I tried out two new games this weekend: The Chronicles of Spellborn and Free Realms. I won't say Spellborn was bad, not in the least. But I felt so much more entertained by Free Realms, I perhaps fear for my sanity just a little bit.

Spellborn has great graphics, and a lot of people find the skill system intriguing, but the quests are absolutely wretched. Grouping is klunky and not helped at all by the interface. I personally find the combat a bit dull, but I understand there are some people who breathlessly claim it to be revolutionary. Whatever. I tried a couple of very different classes, and they both reduced to mashing the same combo over and over in 90% of the battles. I'm sure this changes a bit at higher levels, but I'm not sure I want to invest the time it will take to find out. I know I don't want to do any more of these awful quests.

Free Realms combat is even simpler, don't get me wrong, but the difference here is a matter of expectations and delivery. In Spellborn, the game centers around combat; there is simply very little else to do. Free Realms, on the other hand, is decidedly NOT combat oriented. It's got minigames and crafting and resource harvesting, and a really good trading card game. And racing! And a freaking demolition derby!

Seriously, the TCG alone puts Free Realms head and shoulders above Spellborn in terms of flat-out fun times. And while FR quests may be very fedex-y, they at least have a cute story and some visual payoff in many cases. TCoS quests are merely a dull, uninspired, uninspiring leveling mechanism. In the case of Free Realms, you can pretty much skip most quests and just play the fun bits. Not so with TCoS.

I'm actually very excited to fork over my five bucks to upgrade my Free Realms membership. At this point, I have no desire to continue my Spellborn account past the free two weeks. Chalk it up to my childish nature or the fact that I'm a very casual gamer these days. Whatever the reason, it's Free Realms for me, for now!