World of Warcraft Review
11.5 million subscribers can't be wrong! 6 years on and off of my life was spent exploring the beautifully rendered and colorful world of Azeroth. Easy to learn and hard to master, as any good game should be. PvP is optional and fun (as long as you don't let the rogues get to you). It is also an excellent MMORPG to start out with, game review, if you are new to the genre. Also, with a new expansion on the rise, Cataclysm, this MMO's stock is only on the, game review, rise!
9 Druids out of 10
Aion Online Review
Aion is an MMORPG that tries, game review, to offer something for everyone and succeeds at it, albeit in varying degrees and at different stages.
On the surface, you'll find a visually stunning world to adventure in and explore, and this will initially draw the casual PvP gamer. Underneath, game review, the pretty wrapping is, game review, a familiar layer of elements that MMORPG gamers have come to expect (questing, skills,, game review,, game review, crafting, economy, socialization tools) in a highly polished, game review, state. At its core both literally, game review, and figuratively, is a faction PvP battleground called the Abyss (must be rank 25 or higher), where gameplay involves Aion's most distinctive feature, the players' ability to fight while flying around on wings.
Character customization is quite detailed, with sliders and color palettes that, game review, let you mold your avatar just the way you want, game review, it.
7 Angels out of 10
Star Wars the Old Republic Review
I, personally, am shivering with anticipation for this MMORPG. If you have ever played a Bioware game, you know this is going to be big. Boasting cut scenes and voice overs for EVERY character, your senses will go into a sugar coma from all the sweet audio and visual candy. Choose to be a Jedi, a Sith, or from a variety of other classic Star Wars roles, and make decisions which define your personal story, game review, and determine your path down the light or dark side of the Force.
The setting is ten thousand years before the movies, so don't expect to see Luke Skywalker (this is a good thing!).
10 Sith Lords out of, game review, 10!
Warhammer Online Age of Reckoning
The MMORPG of the popular table top miniatures game, Warhammer Online now has what they call endless free trail. Your account will never expire, but you are restricted to Tier 1 of the Empire versus Chaos pairing and cannot send mail to other players. Warhammer Online is mostly geared toward Realm vs. Realm (team based player vs.
player), but boasts plenty of quests and dungeons for the player vs. environment fans. The R vs.R is balanced and satisfying, especially if you are a fan of the Warhammer environment.
7 Hammers of Sigmar out of 10
Showing posts with label mmorpg. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mmorpg. Show all posts
2010/03/18
2010/03/01
Easing Your Girlfriend Into Gaming
Let's face it, if your girlfriend isn't exactly into gaming, then she's not going to be too lenient towards huge, 12 hour grind sessions. She isn't going to understand that bathing and eating can be put on the back burner. She really isn't going to understand how the sun could hurt ones eyes so damn much. That is until you slowly drip that MMO-rphine into her system. Suddenly it all becomes clear. She thinks as if she's in game and wonders why, game review, the, game review, fuck you haven't been leveling your crafts to, game review, make her some gear.
You'll also see a lot more compassion towards your gaming habits. Hell, she might even look cool to your gaming buddies.
This is not an easy task. Some, game review, of you may get as lucky as, game review, I did, and hook a girl who's already dabbled in games. Or, you might even get someone who is freaking 1337 2 the max. Now, let's assume you've got the typical girlfriend. She wants you to leave the house gasp! And, she wants you to do activities that don't require you sitting in front of a screen double gasp! This is a mini guide on getting her to ease her way into gaming.
Don't throw her right into WoW, or whatever your poison is, unless your poison happens to be on the list! Let's take a look at our first step, the gateway drug, if you will.
FACEBOOK APPS
Love them, or hate them, this is one of the greatest ways to get a chick into gaming. All of these games have RPG elements in them, already, game review, . There's the concept of leveling up, rare items, forming parties (finding and adding neighbors), and it all sets off the so called accomplishment trigger in the brain.
You know? The, game, game review, review, one that has us hooked on our favorite game.
These games are definitely easy for her to get into. I'm sure she has a Facebook, already, and it probably already has tons of wall posts from people trying to get her to raise their barns, or what have you. Games like these are casual, but do have, game review, an addictive edge to them. You'll find people that haven't gamed much in the past habitually starting to work on their apps. Little do they know they just might be the next generation of gamers to fill up our servers and run our guilds.
So she has taken the bait...now on to phase two.
