Mines of Moria adds many features, many that are typical of a MMORPG expansion pack but all exactly what you would like to see. First of all the level cap has been increased to 60 giving veteran players another target to aim for. Most notably (especially if you’re a newcomer to the game) is the addition of two new classes: the Runekeeper and the Warden. Both classes are jack of all trades, masters of none in many ways. Runekeepers are very similar to magic casters. They use runes to cast spells and are able to use either healing spells or damage dealing spells. Using either increases the Runekeeper’s proficiency thus increasing their potency. However, due to the new attunement mechanics, it means you become weaker at the other type of magic eventually causing some of it to become unavailable, so it does result in having to choose a direction as it takes time to become accomplished at whatever you choose. The Warden class is more your brawler type class. It’s not strictly a tank class but neither is it a DPS (Damage Per Second) class. It uses a Gambit system which basically means you can line up combo attacks which can culminate in a special attack. The moves available range from damaging attacks to being able to self heal making the Warden quite a unique class. Besides the class additions, there is also a new Legendary Item Advancement System whereby each item gains experience alongside your character, so that the more they are used, the more powerful they become. As well as this, you can even name your items if you so wish, so yes you can finally have a weapon called ‘My massive tool’ if you wish. It’s all a very nice concept really, making your items actually feel like your items rather than just the same generic piece that everyone else could have.

Of course now you’ve got your level 50 character and the ability to have your ‘own’ equipment, you want to go exploring to level up, don’t you? Never fear, there’s a few new places to explore in the form of Moria, an underground complex within Middle-Earth (now you know where the game title comes from!). There are three new zones, with two outdoor zones: Eregion and Lothlorien but the shining jewel in the crown is the third zone, the mines themselves which are particularly impressive. They are imposing and even slightly unsettling. It really does feel like an underground kingdom and is foreboding for it. It reminds me of my old Everquest days where I really did feel like an inconsequential minion at times, easily swatted away by an angry monster. This also brings me to my next point; it’s not really a solo player’s place. It really does help to be in a small band of trusty people to explore such vast surroundings.

There is however a slight downside to all this. For those of you who love the Player Versus Monster Player battles, there is no new zone for this. You’re still stuck with Ettenmoors, however luckily it has been revamped a fair bit. Finally, it is now worthwhile for smaller PvP groups to play as capturing and holding camps is more possible. As well as this, Monster players get a ten level upgrade and a new trait system which can be used to customise their monsters. It’s a pity that there is no new PvMP zone but I’m sure it will be added in future expansion packs!

It all feels very much like a long running series of books, with Mines of Moria being described as Volume 2 and the expansion pack adds six more books to the main storyline. It might be a tad linear compared to Warcraft, but this is LoTR Online’s strength, it forms such a compelling narrative that you actually feel caught up in the world of Middle-Earth. Some of the instances are just so enjoyable, that they create such a unique and original experience. It makes a pleasant change to see a combination of the best elements of single player games (a powerful storyline) and MMOs (interactivity with real player characters and a consistent world constantly changing around you). I suspect the vast majority of hardened MMO players will be really surprised by this game and rightly so. It’s a refreshing breath of fresh air in a cluttered market. Will it cause me to jump ship from World of Warcraft? Maybe not quite, but that’s because I’d argue that it’s difficult to compare the two. Sure they’re technically the same genre, but it would be like comparing Duke Nukem to Half Life. Same concept, but one does it so much more intelligently with a much more detailed story. Ultimately, it all depends on your mood at the time and what you fancy playing. It would certainly be a tough call if I had to decide on only one. However, maybe my initial plan to spend the Winter in Northrend was a tad hasty, Middle-Earth has a certain something about it that I like.

