Nostale

Nostale is another Korean mostly-free online game. Cute 2D anime style avatars scamper through a colorful 3D environment with their animal companions, or Nosmates as the game calls them. Just like other games in this genre, Nostale is free, with the option to pay real money to get more interesting and more powerful gear, outfits, and fairies.

I've been having a lot of fun with this one. Nostale gives you the ability to capture and collect up to 10 pets, keep them in your own little plot of land in the game. Guilds in the game are called families, and the community seems to be generally nice. The annoying vendors that you often find in these sorts of games are relegated to a specific area of the map, so you don't have to muck through a mess of player shops to go turn in a quest.

The downside is the lack of helpful information out there for this game, such as what the items are and what they do. I also had trouble figuring out how to open a chat window, and could find nothing in the FAQ. I also couldn't figure out how to get rid of a Nosmate that I found until finally coming across a forum post on the subject. I have some item that is supposed to change my avatar's hairstyle, and I have yet to get that to work. The in-game manual definitely needs a lot more work!

The music is nothing special, the graphics we've seen before and aren't exactly anything new, exciting, or groundbreaking. Character creation irked me a little, having been given only two hairstyles in eight colors to choose from.

It's your Mini-Land and the ability to capture, collect, and train NosMates that makes Nostale unique. Overall, it's a fun game that's actually held my attention for more than a few days. I'd recommend giving it a whirl.