PHANTASY STAR ONLINE (GAMECUBE)
PSO is one of those pick up and play games. It's super simple, yet oh-so-addicting. The lure here, game review, is to ask her if she wants, game review, to do something and you can suggest, game review, a two player game. Just tell her you level up like in farmville. Now, I chose this game for a couple of reasons. It's simple; this will get her used to the basic traditional RPG mechanics. She'll have to learn to heal herself, to manage her stats, and to properly gear herself.
This will also expose her to the grind we all know and love. The best, game review,, game, game review, review, part is the co-op mode as a lure. You -could- play online, but there's a chance that she might not be too used to the gaming community, and it could possibly scare her away.
You could also try Phantasy Star Universe. This game isn't as simple as PSO, but it still, game review, isn't a very difficult game. The huge draw for her would probably be the insane customization. Characters can be very unique in this game.
The clothing system in game is usually pretty appealing to a female.
So, you got this far. Pretty good, even if you don't get any further, you could probably squeeze 1000 hours of solid gameplay out of PSO. But,, game review, if she's still interested, let's, game review, continue.
DRAGONICA ONLINE
AWW SO CUTE! Very cute graphics, indeed, but more, game review, of that traditional MMORPG feel, game review, to it. There are instances, and this time you'll have to work with more than just the two of you to get anywhere in game.
The goal, here, is to bribe her with cuteness. I could list a ton more games that have very cutesy graphics to them, but I particularly like, game review, DO, and I plan on reviewing it in the future.
Be careful, though, with some of these freebie anime style games. If you hadn't noticed how sexified the women are, you might need to get your eyes checked. There are games where the world is full of nothing but huge breasted women, game review, who wear cleavage exposing clothing, and, game review, have that perfect hour glass shape.
Heck, she might even be into it, but I'm not even going there.
At this point you basically have her, she is probably open to all suggestions, she is probably craving different games now. You probably ruined her life but, fuck it, you just made a solid gaming buddy. So now that she's come this far, go ahead, do it. You know you want to. Still here, huh? Just freaking go to, game review, the website and get her the free trial. You know what I'm talking, game review, about right?
WORLD OF WARCRAFT
MMO bliss in a box.
Blizzard has a habit of taking a genre, looking into the successful games of its past and mashing them all together to form a great game. I'm not going to go into too many details about, game review, this game, 'cause I want to review it, but it's not going to be for a long time. I've only been severely addicted to two MMOs in my life, and this is one of them. Approach with caution!
You'll also see a lot more compassion towards your gaming habits. Hell, she might even look cool to your gaming buddies.
This is not an easy task. Some, game review, of you may get as lucky as, game review, I did, and hook a girl who's already dabbled in games. Or, you might even get someone who is freaking 1337 2 the max. Now, let's assume you've got the typical girlfriend. She wants you to leave the house gasp! And, she wants you to do activities that don't require you sitting in front of a screen double gasp! This is a mini guide on getting her to ease her way into gaming.
Don't throw her right into WoW, or whatever your poison is, unless your poison happens to be on the list! Let's take a look at our first step, the gateway drug, if you will.
FACEBOOK APPS
Love them, or hate them, this is one of the greatest ways to get a chick into gaming. All of these games have RPG elements in them, already, game review, . There's the concept of leveling up, rare items, forming parties (finding and adding neighbors), and it all sets off the so called accomplishment trigger in the brain.
You know? The, game, game review, review, one that has us hooked on our favorite game.
These games are definitely easy for her to get into. I'm sure she has a Facebook, already, and it probably already has tons of wall posts from people trying to get her to raise their barns, or what have you. Games like these are casual, but do have, game review, an addictive edge to them. You'll find people that haven't gamed much in the past habitually starting to work on their apps. Little do they know they just might be the next generation of gamers to fill up our servers and run our guilds.
So she has taken the bait...now on to phase two.
PHANTASY STAR ONLINE (GAMECUBE)
PSO is one of those pick up and play games. It's super simple, yet oh-so-addicting. The lure here, game review, is to ask her if she wants, game review, to do something and you can suggest, game review, a two player game. Just tell her you level up like in farmville. Now, I chose this game for a couple of reasons. It's simple; this will get her used to the basic traditional RPG mechanics. She'll have to learn to heal herself, to manage her stats, and to properly gear herself.
This will also expose her to the grind we all know and love. The best, game review,, game, game review, review, part is the co-op mode as a lure. You -could- play online, but there's a chance that she might not be too used to the gaming community, and it could possibly scare her away.
You could also try Phantasy Star Universe. This game isn't as simple as PSO, but it still, game review, isn't a very difficult game. The huge draw for her would probably be the insane customization. Characters can be very unique in this game.
The clothing system in game is usually pretty appealing to a female.
