If you’re one of the many who spent their teen years mastering the incredibly complex combos of GunZ: The Duel, chances are you are already eagerly awaiting the release of its cleverly named sequel – GunZ 2: The Second Duel. If you are not, you might want to read this to find out what all the fuss is about.
First released in 2003, the original GunZ was a free-to-play third person shooter that drew inspiration from action movies such as The Matrix. The game allowed you to perform gravity-defying stunts and acrobatics, block bullets using swords and having enough health to be able to, without trouble, take a dozen bullets to the chest (or arrows. . . no, let’s not go there). Much like in Street Fighter II, GunZ’s game engine allows complex animation canceling maneuvers (known in-game as K-Style).
These heavily-stylized gameplay mechanics made GunZ instantly popular in its native South Korea. At one time, the game was so popular that it became a viable competitive eSports discipline in the country, alongside legendary games like StarCraft: Brood War and WarCraft 3 (here‘s a video of a televised tournament).
The game was first published in the Western Hemisphere in 2005 by its original developer. A year later, seeing potential in the peculiar title, the free-to-play giant IJJI contacted MAIET and secured exclusive rights to publish GunZ in North America.To this day GunZ still played by thousands of players every day, nearly nine years after release.
MAIET announced the sequel in 2010, alongside their new action-oriented MMORPG called RaiderZ. A working alpha build of the game was presented to the public at G-STAR 2011 (here’s a link to the gameplay footage). Release dates are yet to be announced. From the footage we’ve had access to so far, it’s safe to say that MAIET wasn’t afraid to experiment with the title. New gameplay mechanics were added, old, dysfunctional mechanics were taken out. This decision split the GunZ current community into two camps – those who look forward to the changes and purists that condemn the developer from straying away from the classic formula. Regardless of the fanbase split, licenses for its release have already been bought in South Korea, Japan and China.
We will be posting news about the game as they become available. See you in Axium!
