

The basic game mechanic will be very familiar if you have played other Battlefield games. You and your team try to capture locations on the map by holding the area for a certain amount of time. The more of your squad on the flag, the faster you will take it over.

"Teamwork is key"

Each team starts with a number of points which slowly decreases based on the number of bases the enemy has captured. The more you have captured, the faster the enemy team’s number drops to zero. It’s a pretty simple mechanic that forces you not only to press forward, but to continually watch your back.

As your character progresses, points are earned that can be spent on new costumes for your characters, as well as some new weapons and gadgets. There isn’t a lot in there yet, but EA plans to add more in the coming months. There are only two extra long range, two extra short range, and one extra big explosive weapon per class. There are also bandages (for slowly restoring health) and wrenches (for repairing vehicles) that can be purchased. These all have a limited number of uses.

There are already a decent number of options for costume changes. However, only a few of these can be bought with the in-game points. Most of them require spending real money. You can buy points from the main site which can be used in-game.

"Costumes range from stylish, to practical, to just plain silly"

You will also unlock special “hero points” which can be spent on abilities. With my gunner being naturally slower than the other classes, I was able to unlock an ability that lets me sprint for a short amount of time. That is just one example of the type of class-specific upgrade that can be unlocked. This system adds that little addictive touch of role playing games that I love so much.

The vehicles are a lot of fun to use. The tank is a great way to cause some havoc without it being an instant win machine. While it is powerful, everyone has, at the very least, sticky dynamite that they can take you down with. However, you are able to run over enemy players and take them down with your cannon. You can also have a second player riding in the top of the cannon as a backup.

The jeep is extremely fast, but leaves you open to attack. You cannot use any of your weapons while you are the driver. You can, however, take two passengers who can fire with a limited range.

The plane is, by far, the hardest to control. If you can manage to control it, the machine guns built into them can take out tanks and soldiers very quickly. You can even take along passengers on the wings.

"I can see your impending doom from here!"

Another good point is that it is highly scalable. The cartoony graphical style lends itself very well to playing even on low-end machines. That is a must in getting a big audience with a free to play game.

I have been having a blast playing “Battlefield Heroes”. Even though it is fairly limited right now with only the three classes and four maps, the simplicity of the game mechanics allows for a balanced experience. If you are there for some cartoony, over the top, shooting fun, then you should definitely check it out. Just try not to take things too seriously. Oh, and did I mention to work as a team? Trust me, you’ll have more fun that way.

You can play right now, for free, on the official site.