Runescape is one of the largest MMORPGs out there with millions of online players. Unlike others, such as World of Warcraft or Starcraft, Runescape is a (mostly) free-to-play game with no downloads and pretty sub-par graphics.
How does such a simple game garner such incredible popularity?
Runescape is an incredibly expansive game. A multitude of tutorials eases players into the basics of the game, but the more you play the more complex the game gets.
Newbies start using the basics of attack, magic, cooking, fishing, banking, and archery.
Attack is expanded into strength and defence as the player starts comparing armors and weapons with different potions and amulets to get the best combat.
Magic is expanded with different enchanting and teleport spells, with runecrafting to make getting runes easier.
Cooking expands with fishing and helps the player adapt into other "crafting-style" abilities like crafting, mining, and smithing to make weapons, potions, and amulets.
Banking becomes more complex with Runescape's own intricate economy, trade and the Grand Exchange becoming important stops for bartering.
Archery is still kinda useless.
The more you use one skill, the more you can do with it. Each levels up to about 100 and allows the player new options as they use it. Leveling up some, such as runecrafting and cooking, is entirely optional but benefits the player greatly.
Questers like me will find a short list of quests for the free-to-play world, but each is completely original and intricate. While one has you baking cakes or sliding across icy lakes in a certain order, another will find you mixing potions for witches or conversing with ghosts.
The world is large and colorful. Filled with interesting NPC and strange monsters, the creators are constantly updating and making it better.
The social portion is not to be forgotten either. The millions of players makes it nearly impossible to find an area devoid of life. While most people are immature or frustrating to talk to, there's always a great opportunity to make friends.
Membership is a couple dollars a month and opens up a section of the world many times larger than the free portion, an insane amount of quests, and many new abilities.
There's a few problems, of course. The graphics aren't very good, and the controls is different than most current styles so it can take some getting used to. There isn't much introduction for some of the abilities, and figuring out how they work can require an online guide or some random guessing (I'm looking at you, Runecrafting and Herblore).
Many of the other players are downright aggravating. They can be childish and crude. The free-to-play world isn't very big and questers will probably be done in a month.
Still, it's quite fun to play, especially with friends. It's diverse enough that everyone will find something they enjoy, and the creator's never-ending stream of new content ensures you'll never be completed with the game.
Rating:
Plot/Characters- N/A
Gameplay- 8/10
Playability- 9/10
Aesthetics- 2/10
Fun Level- 9/10
Style- 6/10
Total- 7/10, Very good.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
Wizard101
If you haven't seen advertisements for Wizard 101 then you probably live under a rock. A rock in the middle of Death Valley. A rock that doesn't even leave you room to move.
Look, what I'm trying to say is that this game is advertised a lot, alright?
So you might be wondering, Wow, I see this game a lot. Is it any good? Well, that's a hard question to answer.
The game is obviously targeted at younger kids with colorful worlds and anime-esque characters. Still, the combat is more strategy-based than you see in most MMORPGs nowadays and being a bit older improves the quality of your gameplay.
Each character is given a deck of cards and a "class" that the cards fall into. Each class had positives and negatives (Storm does a lot of damage but has a low hit chance, Death removes a chunk of the enemy's health and gives half of it to the player, etc) and when a card is successfully played, it summons a monster that attacks the enemy or heals the player. It's like a big Yu-Gi-Oh game.
All battles can have up to four players fighting four monsters and this gives a lot of room for teamwork and putting thought into card choices that would go over the head of smaller children.
All in all, it's a game that tries to fit too big an audience and ends up falling short for everyone. Little kids will enjoy the graphics and social interactions, but the finer details of the combat can be too complex for them. Older audiences will find fun in the exploration and combat, but the characters and quests are almost an insult to their intelligence.
Though fun, the combat becomes boring and there isn't much play-time in the free area before you have to pay to reach other areas. I find it more of a disappointment than anything else. Still, it's a good game to distract small children you're supposed to be babysitting.
Rating:
Plot/Characters- 2/10
Gameplay- 8/10
Playability- 4/10
Aesthetics- 3/10
Fun Level- 5/10
Style- 4/10
Total- 4/10, Okay.
Would recommend if you like: Toontown, Yu-Gi-Oh.
Look, what I'm trying to say is that this game is advertised a lot, alright?
So you might be wondering, Wow, I see this game a lot. Is it any good? Well, that's a hard question to answer.
The game is obviously targeted at younger kids with colorful worlds and anime-esque characters. Still, the combat is more strategy-based than you see in most MMORPGs nowadays and being a bit older improves the quality of your gameplay.
Each character is given a deck of cards and a "class" that the cards fall into. Each class had positives and negatives (Storm does a lot of damage but has a low hit chance, Death removes a chunk of the enemy's health and gives half of it to the player, etc) and when a card is successfully played, it summons a monster that attacks the enemy or heals the player. It's like a big Yu-Gi-Oh game.
All battles can have up to four players fighting four monsters and this gives a lot of room for teamwork and putting thought into card choices that would go over the head of smaller children.
All in all, it's a game that tries to fit too big an audience and ends up falling short for everyone. Little kids will enjoy the graphics and social interactions, but the finer details of the combat can be too complex for them. Older audiences will find fun in the exploration and combat, but the characters and quests are almost an insult to their intelligence.
Though fun, the combat becomes boring and there isn't much play-time in the free area before you have to pay to reach other areas. I find it more of a disappointment than anything else. Still, it's a good game to distract small children you're supposed to be babysitting.
Rating:
Plot/Characters- 2/10
Gameplay- 8/10
Playability- 4/10
Aesthetics- 3/10
Fun Level- 5/10
Style- 4/10
Total- 4/10, Okay.
Would recommend if you like: Toontown, Yu-Gi-Oh.
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