As gaming technology improves, could Vindictus be the first action MMO that doesn't fall flat? Senior Editor Chris Tom decided to find out by participating in the Early Access Beta, which recently ended.

Moving on to the core of the MMO, Vindictus has probably one of the best combat systems I've seen in a long time. Not only are actions smooth and visceral in execution, but in combination with Vindictus's source engine, it's really quite satisfying to see the bodies flying. Everything interacts with everything in Vindictus, so it's common to throw enemies into each other or, if you're good at aiming, launching a gnoll into a pile of spiders with a well-aimed kick can be one of the most satisfying moments of your gaming life. Boss fights in Vindictus are also fun; as a Fiona character with a shield, blocking specific attacks becomes an exercise in precise timing and prediction. As well, should you enter a dungeon with a team (up to a maximum of four), boss fights become even more interesting as teammates can utilize grappling hooks to snag the boss's feet and trip him up, allowing other members to hack at him while he's down.

But every MMO has its problems and, with Vindictus, comes two problems that have plagued free-to-play MMORPGs for years. The first problem is that of connection speeds. MMOs developed in Korea rarely pay much attention to coding a proper network infrastructure because Korea's internet is incredible, and so simple peer-to-peer connections work perfectly fine. Unfortunately, in North America this isn't the case, and network problems can lead to incredible headaches when trying to play the game with friends. This connection problem is really what's holding back a lot of free-to-play MMORPGs, so if you want to enjoy Vindictus, my advice is to get a solid group of local friends to play with, or move to Korea (I suggest the latter).

The final problem that Vindictus suffers from, and one that makes me a little bit hesitant to give my full recommendation, is that this game really lacks depth. In the Early Access Beta, there are only two boats available (with the missions associated with those boats), and there is a level cap of 26, but even if new zones and bosses were to be added, the problem here is just that there seems to be a lack of activities available in Vindictus. Either you're out smashing things with your standard combo attacks (or body slamming them into walls), or you're sitting in town browsing the auction house to get better weapons to smash things with. Given the fact that Vindictus has no crafting systems or any other alternative forms of entertainment, this could pose a significant attention problem for players as they continue to play.

In the end, Vindictus strikes me as an MMORPG with a lot of unknown potential. Think of it as the opposite of the FFXIV syndrome, where you have a lot of content but not a lot of polish. Vindictus is currently very polished and delivers a lot of quality content, but now it's really up to its developers to get more breadth into their game. After all, there are only so many gnolls I can body slam before I get a little tired.

Vindictus enters open beta for all North American players on October 13.