Facebook has become a playground for many game types, some predictable like puzzle games, some remixes of familiar brand names, like the resurgence of arcade classics. Lately, more and more games have challenged the Facebook platform to show what it’s capable of, such as 3-D games. Now, let’s add another category, the synchronous (simultaneous, not turn-based) massively multiplayer online game, which is exactly the rare breed of game that is Playdom’s Kogamu.

In beta, Kogamu offers one character type to play out of three options, two of which are grayed out. The character class the player gets to flex his or her muscles with is the gunner. The gunner is a long-range character class, similar to an archer in fantasy gaming, using ranged weapons starting with double pistols with unlimited ammo as the basic weapon. The skill weapons for the gunner read like a veritable arsenal from a small country, with missiles, miniguns, flamethrowers and grenades. There’s definitely a little John Woo-meets-Trigun in the style of the character and his attacks. At this time, I didn’t see any character customization options to help set your gunner apart from others when they are in common gathering areas, other than the names each may be given.

Like most traditional MMOGs, your character is endowed with a set of stats you will generally need to keep a close eye on after you spend a little time in the game and that you can upgrade through armor, weapons, clothing and other enhancements. Tracking strength, constitution, will, hit points, attack and armor types is more than most Facebook games ask from their users but will immediately be comfortable to even novice traditional online gamers.

The tutorial holds a player’s hands through the initial area, with the helpful tutelage of a buxom sidekick named Nikita, during which time they have the opportunity to learn the basic maneuvers and attacks. Consider Kogamu’s back story, a familiar tale of a post-apocalyptic world teetering on the brink, to be a feature that adds to the game’s ambience — but not an element that drives it. Players can move in eight directions, all by using the arrow keys on the keyboard. A simple-to-execute dash and a slide maneuver round out the options for the agile hero. Attacking can be as simple as button-mashing the primary attack, but that will only get you so far. Savvier players will equip, and upgrade, their skilled attacks and use their slide and jumping attacks for a better balance between agility and power.

Most enemies, which happen to be of the goblin variety, in the early part of the game during the tutorial and beyond it will take the punishment and go down easily, but some have long-range attacks, and some bigger brutes and boss characters just have a long reach with some pretty lethal melee weapons. Lightening the mood during the battles are word balloons above some enemies with witty, aggressive or remorseful quips.

Usually there are several screens of action per zone, which often accompany a quest, often requiring a player to double back to make it to the end zone where the boss character lies in wait with a throng of minions. If a player wants to be challenged, after completing each zone, he or she can take the zone on again with increasingly higher levels of difficulty.

Money is continually earned, filling a purse that’s to be emptied every five minutes. That mechanism alone is a system that can keep players attached to Kogamu for longer play sessions when five minutes atop five minutes invested is rewarded. Of course, shops and crafting stations offer ways to use earnings of the cash or loot variety to buy or create helpful enhancements for their characters. The inventory, map and quests screens help players keep track of their equipment, location locally and in the world, and their quests to complete. Even PvP junkies aren’t left out in the cold, and they can get their fix by opting to duel other players one-on-one. The winners gain silver and bragging rights, while the losers walk away without anything but their pride hurt. Speaking of the pain of loss, even when faced with death, a player is given a resurrection potion, a safeguard against losing interest in the game should they not catch on to the play mechanics quickly enough.

You can’t forget Kogamu is at its heart a social game on a social platform. Aside from the invitations to share gifts with Facebook friends, players can also invite their friends to join them as allies. Adding allies enhances the player’s strength, such as when dueling other players, so a player is incentivized to urge their friends to team up with them in the game.

Visually, from the start Kogamu feels like an homage to many classic side-scrolling fantasy hack-and-slash arcade games I played once upon a time in the early ’90s, right down to the lush backgrounds, parallax scrolling and weather effects. The animation of the main character, with his cape flapping in the breeze and the gun twirl, is pretty sweet eye candy. Some of the other animations, such as the goblin warriors, range from serviceable to exceptional. There are also the extra touches that catch the eye, such as the bugs crawling around on certain maps or the clouds in motion on the world map. The fact the game accomplishes a pretty standard graphically while being designed in Flash merits extra credit, as well.

Kogamu’s audio track that I heard consisted of several clear sound effects of grunts, groans, clanging metal overlaid with a soundtrack of guitar riffs and synth lines. It blends into the action nicely and at times complements it well.

Time will tell whether Kogamu will strike the right balance between making an appeal to the mainstream masses of Facebook users and the more traditional role-playing and adventure gaming fans — or whether the game will even need to juggle so much at once to be successful. What I can tell from my play time with Kogamu is it suggests a vast, diverse and attractive world beyond the zones I explored, and yet it can be as casual a game as the player wants it to be. Playdom will hopefully make the right decisions in balancing, tweaking and completing this game in such a way that a wide variety of players can dive into a game on on Facebook that’s just not about leveling treadmills, islands, pets and puzzle blocks.