The story behind Lich King, for once in a MMO, is surprisingly interesting and actually allows for some interaction by the player. At least if you play as a Death Knight that is. Frankly, if you’ve bought this expansion pack, you’d be mad to not try the class out as it’s one of the best new features. The class is only accessible to those players who already have a level 55 or above character on the same realm, another reason why this game is only really for those who have been playing World of Warcraft for a while. Once unlocked and a character has been created, you start out in a special area, Ebon Hold, located within the Eastern Plaguelands which covers the Death Knight starting area. For the next level or two, prepare to experience some truly impressive set pieces. The Death Knight is a class that has been resurrected by the Lich King himself, Arthas, to become part of the undead army, the Scourge. At the very early stages of your development, you learn the basics such as how to runeforge your weapons (make them even better basically) and to learn the basics behind the unique rune-based resource system that aids your class. It might all sound a little uninteresting written down on paper, but it’s actually surprisingly intriguing. Especially as the further along the quest lines you go, the more you actually pay attention to the storyline and the changes that unfold. I doubt I’m the only one but I’ve found with other class quest lines, I’m more interested in getting on with it and leveling up than actually reading the point of the quest, but due to some unique quests, I did actually pay attention to the plot line behind the Death Knight quests. It made a pleasant change, especially for a predominantly solo player such as myself. Of course, don’t expect to be one of the rare few Death Knights on the server; they’re stupidly popular at the moment and for good reason. Besides being something new to try out, they’re also very cool looking very quickly, and they’re pretty powerful too with their ability to both provide DPS and tanking abilities. What’s not to love? Besides all the obvious features provided by the Death Knight starting area, there’s also the subtle inclusion of the ‘phasing’ technique which allows players to view certain phases of the world environment depending on what place they are in certain quest lines independently from other players. Sounds confusing? Basically it means you can see an event unfold while another player alongside you, who is at a different stage than you, can’t see it. This is most obvious within Ebon Hold but also features in a few other Lich King zones, hopefully in the future it will become apparent in more zones as it opens up more opportunities for engrossing story arcs, something that can be easily missed out on in MMOs such as this.

Besides the class addition, there are also new zones abound, 9 to be exact. All these zones are primarily aimed at the 70+ players but players around 68 should be able to get by if they’re careful. Obviously the level cap has been increased to 80 so it’s nice to have some new zones to grind your way up. Luckily grinding isn’t essential for progression as zones such as Borean Tundra offer a huge wealth of different quests to complete. As well as this new dungeons have also been included with an array of methods to explore them, instances can be organised for 5 person groups, right up to 10 person raids or 25 person raids. Finally, a purely PvP zone has been added in the form of Lake Wintergrasp which aims to offer more PvP functionality in the form of arranged raids as well as new daily quests. A cynic would say it’s Blizzard’s way of dealing with Warhammer Online’s PvP features, but a gamer will just be pleased to see more on offer!

The Inscription profession has been expanded slightly since the recent patch with the ability to level beyond 375, keeping tradeskillers very happy. Plus for the more graphic conscious player, graphical improvements are noticeable with real time shadows, bigger draw distances and improved models. Amazing the difference such minor things can produce. World of Warcraft may never look realistic but it will always have a very unique charm, and Lich King has certainly improved upon this.

For current World of Warcraft players, you’ve no doubt had it pre-ordered since the release date was announced and are busy working your way through the new content already. It also doesn’t really matter what I’ve said, you’ll be happy and already salivating at the idea of another expansion pack which is inevitable. But for retired players, it’s a trickier decision. If you quit with a high level character on your account, then it’s worth coming back to experience all the new content. However if you were always a casual player with lower level characters, it might not be worth your while just yet. Return by all means (you can’t let that addiction go that easily!) but don’t pick up Lich King just yet, wait until you’re level 55+ then try it out. For the uninitiated gamer who hasn’t yet experienced World of Warcraft, much the same can be said. Lich King won’t convert you in any way as it’s not aimed at the newbie like Burning Crusade arguably was (thanks to the new class and races), so if World of Warcraft didn’t appeal to you in the first place, it still won’t now and you may as well take 50% off my overall score as it’s just not for you. Personally, I’m off to go live in Northrend for the Winter!

Mark of Chaos seems to have slipped under the radar a bit for many gamers and with over a year between the original release and this expansion pack coming out, the requirement of owning the original to play this could be a bit excessive for many. With a number of developers managing to release standalone expansion packs or well priced bundles of the original and expansion; it seems a bit unfortunate that gamers are forced to buy both to experience the newer game. Especially as the original is starting to look a bit dated now. But just how well does this new game play?

It all starts out pretty well. The presentation of the storyline managed to keep me interested with some decent quality cutscenes; an excellent quality orchestral soundtrack and a story that should keep many fans interested. The only real downside on the presentation side of things is almost immediately apparent however. The loading times are incredibly slow. Considering I was running it on a far from minimally specced machine, it really was a bit of a joke. But look past that and throw yourself into the game and you’ll find….quite an average and unexciting RTS.

