We decided to check out burda:ic's Land of Chaos Online to see if this free-to-play action RPG inspired by Defense of the Ancients is as unique as they say it is.

Where LOCO really seems to shine, however, is in its delivery of game play. Combat in LOCO is surprisingly smooth, especially given its free-to-play background. Players square off in equal teams (you are automatically placed in one, so no choosing of your faction here), and combat takes place in a third-person-shooter style. For anyone who has played another one of burda:ic's games, called S4 League, this style of combat might be a bit similar to you.

There is a healthy mix of melee and ranged characters in LOCO, and basic attacks consist of aiming (you can target enemies by holding down the right mouse key) and then holding down the left mouse key. As a melee champion, there will be a number of times where you'll simply wade into a group of enemies, holding down the left mouse key while your weapon just swings wildly, in giant arcs. The implementation of skills is also great to see, as each champion really is unique in his, her or its role, and it's easy to recognize some more iconic abilities, like Irene's Thunderstorm that calls a mini-thunderstorm down upon the area, Minity Grey's "Gift Box" spell that deals massive single-target damage, or Merino's "Sympathy for Sheep," which turns his opponent into a sheep.

LOCO is not, however, without its own problems, but most of these problems come from frustrating balance decisions, rather than inherent flaws in the design of the game itself. While it would be great to have some more champions, maps and game modes to choose from, it's things like LOCO's "invincible recall" feature that can really ruin a good game. In LOCO, all players have a free "return to base" spell that typically takes anywhere from 7 to 10 minutes to cool down (depending on how many times the recall structure in your base has been upgraded) , and you can instantly use this spell by pressing Z (when the cooldown is up) anywhere on the map. Interestingly, a player who teleports back to his or her base using this spell also gains complete immunity from all damage and crowd control spells; in other words, the teleport is completely uninterruptable. This can often make for very frustrating games, especially in the 'Destroy the Enemy Base" game modes, as entire teams of players can suicide rush your base, killing as many structures as possible, and then they can all teleport out when they get low on HP, thereby getting them safely home and ready to defend.

In addition to this, certain champion combinations can just get downright annoying to play against, especially if the players are organized. While LOCO doesn't allow more than three players to queue up for a game together, three is pretty much good enough to spell instant-death if those three players choose specific champions with stuns or crowd control. Since there is no such thing as diminishing returns in LOCO, it's quite possible to be, literally, stunned and killed from 100% to dead without any opportunity to retaliate.

But in the end, LOCO does remain very true to our basic video game commandment of being fun, first and foremost. This is, indeed, an extremely fun game to pick up and play, and it requires little to no time commitment to truly enjoy (games can run anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a bit). Balance issues aside, LOCO still does a fine job of representing the true potential of free-to-play MMORPGs, and if LOCO is an indication of the expected quality of the industry, then consider us truly excited about the next few years! Try it for yourself; you really have nothing to lose!