Here we are again with another free to play MMORPG review. The question, as always, "Is Gates of Andaron worth my time?". Hopefully this review will answer most of your questions. We quickly discuss what this free MMORPG is and what it isn't.
Usually I don't base a game's graphics score on.......well the graphics. The reason is that I believe the world and atmostphere that you play in is defined by the enjoyability of the game. Simply put, if the game is fun the graphics play no role in whether it's a good game or not.
However, with the staggering amount of Free MMORPG's that are hitting the net all producing and basing their game from what appears to be the same graphics and game engine, one has to start to wonder if these one-shot wonder companies are just in it for the in game mall shop and ad money.
Instead of telling you the graphics are exactly the same as the last 3d MMORPG you played and give it a score of 4/5, instead we can just continually score them at a 2 for the amount of effort that it doesn't take to make them. Now that doesn't mean the graphics stink, it just means that we've seen them before. There is little point in making a clone of the most popular MMORPG on the market and adding your own features when the similarities with everything else make them to hard to notice. I truely wish I could say something unique about the graphics but sadly, me talking about it and giving it a 2 barely does it justice. I almost feel cheated for downloading and playing this World of Warcraft (or Atlantica Online, or Runes of Magic or Chronicles of Spellborn) graphics clone and even mentioning it in this review. If you're looking for a fresh new look, stay far away from this title.
What is there say that hasn't been said? This game is a complete copy and paste job from the average run of the mill Free MMORPG
. You pick a character, a class and a faction then begin your journey. You complete quests and kill things to level up and you pick up loot along the way. You can join in a group to quest do a dungeon or engage in a server wide pvp event. That's MMORPG's in a nutshell at their core.
Maybe, the most unique gamplay feature in this free MMORPG is one (out of six) of their playable classes, the Evocator. For the first time that I am aware of (in an MMORPG), the player is allowed to charm and control any enemy they come across and turn them into their pet. The Evocator can only have one pet, but it can be any atttackable npc in the game. This is quite absurded when you think about it and very interesting. See that rabbit over there? Make him your pet. Or how about that Orc shaman!
This one class is unique enough to at least give the game a shot if your bored with your current free time projects. Sadly though, it's not enough to make anyone want to download and start playing today.