Thanks to the internet, just about everything is multiplayer. Among these most people are used to hearing names like Ultima Online and Everquest. Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, or Nexus for short, is brought to us by Nexon and is actually the English version of the Korean game "Baram". Nexus offers a 2D world, with a decent player community, a good staff, and lots to do.

Nexus takes place in a land know as Koguryo. In Koguryo there is, of course, the kingdom of Koguryo, with Kugane as it's capital. Also, there is the large nation of Buya, with the city Buya as its capital. (Yes, the map says the whole area is called Koguryo, yet only a tiny section of it is actually occupied by Koguryo. Pet peeve number one.) There are also several smaller areas for players to explore, such as an encampment of some nomadic Sonhi led by KaMing, a village of the Sanhae, a cave full of ogres, and more. The graphical theme is Anime Asian, so expect to see items fitting this setting.

New players may pick a name for their character, from any not taken, then they provide a desired password, and a E-mail address. After this, the character creation window comes up. Players may decided to live in either Buya, or Kugane, and may move later for a price. Kugane is the city that Nexus started with in the very beginning, and its structure reflects it. While Kugane is bigger, with more in it and more improvements that have evolved over time, it is highly disordered and a pain to get around if you don't know the exact way your going. This is mainly because there are a series of rivers going through Kugane, causing the player to have to cross bridges that never seem to be where you want them. Buya, while smaller, is better organized. The buildings come in block structure, and one can learn the way in the smaller town very easily, making it a wonderful place for the new player to begin. Also, the player chooses a totem animal, the choices being a blue dragon, a red fire bird, a white tiger, and a black turtle. Each one rules a time of day, and when it's that time of day, anyone who worships that totem animal gains bonus EXP. A little monitor at the top-right of the screen shows the time of day, and since Nexus time moves about 4 times real time, everyone will usually get ample chance to get his or her bonus.

These are all lovely, but the nicest thing is that the player also has a wide range of character bodies to choose from. One of the biggest problems here is that at the very top of this window are two Korean characters. These are Male/Female. Yes, that's right, just because the body looks male, doesn't make it male. This can be quite disturbing, seeing a guy with a beard wearing a dress. Also, there are 4 main paths one may choose from. The path is not decided until the character reaches level 5, at which point the player can choose to become a Warrior, Mage, Rouge, or Poet (like the classical clerics class).

Now, knowing all this information is lovely, but the question you probably want to know above all else, is what you can do. Well as a beginner, you can hunt, which is basically killing creatures. New players may simply kill small creatures around town, and work their way up. To help the new player along, there is a little NPC (Non Player Character) that helps you get into this game. You speak to him by clicking on him, which accesses a menu. Most general commands for an NPC can be activated this way. This NPC will give you a small list of headings, and when you click on one, you'll be given a message box telling you to do a task. DO ALL THE TASKS! You will be rewarded for them each of them in some way. The list of tasks will also expand, so don't get very comfy when you think you're almost done.

Now that you have an idea of how this game starts, here's what you really want to know: yes, your going to be able to hunt all sorts of creatures, from bunnies, to squirrels, to wolves, horses, sheep, gigantic insects, zombies, ghosts, skeletons, as well as mythic creatures in the Mythic Nexus area. You can, as in most games, group into parties to share experience and help each other. However, constantly hunting little creatures would get boring, so there's more to do here. First of all, there are different types of crafts. Each craft has three stages: Gathering, Manufacturing, And Refining. The higher the type of skill, the higher the level required to start it. These levels start at 8 for gathering, 25 for manufacturing, and 50 for manufacturing.

Also, there are various "quests" that one may go on. Quests are something like the tasks given in the beginning, but are more important. Players gain a special marker on their legend, (a record of events in the character's life), and many times receive a special item for completing the quest. There are other things to do as well; there are carnages, where one player can pit their skills against other players for prizes and/or glory; there is the great fox hunt, a game of skill where teams try to trap the opposing team's fox; and there are events. Events are just what they sound like, large events in the game. An objective for an event could be anything from saving an important official to winning a war. Also, players may join player-run clans, which is a close group of players. Joining a clan can be very helpful and entertaining, but many players may not like it because each clan poses restrictions on their members, such as codes of conduct.

The community is a big part of any multiplayer game. The biggest question that seems to come up is, "Can I PK (Player Kill)?" since player killing seems to almost be a staple for multiplayer games. The answer on Nexus is, yes and no. Most of the time, the answer is no. There are two types of PK: safe PK, and unsafe PK. Safe PK is a special PK used in the arena, carnages, and each guild's tutoring hall. When someone dies of safe PK, their items are not damaged or lost. Unsafe PK is like being killed by a monster. Players killed in an unsafe area, or by a monster, don't drop all their items, but the number of slots they can carry is reduced to a number usually under ten, and all money is dropped (drop means the items fall to the spot where the player was killed.) The difference is, when a player is killed by a monster in safe PK mode, there is a five minute period where the items cannot be taken by another player. In unsafe PK mode, this safe time doesn't exist. Unsafe PK mode is rare, and is reserved for events or special areas. These areas are always wild, outdoors areas and usually aren't an extreme hassle. Also, players are warned before stepping into any PK area.

As said before, a lot of this game is player run. The community is nice, and enjoyable. However, it might be noted that some players have generated a dislike for new players under level five. This sentiment isn't universal, but it should be noted, and watched out for.

The graphics in Nexus leave something to be desired. 2D graphics are great if done properly, but the graphics here are merely passable. The character types are nice, but they're nothing outstanding. Many of the graphics are reused often, the pulsing blue and red colors get somewhat annoying, and there's really nothing wonderfully visually pleasing about this. The sheep look more like squished bears than fluffy stress relievers for red-necks.

The Music in this game is ok. It's MIDI music, it's nice, and it sounds Asian. Also, it's changeable. That's right, you can pick your own MIDI themes and put them in there. So if you don't like the music, just switch the MIDI. Also, the music is easy to hum, which is always a plus.

However, many people may wonder how this game plays. It's run using the keyboard and the mouse, and feels like playing a graphical version of a MUD, with all those little extra things that are just for fun that MUDs usually offer. Some examples of this are dyes for clothing, visual expressions, and a profile page which you may edit and even add a custom portrait to that other players may see.

Nexus it's also a tile-based game, meaning that your character moves on a map made of squares. This could use some work because sometimes a mere tuft of grass could block a player's movement, and getting blocked by tufts of grass is rather annoying. In the upper left hand part of the screen there is a small area that can display a variety of menus for such things as status, items, and spells. For spells and items, each one is assigned a letter, so the player does not have to type the whole name to use them, merely the representative letter. This is an extremely useful feature.

Lastly, bugs. Nexus is a work in process. The client for Nexus is in its 4.0 version, and 5.0 is being developed. Nexus can be buggy at times, since anything involving the Internet openly invites errors. Lag can be a horrible problem at times, and there've been times when entire cities of NPCs have disappeared. The custom portrait feature has a problem in that it turns back to the default portrait and blank profile after switching maps (this is fixed by hitting F10, Profile, OK). Sometimes the game is reset, and everyone playing is kicked off. This can be the most frustrating thing in the world. And, while, normally, clicking on a NPC brings up their menu of options, and clicking on a player shows their status, sometimes the click just completely stops working, rendering the mouse useless, as well as a multitude of other frustrating things. So just remember that you may encounter problems.