People will try anything if it's free. Mini bottles of mouthwash, tiny tins of shoe wax, single-serving bananas--millions are spent every year by companies attempting to hook consumers with a free sample of their latest brands. Adopting that same strategy, the developers at NCsoft have referred to Dungeon Runners as an experiment in game design. Adhering to the scientific method, we begin with their assumed question: Will gamers still become addicted to the fashionable quest-based MMORPG gameplay if it is pared down in scope, yet provided easily and on the cheap? Evidently, NCsoft has hypothesized that they will. The real question you will have to ask yourself is, are you a Cheese Wiz man, or a fan of Brie? Would you rather take the bus, or drive a Ferrari? Soup, or steak? Salvation Army, or Armani?

The idea of even reviewing a free game might appear to be futile at first blush. After all, is someone's free time so precious that he or she cannot spend a few minutes to simply give the game a go? What's next, a review of Yahoo! Chess? An insightful critique of solitaire? The answer to this question is that Dungeon Runners is not as free as it sounds. Imagine this scenario: Eagerly anticipating a nifty piece of armor while fighting a boss, you finally see a big item drop after the monster lies slain. Hovering over the description, your eyes widen as the list of killer attributes runs on, until you notice the binding clause, "Membership Only." Like a woman at the gates of Augusta National, you are harshly denied satisfaction. The bottom line is that most of the better items in the game are restricted to users who pay $5 a month for a membership, which also includes access to an item bank, provides login queue priority, and allows you to use stackable potions. Taking these obvious benefits into consideration, many prospective players will more than likely consider Dungeon Runners a practical contender for their money rather than simply a free distraction.

Dungeon Runners runs on several game servers, each carrying a fairly low beta population. Characters exist on a central database, and can be used on any available server. The game offers players the choice of three basic classes: Fighter, Mage, or Ranger. A classless system was recently introduced, wherein each class can now train each other's skills, allowing for endless hybrid permutations. After designing the look of a character with a rudimentary creation tool, players can congregate in a moderately sized town, accessing nearby instanced dungeons in order to level their characters and reap the spoils of combat. Quests given out by NPCs are your standard scavenger hunts, assigning you missions to kill monsters or collect objects with the reward of extra treasure. This treasure can be spent on skills, which are sold by trainers in the same way items are sold by merchants. Special coins known as "King's Coins" can be found and spent at special merchants to receive powerful items instantly. Treasure chests are also typically found scattered amongst the cul-de-sacs of each dungeon, surprising players with random hand-outs.

The dungeons themselves are randomly generated, which would be a welcome improvement to the genre if they were not so plain in design. Monsters wait in clusters of three or four at mathematical intervals, occasionally swarming in droves. Named bosses are usually accompanied by several henchmen and can prove to be challenging to defeat, but the strategy involved in such a fight is minimal. Organized groups can be formed to tackle harder instances, which, while generally more interesting than the lower level offerings, lack many memorable characters or elaborate encounters.

Despite the predictable design, it is easy to admire the spirit of NCsoft's venture. Promising an inexpensive, lighthearted return to the basics of dungeon crawling, Runners' strongest selling point is its sense of humor. A piece of armor found in a treasure chest is called a "Spiney Rusty Scale Spaulders of the Penguin," apparently poking fun at the naming conventions found in games such as World of Warcraft or Diablo. Weapon classes range from cardboard axes to pizza cutters, and can feature absurd references such as "ludicrous speed" as attributes. Player names now come with automatically generated titles, such as "Invigorated Lowly Fanatical Fighter." NPCs spout amusing dialogue in the vein of characters from Blizzard games, although the sound quality has a slight reverberation to it as if it were recorded in somebody's basement (perhaps after the team's nightly Warcraft raid?).

Speaking of which, for journeyman MMO players, your first foray into the game world may feel slightly familiar. For a moment, try to convince yourself that you are, in fact, not playing a beta version of World of Warcraft, circa 2002. Ignore the bright yellow exclamation points that dot the countryside, hovering over the throngs of NPCs. Turn your gaze from the cartoony characters that carry towering swords and wear colorful, oversized armor, as they march into the swirling portals that demarcate instanced dungeons. Erase from your mind the idea that the loading screen and user interface scream out as exhibit A and B in an infringement case. Sleep. Sleep...