It’s not a bad game, it just doesn’t feel very original or different compared to other superior RTS games. For those who haven’t played the original, it feels somewhat like Age of Empires albeit without the resource hunting, just fighting akin to the Total War games but more simplified. The expansion pack adds a new campaign alongside the two already offered with the original. The campaign focuses on the greenskins (Orcs) and the Dark Elves, who appear in later stages of the campaign. The Orcs are a typically brutish force with most missions along the lines of ‘kill everything’ while the Dark Elf missions can get a bit more interesting and more tactical. Occasionally you have to team up alongside AI groups to achieve a common goal. There are also hero units, individual units that are able to use and learn new abilities, as well as gain levels and experience from fighting in many battles. It’s quite a nice quirk although not overly unique to this game (it’s been seen before in Age of Mythology and Warcraft III, to name just two). One bonus to the hero units is you can duel other enemy heroes, causing a loss in morale for the losing side. It never really felt like it affected much though, except for specific missions where it was required.

Looks wise, Mark of Chaos: Battle March is also fairly uninspiring. Despite the decent cut scenes, the in game graphics are just dull. The combat animations in particular are somewhat awkward and really could have done with some tweaking. There’s just no other way of describing it other than dull. It’s not a huge problem with RTS games if the graphics are uninspiring but combined with far from rousing gameplay; it makes for an overall, very dull package.

If you’re an RTS or Warhammer fan you will probably still enjoy it, it’s just lacking a certain something that would make it a good game regardless of whether you normally love RTS games or not. It’s a pity as it’s a missed opportunity when there’s nothing fundamentally wrong (barring the problems with the loading times). It’s a bit like if you lived on the same food all the time, sure it’d be fine, but wouldn’t life be a bit more exciting if there was some variation? And here we have the gaming equivalent of a predictable life.

For the two of you who know nothing of the Unreal Tournament series (and how is life under that rock, by the way?), the series began back in 1999 as a follow up to the single player game Unreal. Focusing primarily on the multiplayer market and launched as a competitor to Quake 3 Arena, the game was a phenomenal hit sparking a number of sequels each attempting to add upon the previous game’s accomplishments, mostly extra maps and improved AI. The game had a simple premise, you play a nameless combatant within a tournament comprising of all the most popular forms of multiplayer FPS action such as deathmatch and capture the flag. You shoot your way through a number of different maps before finally winning the tournament. There is no real story to speak of, just fast paced action involving you running around a small arena shooting at anything that moves. Occasionally there would be team matches requiring you to (in theory) stick together as a team to accomplish the goal such as controlling various points of the map. And that, as they say in show business, is that. Nothing any more complicated than shooting at your opponent. Yet it still managed to be engrossing and the twitchy FPS player’s wet dream. Compared to Quake 3, Unreal Tournament had arguably superior bot AI, a wider range of multiplayer options and the ability to use alternate fire from your weapon as well as primary fire, giving you a few extra options. Throw in excellent mod support and it was a huge hit. But you all know that already, what you really want to know is whether Unreal Tournament III can stand up to his father and show him who is king of the multiplayer FPS games. You may be pleased to know that yes it has, even if it isn’t all that different from its Dad.

Epic Games, as is often the way, have opted to improve upon a sure-fire hit formula. Rather than adding anything too revolutionary, they’ve gone for improving what’s already there, which makes perfect sense. Why reinvent the wheel when it’s already doing everything you expect it to do? The first thing you will most likely notice (once you get past creating an online account for yourself) is what options are initially open to you. There is the choice of instant action (throw yourself into an arena of bots, handy for a quick game), the multiplayer mode and the campaign mode. I found myself immediately drawn to the campaign mode, mostly because I expected it to be somewhat weaker than the multiplayer mode, because after all it’s always more enjoyable to shoot ‘real people’ than bots, for the reaction you get off them if nothing else. Instead I was pleasantly surprised by a slightly meatier version of the campaign mode that has been used throughout the series. There is actually an attempt at a story this time round, sure it’s no Half Life, but at least there’s a bit more of a reason as to why you are involved in this campaign. The story revolves around a team of mercenaries led by a very friendly sounding man by the name of Reaper (you). With their home colony and its inhabitants destroyed, they seek revenge against the Necris, an evil alien race out for destruction. Within about 5 minutes you won’t actually care much about the cliched plot, but it’s nice to have it there and to see Epic put a bit more work into the single player campaign. It also provides a nice warm up before delving into the multiplayer mode. The campaign manages to display some extremely good quality cut scenes to explain the story, for those of you who have played Gears of War, you will know exactly what to expect from this engine. The faces of the characters look very nearly real and even on an averagely specced PC it will still impress thanks to just how widely scaleable the graphic options are. The campaign does try to pretend that it’s non linear by offering you a mission select map screen but in reality, it’s all been plotted out for you already. In a strange sort of way it reminded me of the map screen in Street Fighter 2, a great illusion of choice but ultimately constricting. There is the inclusion of a ‘card’ system, designed to sometimes change the rules of a mission dependent on what card you play; however it feels a bit gimmicky and I suspect most people would rather just get on with the mindless killing. On the whole, the campaign feels like an introduction to the multiplayer mode, giving you the comfort of fighting the AI rather than real people, which is always handy for the newbies of the online FPS world. It is quite a nice touch that you can play the campaign online with someone, so that it is humans against the AI. Again, a handy feature if you’re new and nervy. Just set up an online campaign with a friend till you’ve covered the basics then get on a public server and blast away some real opponents.