So, you got this far. Pretty good, even if you don't get any further, you could probably squeeze 1000 hours of solid gameplay out of PSO. But,, game review, if she's still interested, let's, game review, continue.
DRAGONICA ONLINE
AWW SO CUTE! Very cute graphics, indeed, but more, game review, of that traditional MMORPG feel, game review, to it. There are instances, and this time you'll have to work with more than just the two of you to get anywhere in game.
The goal, here, is to bribe her with cuteness. I could list a ton more games that have very cutesy graphics to them, but I particularly like, game review, DO, and I plan on reviewing it in the future.
Be careful, though, with some of these freebie anime style games. If you hadn't noticed how sexified the women are, you might need to get your eyes checked. There are games where the world is full of nothing but huge breasted women, game review, who wear cleavage exposing clothing, and, game review, have that perfect hour glass shape.
Heck, she might even be into it, but I'm not even going there.
At this point you basically have her, she is probably open to all suggestions, she is probably craving different games now. You probably ruined her life but, fuck it, you just made a solid gaming buddy. So now that she's come this far, go ahead, do it. You know you want to. Still here, huh? Just freaking go to, game review, the website and get her the free trial. You know what I'm talking, game review, about right?
WORLD OF WARCRAFT
MMO bliss in a box.
Blizzard has a habit of taking a genre, looking into the successful games of its past and mashing them all together to form a great game. I'm not going to go into too many details about, game review, this game, 'cause I want to review it, but it's not going to be for a long time. I've only been severely addicted to two MMOs in my life, and this is one of them. Approach with caution!
2010/02/19
MMORPGS: World of Warcraft, a Review
Introduction
If you're, game review, into computer games, you probably have heard of World of Warcraft, the latest hit produced by Blizzard Entertainment, and you're probably aware what an MMORPG is. If you're not, let me explain it quickly, game review, . A MMORPG is a massivly multiplayer online roleplaying game that allows, game review, thousands of players to play in a persistant game world.
World of Warcraft currently entertains close to 7 million people world wide. It has drawn many of the mmorpg veterans but also, game review, introduced a lot of new people to the genre.
Why is world of warcraft so successful? Well. I think it comes down to more than one thing.
First, game review, of MMORPGs are usually not that easy to get into, often the player is presented with a, game review,, game review, akward interface,, game review, tons of options and, game review, a lot of things going on around them in general, game review, the first time the log onto the game. Blizzard has done a pretty solid job in keeping the interface simple and stupid, allowing even newbie players to, game review, get into it at a quick pace.
Hints and Tips help guide the true MMORPG newbie along as well. When the developers of the game created the interface, and gameplay in general their goal was for it to be easy to get into it, but to be hard to master.
They have definitely accomplished the first part, the second part can be argued about. What defines a good player in an MMORPG basically comes down to two things.
1) Does he know his character and the abilities
2) Does he pay attention
There are no twitch skills involved, and in my opinion if youre, game review, looking for a competitive, game review, game, current mmorpgs - including WoW -, game review, are not the place to look at.
If you want skillbased competition stick to RTS and FPS games.
The second thing, game review, that makes wow so successful is mostlikely the name of the producer and their huge fanbase - which they deserve by all means - after having released such great games as the diablo and warcraft series, which were all huge hits.
Let's get to the review part :)
Character Creation
Like every MMORPG or MUD out there the journey always begins with the character creation. You get to pick your site - alliance or horde , your race and a few visual features.
Character customization is definitely one of the game's weakest points, the diversity and amount of features to select and change for character remind of Everquest which was released almost 8 years ago. You get to chose
* between a handful of faces
* skin tone
* between a handful of haircuts
* between a handful of facial hair styles
* hair color
It is probably not a huge deal, and its certainly nothing game breaking, a bit more would have been nice though.
First steps
As you take your first steps within WoW, getting used to the user interface, you will quickly notice that the game is very quest driven.
You can earn most of your character's experience, game review, via quests, you will still be grinding mobs for exp once in a while though.
The starting quests, game review, also lead you along nicely, out of the, game review, starting area to the bigger towns and into the deep dungeons
The world
The amount of detail that was put into the world of warcraft is amazing and stunning. The cartoony style, game review, may not be everyones cup of tea, but whether you like it or not you cannot dismiss that the world has, game review, a lot of character.
It is filled with content too, and you will find yourself stumbling from point of interest to point of interest.
The dungeons
The dungeon instances, which are zones that belong to you and your group, while pretty linear most of the time are also amazingly done. The boss encounters are fun, and the best loot is gotten from doing instance runs. The dungeon instances are supposed to be the group part of the game (aside from pvp) and it would be unwise to enter them alone unless youre like 20 levels stronger than the mobs inside the dungeon.
