Dragonica Online is a game by THQ and ICE Entertainment that is their first attempt to bring casual massively multiplayer online games to American audiences. Dragonica Online — is known as Dream Dragon in China. Currently under localization and in closed beta, Dragonica Online is a fantasy action, free-to-play game targeted at 13- to 17-year-olds. It is a 3-D side-scrolling game that makes use of jump-pads to travel between islands in the foreground and background in a 3-D map. Everything you can see, you can get to; you just have to find the way.

The story of Dragonica Online tells of dragons of the past and in towns, and players will see tribute to them in the form of statues and architectural elements. Dragon portals will also give you quests.

You get to choose between four classes: the Archer, Warrior, Magician and Thief. At level 20, you decide on specialization of these skills and will go down that path, opening advanced skills and class titles. With 60 levels at launch, there is much to do, including finding hidden combos and hilarious skill effects as your character levels.

Like many other free-to-play games, there isn’t much customization to your avatar when you begin, but as you progress in Dragonica Online, you gain distinctive armor, equipment and medals that boost different skills.

The game has crafting, all performed by a Enchantment vendor by taking him the right materials, your equipment or armor to enchant and the right amount of largesse. With a bit of luck, you will get an nicely enhanced piece in return. Some higher-level pieces can be enchanted a number of times to improve stats and boosts.

What can be enchanted can also be disenchanted — or dissembled to its component pieces. This may be done to drops of a certain level and again, with a bit of luck, you could get a nice component to enhance your equipment.

Soulcrafting is another crafting component that provides boosts to character stats such as HP or MP. This also is provided by an NPC vendor.

Graphics are aesthetically pleasing in the eyes of this writer. Dragonica Online has a cell-shaded distinctive art style and does not use the extreme oversaturation of colors that some game developers seem to think is necessary in low-graphic environments. In comparison to the high contrast supersaturation graphics of worlds such as say, World of Warcraft, the world is almost soft pastel.

Characters and NPCs are super cute but not to the extent of being pukingly cute. They are more amusing and filled with humor and a tongue-in-cheek design. We saw evil-looking teddy bears with sharp teeth, hatchets, spiked collars, leather jackets and chains; pirate sharkmen, or sharks walking upright on short stubby legs, wearing eye-patches, bandanas, dangly earrings and wielding blunderbusses. How cute is that?

It is a highly animated world with fountains spouting water, windmills and clouds moving in the wind. Character and NPC animations are also varied — not elaborate, just varied and amusing, with NPCs running from the teddy bears and shark pirates and nasty evil-looking Treants waving their tree limbs at you.

PvP gameplay is also available in Dragonica Online, but this form of play is not found in the open world. Instead, PvP operates off-menu through a lobby system. The usual offerings such variants of King of the Hill or Last Man Standing will be available as will team versus team and will be available on different maps.

There is a guild function, and parties of up to four may be made. A couple/party search and matching system assist players in forming groups of appropriate skill and level. Friends can also rack up Friend Points for their offline friends so that they do not fall too far behind when not logging in regularly. These can be exchanged for XP points.

Dragonica Online also has a feature known as Hero Quest Mode. These are tough missions in which parties are highly recommended. Players tend to gather at these mission points and form parties to conquer the quests. These are desirable quests because the higher the risk, the greater the reward. The quests are repeatable.

For any community to exist, there will be trading — whether it’s like player runs as in the early days of EverQuest where players congregated in the Commonlands to shout their wares or the highly automated auction houses in other games. Dragonica Online is no different, and there will be an in-game trading house. Also available will be the cash store by which Dragonica Online monetizes. Only convenience items may be purchased, such as XP potions that last a short time, HP and Mana potions, town transportation scrolls, and fluff items such as coordinated town outfits and funny seasonal outfits.

Dragonica Online has finished closed beta, and open beta is soon with launch in October 2009. As Dragonica Online is a fully fledged game that is being localized for the North American market, gamers can expect that new features will roll in quickly after launch. A pet system is currently in development, and housing is down the line after that.

This is a game I am going to have to play. I enjoy side-scrollers, and Dragonica Online has a 3-D aspect to it. It looks beautiful, and I’ve always enjoyed a touch of humor in my gaming.