When we last saw Side Quest and Fractal Entertainment, the fledgling browser MMO was busy licking its wounds from a low turnout in its recent Kickstarter campaign. Of the ten thousand desired by Fractal Entertainment, the Kickstarter funding managed to bring in only two. However, not willing to give up, the folks at Fractal have released a playable version of Side Quest on the main website with the obvious hope that potential players put off by the “investor” phase will give the game a try and see its real potential. So over the past couple of weeks, I have dived into Side Quest, and I think it is about time to give my impressions on the game as a point of concept, not necessarily dealing with bugs (this is nowhere near completion, after all) and what not.

Jumping In…

Side Quest is a goofy, self-parodying side scroller with an equally ridiculous crew that makes me pine for the days of Dungeon Runners and gathering quests at Pwnston so I can take my +2 hammer of seal clubbing and just beat the crap out of a bunch of mobs. Making good on its Kickstarter advertising, Side Quest features a whole lot of single player, from the random fields that you will run through to gather gold and experience, and the quest story line that actually gives a bit of diversity and challenge. At the beginning of the game, following a short tutorial, you will have to choose one of five characters as your “main” character. This person is directly controlled and cannot be removed from the party at any point. The other four can be mixed and matched to your pleasure, and fall into the RPG archetypes.

Side Quest is controlled Patapon style: Your party of three moves through the level on its own, attacking enemies as you see them. While your two NPCs will do their jobs by themselves, your main character is the one that levels up and gains new abilities and stats. If you want the game to be easier, I suggest taking Krug (the tank) as your main role. If you want the game to be incredibly difficult, take on the role of healer. Then understand why your healer curses you out in World of Warcraft. Abilities and potions are lined up in the hotbar and activated with the number keys.

The loot system derives from some Facebook games. Each level contains a progress bar that fills as you complete the level over and over again, unlocking new difficulty levels as you go. When an enemy mob dies, it explodes in a shower of gold and experience that must be picked up with a simple hovering of the mouse. Chests drop additional experience and gold and are activated with a simple click of the mouse. While there are plenty of “filler” levels that are good for gold and experience and equipment boosts, the actual story quests are where Fractal Entertainment are showing off their creativity.

There is one quest, for example, that has you traveling down a river with your party. You must steer away from hazards while simultaneously beating away the tentacles of a large octopus attacking your raft. Steering is easy as clicking on the correct button, but you must manage between beating back the tentacles, steering, and repairing damage. On another quest, you are tasked with moving forward in a mess of bushes. Whenever you attack the bushes, creatures come from behind and you must turn around in order to fight them (which slows your progress). This one took me a couple of times to beat, as your healer (who is normally in the back) is constantly exposed to danger. You have to balance forward movement with keeping yourself from being overwhelmed from behind.

There are plenty of other activities already in Side Quest. You can head over to the arena (pictured in the first shot) and battle other player’s crews for ranking and arena points which can be used on potions and equipment. There are a number of daily quests available as you travel around and gain access to new areas and quest hubs. Fractal has promised that more cooperative and competitive multiplayer features will be coming at some point, but for right now the arena square you off against another player’s team controlled by AI. The other player is not actually at the computer. You can also play a game of Card Slayers, an interesting card mini-game.

The problem that Side Quest has is that the very early portion of the game is hand holding to its greatest extent. In other games, players exaggerate by saying that the game can be played on auto-pilot mode. In Side Quest, apart from picking up loot and experience that drops on the ground, the very early levels actually are on auto-pilot. The characters move themselves, attack by themselves (until you start getting special abilities), and heal by themselves. And the initial areas are so easy that all I had to do for the first hour or so was to click to enter the level and wave the mouse around to pick up loot. It’s easy to misinterpret this as representative of the rest of the game and lose interest.

In short: Side Quest isn’t a half-assed indie World of Warcraft clone, nor is it an open world sandbox MMO. In fact it isn’t really much of an MMO at this juncture. But what Side Quest has shown is already becoming a fun, unique experience, and the development team is very passionate about their game. You can play Side Quest at http://www.side-quest.com/