The way to 60, and beyond
Most people ive talked to tell me they have, game review, the most fun leveling their characters to level 60, because it is, game review, quick paced most of the time, and only slows down rarely. The quests are done well, and there is just so much, game review, to discover.
Once you hit 60 youre basically stuck with three things to do, game review, though
a) do instance runs (raids) for items
b) grind monsters for money
c) pvp
Now this might sound as if it should be enough.
But the core problem is this: there is no character advancement beyond 60 other than getting items. These items are gotten by raiding elite dungeons with your guild, playing the bazaar game or by gaining rank while pvping.
Right now, if youre a raider, you raid so you can raid more. There is no reason to take that super dagger of stabbing into a normal 5 man dungeons and, game review, just carnage stuff left and right, other than for the sake of carnageing - is that even a word.
The game at this point, 2 years after its release, direly needs some alternate advancement, luckily the expansion (The Burning Crusade) is right around the corner, so that should help out some for now.
Server Issues
This is were i have an axe to grind, so pardon my rant
Ever since, game review, wow was released , the game has, game review, had severe sever stability issues. I guess they did not expect the kind of amount of people to buy the game back then and got, game review, surprised. Not a big deal, most of the MMORPGs face server issues the first few days, game review, of the game's release, even if is not as popular as wow.
But even after 2 years of development it is sad and annoying to see that the same server problems still exist, while not as severe, and the servers need to go down for maintenance weekly.
Content Updates
We all know it, Blizzard likes to do things correctly, and they always take their time. The thing is, that this is a MMORPG. People need to be handed new content almost constantly, waiting 3-4 months between content updates that deliver content that was promised, game review, to be in the game when it was released just seems weak. Then again i can certainly appreciate the amount of work that must be needed to create the content, game review, . It wouldnt be so bad if there was actually some way of alternative character advancement.
This review may sound a bit harsh and dont get me wrong, WoW is an amazing game, and what the artists did is just mind boggling. I leveled 3 characters to level 60, and as i was progressing along through the vastly different world zones of the game there was always this thought on mind.
Wow is an amazing online world, but it is as if they do nothing with it. Where is the dynamic world, that i imagined when i first read about WoW in 2002. There has been a world event of, game review, the opening of a raid instance that involved the players gathering resources for a month or two and then battling in a war like scenario to unlock the dungeon.
While this is definitely a step in the right direction it is not enough. Next generation, game review, MMORPGs,, game review, game review, need to be developed with, game review, dynamic behaviour in mind. The world needs to change and feel less static.
Fazit
World of warcraft is a great game, and you will definitely enjoy leveling your character. After that it is uncertain, you will have to see for yourself. Doing raid instances can be fun, unless you dont like to rely on people. PVP can be fun too if youre into that kind of thing.
Heck, even trying to amass huge amounts of virtual money can be fun to some people.
Stefan Pratter is a developer of the free browser based MMORPG Lands of Kazram - http://www.landsofkazram.com
If you're, game review, into computer games, you probably have heard of World of Warcraft, the latest hit produced by Blizzard Entertainment, and you're probably aware what an MMORPG is. If you're not, let me explain it quickly, game review, . A MMORPG is a massivly multiplayer online roleplaying game that allows, game review, thousands of players to play in a persistant game world.
World of Warcraft currently entertains close to 7 million people world wide. It has drawn many of the mmorpg veterans but also, game review, introduced a lot of new people to the genre.
Why is world of warcraft so successful? Well. I think it comes down to more than one thing.
First, game review, of MMORPGs are usually not that easy to get into, often the player is presented with a, game review,, game review, akward interface,, game review, tons of options and, game review, a lot of things going on around them in general, game review, the first time the log onto the game. Blizzard has done a pretty solid job in keeping the interface simple and stupid, allowing even newbie players to, game review, get into it at a quick pace.
Hints and Tips help guide the true MMORPG newbie along as well. When the developers of the game created the interface, and gameplay in general their goal was for it to be easy to get into it, but to be hard to master.
They have definitely accomplished the first part, the second part can be argued about. What defines a good player in an MMORPG basically comes down to two things.
1) Does he know his character and the abilities
2) Does he pay attention
There are no twitch skills involved, and in my opinion if youre, game review, looking for a competitive, game review, game, current mmorpgs - including WoW -, game review, are not the place to look at.
If you want skillbased competition stick to RTS and FPS games.
