"Project D" is an massive online multi-player science fiction fantasy game (that's a mouthful) for the good ol' PC.  In this game you take a role of a character of your own creation who is on a fantasy like world with huge and scary looking creatures.  You do not come unprepared as you have an arsenal of many different weapons and items to help you start your journey.  What ia your journey you ask?  You are a gun for hire and are willing to do any job you can take to earn some cash and experience points.  Your jobs will include simple tasks like collecting clothes, defeating small monsters, and talking to people.  Not all tasks are simple as there are some really tough missions that includes: Beating giant bosses, retrieving items from heavily guarded buildings, and more.  So gear up as we are entering the world of Project D.  (Click "Read More" to read the full review).


Story in this game is pretty much non-existent as besides the episodic mini-stories from the missions you'll find that you'll have to use your imagination about the backstory of your character.  As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, the setting is a hybrid of "Science Fiction" and "Fantasy" (so just straight up "Fiction") and it does it well as not only does it have the look but it also has the atmosphere as you feel like that you are on an alien planet, in an alien universe, in an alien dimension.  Not only does it have an alien feeling to it but the game also has an old-school vibe as this game feels (and looks) like it was designed for people who grew up on classic MMO games like "EverQuest (1999)" and "Phantasy Star Online (2000)".

Gameplay wise this game has an old school feeling to where it has more of a rougher edge but it's not as rough as the older games that this game was inspired as it uses roughness to where you'll feel nostalgic but not frustrated so with that said, the controls take a little bit of getting used to, once you get the hang of the controls  you'll find them to be very enjoyable.  Even when you have a bad internet connection you'll find that the controls are still very functional despite any lag you might come across.  If you have a controller then you'd be disappointed as this game is all keyboard and mouse and I wouldn't have it any other way for a game like this.  While I was enjoying this game a whole ton I did find that this game got to be a bit grueling to play through but then the game picks right up back again so you'll need some patience during some parts of the game. 

Note: Game is in English.

Mission difficulty depends on your level but this game doesn't limit you to only giving you missions that are set to your level.  Also don't be afraid to try a mission that's meant for a player that's two levels higher as they are still very much beatable but just don't expect to come out of them at full health.  The way you fight enemies in this game is just as simple as pressing the left button on your mouse.  When you do come across a group of monsters you'll find that you'll fight them in small areas to where if you walk to a certain point you'll find that the monsters can not leave that certain area, if they do they'll just disappear.  I found that system to be both a good thing and bad thing as when I am running off to recover I know that I'll be safe which is the good thing about the system.  The bad thing about this system is that when you are trying to keep far enough from an enemy while attacking it you might accidentally go too far, end out of the area, taking the monster with you and it's just frustrating getting a monster down to low HP only for them to disappear making all that time worth nothing.

Most of the time you can just ease though this game just by yourself but there will be some missions out there where you'll need some help from your friends.  The reason why is that there are some boss battles that are just too tough to tackle alone and will jack you up in a very short amount of time.  I have played this game with a few friends and it was fun and a great thing is that there is no friendly fire (no killing of team mates) so the game session ended up just being us shooting rockets at each other and pretending to be Superman (I took a rocket right to the crotch).  This game also has a "PVP" (Player Verses Player" mode but sadly I couldn't test this out due to playing this game at times when there weren't many people playing.



The character creation is pretty basic as all you can do at the start is pick your gender and hair style but you can get new costumes pretty easily after the tutorial missions which don't take long at all.  The other thing you can do is pick a class with three to choose from: Esper, Strider, and Guardian.  The Esper specializes in psychic and magic abilities, Strider is very fast, and Guardian is all about pure strength.  A good thing in this game is that you don't start off with nothing but with a nice pack of equipment that includes potions that heal both your HP (Hit Points) and MP (Magic Points) and weapons of both melee and firearm kind.

A great thing about this game is that once you've paid for it...  That's it, you get the full game with the ability to use every single bit of equipment, currency, and costume as this game has no micro-transaction activated items what so ever and you can bet your ass that it's a wonderful thing to see in an MMO.  There is only one catch and that is that you have to work your way through the game to gain some of that sweet in-game cash or level up to the right level to be able to unlock and use some of the good stuff and that's a fair thing but I can see some players getting bored before they can be able to obtain the item they want. 


Graphics in this game have an aged look to where it looks like a game from 2000/2001 but personally I thought that was a brilliant choice as this game is going for an nostalgic MMO feel.  While dated they still look very nice and clean with some pretty nice designs for the background characters and enemies.  The designs for the main characters are basic but you can change up their style to make them look something special.  The costumes you find later in this game look very nice and works well in a sci-fi fantasy setting.

Animation in this game ranges from serviceable to choppy due to this game having some weird fluctuations in framerate but that won't get in the way of you enjoying the game.  I really liked the music in this game as it has a very exciting sci-fi techno sound that reminds me of games found on the "Sega Dreamcast (1998)".  The soundtrack can get very repetitive but the soundtrack was decent enough to make me not turn the game on mute after awhile and I would actually buy the soundtrack if available.

My character... Don't judge.

Overall as much as I enjoyed this game I'm going to have a hard time trying to convince players of the newer MMO's to play this as this game would be a bit too rough for them.  The fan's of old-school MMO games would love this game as it'll make you feel nostalgic.  For a game that was made by a small group of people I am very impressed as they did a very good job at making a working MMO.  I ended up enjoying this game and thus that's why I am recommending this game.  Not a bad game at all.

Game: Project D
System: PC
Developer: DAIKON, Ice Shovel Soft
Publisher: Ice Shovel Soft
Genre: Action, Adventure, RPG, MMO
Price: $14.99 (Steam)
Recommended: Yes (This one is for the old-school MMO players)