Obviously for the veterans of the Unreal Tournament series, all you really care about is the multiplayer. And you won’t be disappointed at all. As usual there are standard deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag modes, as you would see in pretty much all multiplayer FPS modes. There is also the last man standing mode as seen in previous Unreal Tournaments. There are then a few new modes. Duel changes the pace somewhat, changing the action to a one on one battle with other players able to spectate. There is a vehicle capture the flag mode which is identical to regular capture the flag but with the addition of vehicles (which I’m sure you couldn’t guess from the title!) and then there is the real meat of the multiplayer modes: the Warfare mode.

The Warfare mode already looks to be the most popular server type available at the moment and there’s no surprise as to why that is. The mode revolves around the concept of two teams each having a base with a power core that the opponent needs to damage and destroy to win. Each power core is linked to a number of nodes in various spots on the map and the team is required to capture each node until they reach the enemy power core. At that point all that needs to be done is to destroy the power core to achieve victory. Initially it seems extremely similar to the onslaught mode seen in previous Unreal Tournaments but in the case of Warfare it offers extra nodes that are unlinked but provide the team with extra spawn points, as well as a countdown node that can drain some energy from an enemy power core if it is controlled by the opposition. These extra features add some terrific tactical depth to the mode so it’s no wonder it’s so popular. It makes a refreshing change from deathmatch and will no doubt be extremely popular amongst clans wishing to play a more team orientated game.

None of these modes would be anywhere near as enjoyable if it wasn’t for the expansive maps on offer and with over 35 available across the different modes, there’s plenty of variety. There’s even a remake of the classic map from Unreal, Deck. With a copy of Unreal Editor 3 supplied alongside the game there’s even more potential with the ability to create your own maps. The only real disadvantage to some of the maps is many do require a large number of players to be playing, otherwise it can get a bit sparse and barren which slightly ruins the frantic action that is available with a full server. Also it’s a shame to see some modes left out such as my personal favourite Bombing Run but hopefully with the extensive mod community and accessible modding tools, it won’t be long until such old favourites return to the scene.

Talking of the community, there is quite a range of in game tools which look set to greatly enhance the community. The world leaderboard in particular is handy for anyone determined to beat their counterparts from around the world, and there are options to create friends lists and send messages to friends, all linked through the login system that is needed initially to go online.

Other than that, gameplay wise, it is business as usual with Unreal Tournament 3. The weapons are unchanged for the most part, with some minor tweaking, but it’s all fairly unnoticeable to the average player. There is an addition of a hoverboard in Vehicle CTF and warfare which enables you to go a bit faster than running but it does have the significant disadvantage that if you get hit you fall off and can’t move for a short time so its benefits are somewhat minimal. Still it’s fun for a few games and you can do tricks on it if you want to show off. You can also customise your characters to have all arrays of different looks, such as different torso armour and different shoulder plates. Again, nothing game changing but it’s nice to have the option to stand out from the crowd in this game.

On the whole, Unreal Tournament is nothing really new. But that doesn’t matter; its predecessors were so much fun that no ground breaking changes were needed really. It won’t convert anyone who didn’t like Unreal Tournament in the first place, but you’d have to be mad to think like that anyhow. This game is pure, unadulterated, violent fun and should be compulsory for anyone who needs a bit of stress relief in their life or have an urge to shoot aliens for no other reason than because they can.

