Hello, and welcome to the first of (hopefully) many reviews in my new "Fun and Games" section!

The first game I want to talk about JUST opened up in it's "Closed Beta Testing" phase and so far it's ROCKING!  It's called Shaiya and has been brought to us by Aeria Games.

So far, I would consider Aeria Games to be "hit or miss", based on other games I have TRIED to beta test for them.  Love you guys but not every MMORPG (massively multi player online role playing game) is to everyone's tastes...  and that goes for game style as much as it does for the game itself.

This one, however, is a DEFINITE hit with me at least!  Bringing familiar elements/styles similar to those of World of Warcraft  and Ever Quest makes it easy to adjust to.  The graphics quality is wonderful.  TONS of quests and lots of monster bashing PLUS "social" skills make the game fun for just about anyone who enjoys this "kind of thing".

Oh, there are a FEW "iffy" things still...  sometimes the mouse controls are a bit "twitchy" (double clicking on skills in the quick bar many times causes you to start moving to a new location instead of using the skill you were going for)...  some spots are simply NOT translated at all, and much of it is poorly translated from it's original language.  Luckily, being a fluent speaker/reader of "typonese" I can get a good idea of what they are SUPPOSED to be "saying".

Other than those minor glitches (so far) this game is DEFINITELY worth a play or three...  especially since it is FREE!!!  Yep, you heard me...  free to download, free to play!  LOL!

Go forth and slay some monsters!

On a side note, my 4 year old LOVES to watch me "beat the monsters" and, so far, his favorite by far is the "bad monkeys"...  *grin*