GunBound

"Amazingly addictive."

Gunbound is a strategy, turn-based online-only game made by the Korean softhouse Softnyx. It is a free game, with no monthly fees or any other kind of payment, (Except to gain some in-game cash. More details later) and well, it's a great freeware, better than many other online paid games out there. Oh, and it's also addictive as hell.

Gameplay: 9/10

In Gunbound, you choose from a variety of Mobiles, (a kind of war tank) those Mobiles differ from each other in characteristics, look and style. There are plenty of options for all kinds of players, and you can specialize yourself with the Mobile that best fits your playing style.
After each victory in one of the game's four game modes, you will receive GOLD and GP. The first one is the game's currency, and you can use it to buy new equipment (Such as clothes, glasses, helmets, flags, etc.) for your Avatar (Your character). Of course there are a lot of options to fit both sex genders, and all those equipments somehow affect your Avatar's stats, so it's up to you creating an efficient set of equipment (Or just a cool-looking one). The GP is the game's ''experience points'', earning some determined amounts of it makes your level go up. There are a few benefits for some levels, other than the respect among other Gunbound users around the world.
The ''in-game'' gameplay is very good, too. When it's your turn, you can fire three different shots from the Mobile you're using, always setting the shot's angle and power (There are three different firing methods, with varying difficulty each). While it may seem simple at the beginning, there is indeed a lot of depth to the whole thing, since you can choose from a great array of items to use in-combat, and choosing the best set of items (or the one who helps you the most) is somewhat difficult.
My only rant about Gunbound's overall gameplay is that there are very few maps to play in, and they get boring quite easily, an option to build maps (Available in many strategy games out there) would be a great feature. Since Softnyx is always making updates, there's always hope....

Graphics: 8/10

Gunbound's graphics are beautiful, in a unique, simplistic and cartoony way. The backgrounds and character are 2D sprites, but the explosion and hit effects are in 3D. It's an interesting mix of styles, who never gets annoying to the player's eyes.

Sound: 7/10

This game's background tunes can get very annoying with time, so when you get bored of them, just pop up your favorite music CD and forget. Well, that actually isn't a good idea, because you would miss the fantastic sound effects, (The explosions sound awesome....BOOM!) and would also lose the sound of wind changing, which entirely affects the whole gameplay. Hmm, it's up to you.

Replay: 10/10

Gunbound is one of the most addicting games EVER made, and it will surely keep you hooked for many hours if you give it a chance. The desire of earning more GOLD and GP, and to buy better equipment to optimize your Avatar will always drag you back to it. You can also create your guild at Gunbound's official site (To recruit other users to fight with you...Or against you....A kind of ''clan'') in a determined level and with the needed GOLD. Playing this game never gets old, trust me.

Overall: 8/10

Gunbound is a great game to play online. It's free, it's good, it's deep and it's addicting. Don't be skeptical only because it is a freeware, go ahead and give it a chance. If you're a strategy fan, you'll LOVE it. And even if you aren't one you will love it too....

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/09/04