The second thing, game review, that makes wow so successful is mostlikely the name of the producer and their huge fanbase - which they deserve by all means - after having released such great games as the diablo and warcraft series, which were all huge hits.
Let's get to the review part :)
Character Creation
Like every MMORPG or MUD out there the journey always begins with the character creation. You get to pick your site - alliance or horde , your race and a few visual features.
Character customization is definitely one of the game's weakest points, the diversity and amount of features to select and change for character remind of Everquest which was released almost 8 years ago. You get to chose
* between a handful of faces
* skin tone
* between a handful of haircuts
* between a handful of facial hair styles
* hair color
It is probably not a huge deal, and its certainly nothing game breaking, a bit more would have been nice though.
First steps
As you take your first steps within WoW, getting used to the user interface, you will quickly notice that the game is very quest driven.
You can earn most of your character's experience, game review, via quests, you will still be grinding mobs for exp once in a while though.
The starting quests, game review, also lead you along nicely, out of the, game review, starting area to the bigger towns and into the deep dungeons
The world
The amount of detail that was put into the world of warcraft is amazing and stunning. The cartoony style, game review, may not be everyones cup of tea, but whether you like it or not you cannot dismiss that the world has, game review, a lot of character.
It is filled with content too, and you will find yourself stumbling from point of interest to point of interest.
The dungeons
The dungeon instances, which are zones that belong to you and your group, while pretty linear most of the time are also amazingly done. The boss encounters are fun, and the best loot is gotten from doing instance runs. The dungeon instances are supposed to be the group part of the game (aside from pvp) and it would be unwise to enter them alone unless youre like 20 levels stronger than the mobs inside the dungeon.
The way to 60, and beyond
Most people ive talked to tell me they have, game review, the most fun leveling their characters to level 60, because it is, game review, quick paced most of the time, and only slows down rarely. The quests are done well, and there is just so much, game review, to discover.
Once you hit 60 youre basically stuck with three things to do, game review, though
a) do instance runs (raids) for items
b) grind monsters for money
c) pvp
Now this might sound as if it should be enough.
But the core problem is this: there is no character advancement beyond 60 other than getting items. These items are gotten by raiding elite dungeons with your guild, playing the bazaar game or by gaining rank while pvping.
Right now, if youre a raider, you raid so you can raid more. There is no reason to take that super dagger of stabbing into a normal 5 man dungeons and, game review, just carnage stuff left and right, other than for the sake of carnageing - is that even a word.
The game at this point, 2 years after its release, direly needs some alternate advancement, luckily the expansion (The Burning Crusade) is right around the corner, so that should help out some for now.
Server Issues
This is were i have an axe to grind, so pardon my rant
Ever since, game review, wow was released , the game has, game review, had severe sever stability issues. I guess they did not expect the kind of amount of people to buy the game back then and got, game review, surprised. Not a big deal, most of the MMORPGs face server issues the first few days, game review, of the game's release, even if is not as popular as wow.
But even after 2 years of development it is sad and annoying to see that the same server problems still exist, while not as severe, and the servers need to go down for maintenance weekly.
Content Updates
We all know it, Blizzard likes to do things correctly, and they always take their time. The thing is, that this is a MMORPG. People need to be handed new content almost constantly, waiting 3-4 months between content updates that deliver content that was promised, game review, to be in the game when it was released just seems weak. Then again i can certainly appreciate the amount of work that must be needed to create the content, game review, . It wouldnt be so bad if there was actually some way of alternative character advancement.
This review may sound a bit harsh and dont get me wrong, WoW is an amazing game, and what the artists did is just mind boggling. I leveled 3 characters to level 60, and as i was progressing along through the vastly different world zones of the game there was always this thought on mind.
Wow is an amazing online world, but it is as if they do nothing with it. Where is the dynamic world, that i imagined when i first read about WoW in 2002. There has been a world event of, game review, the opening of a raid instance that involved the players gathering resources for a month or two and then battling in a war like scenario to unlock the dungeon.
While this is definitely a step in the right direction it is not enough. Next generation, game review, MMORPGs,, game review, game review, need to be developed with, game review, dynamic behaviour in mind. The world needs to change and feel less static.
Fazit
World of warcraft is a great game, and you will definitely enjoy leveling your character. After that it is uncertain, you will have to see for yourself. Doing raid instances can be fun, unless you dont like to rely on people. PVP can be fun too if youre into that kind of thing.
Heck, even trying to amass huge amounts of virtual money can be fun to some people.
Stefan Pratter is a developer of the free browser based MMORPG Lands of Kazram - http://www.landsofkazram.com
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