Once you’ve installed and patched up your game (which at the moment takes around an hour to do), you’re given a choice of servers to play on. There are currently 3 different US based servers and 1 EU based server. All the server populations are currently not too busy, and it would be reasonable to assume that in the future more servers will be added as the game becomes more popular. The character creation screen that follows offers quite a large variety of different options. Initially you are required to enter a name for your character, with the last name being most crucial as it will be used for all your account’s characters. There are then 48 different face types to choose from and a huge variety of skin tones. This game certainly excels at ensuring your character is unique compared to others within the game. Initially there are only 7 different choices for clothing but as the game progresses, you are able to collect new armour and items which personalise your look even further.

After spending many hours (or possibly minutes) creating your online persona, you are thrust into the world of Tabula Rasa, beginning with the ‘newbie’ training zone of Bootcamp. There you are taught the basics of how to play, which if you’ve played pretty much any MMO before, you will know instinctively. The only real difference in the control system is the restrictions placed on your mouse. The mouse in Tabula Rasa is fixed in the centre of the screen and used purely for aiming or firing your weapon, which initially can feel rather odd for the experienced MMO player. All other actions are performed solely through the use of the keyboard. However, give it an hour or so and you’ll be perfectly happy with this arrangement; as well as realise just how well it fits into this more action orientated MMORPG.

Action is certainly what you will come across most of the time within this game and the fast paced combat is indicative of this. Unlike many MMOs, it would be suicide to switch anything around in your inventory during a battle, as your sole source of attack (your mouse) is deactivated along with your ability to shoot things, while you’re looking through your inventory. This makes combat a lot more dangerous at times, as you need to quickly ensure that you are always prepared for any battle that may come your way. As well as this quick reactions are vital in combat, without being able to switch targets quickly, you stand no chance of surviving in what often becomes large scale assaults on your bases. It’s all extremely familiar to any FPS player, yet with a slightly odd (at first) twist on the RPG idea. Even the concept of having bases to protect is just like Capture the Flag modes in games such a Quake 3 Arena and Unreal Tournament.

However, never fear RPG fans, there is still an in-depth story and enough hidden dice rolling to make sure that this is most definitely an MMORPG, not an online FPS. Every single shot you fire is determined by some internal dice throwing to ensure that your stats play an important role within the game, not just your reactions. It does however also take into account whether you’re crouching or not and whether you’re targeting an armoured part of your opponent or an exposed area, adding a significant strategic element to the combat within the game that isn’t really seen elsewhere. We also come to possibly the most innovative feature that Tabula Rasa offers, the cloning system which is linked into the skill tree system often common in MMORPGs. Once you hit level 5 with your first character you are then given a ‘clone token’ meaning that you can create a sibling to your main character who has all the unallocated skill points you would have picked up along the way to level 5. You can then choose entirely different skill sets and classes as your other ‘identical’ character. Essentially this means that once you reach level 5 you can simply recreate yourself a number of times and then develop each character to become a different class. It’s a great system as it allows you to experiment much more easily and then settle on a specific class. Initially at level 5 you can only choose from becoming a Soldier (a general warrior class) or a Specialist (a general support class), it then expands later into a further 4: Commando, Ranger, Sapper and Technician. Then later on at level 30, into 8 classes: Grenadier, Guardian, Sniper, Spy, Demolitionist, Engineer, Medic and Exobiologist. Each of these classes offer a wide range of different abilities and advantages and disadvantages, ensuring that regardless of which class you choose you will have a different experience each time. It’s a great new twist on the concept of MMORPG classes and extremely well designed by NCSoft.

As always, to reach these advanced levels, you need experience, and how do we gain that? Through quests and grinding of course! Yes unfortunately, Tabula Rasa does still offer quests and grinding much like all the other MMOs, and in this case you will be quite often forced to work together rather than be able to solo. This in itself offers considerable benefits and pitfalls, it means the game is a lot more sociable but can make a quick 10 minute play of the game difficult at times. The quests themselves are fairly typical, there are many quests that involve you having to fetch items, kill people, deliver messages, typical MMO fodder. But luckily there is the odd bit of inspiration with some quests giving you a moral choice, whereby you can choose to help one person but not another within the same quest. This doesn’t strictly affect a lot in the game but it is quite nice to be a bad guy for a few minutes and start having NPCs talk about you behind your back. A nice small touch that is often only usually apparent in single player games like Oblivion, rather than MMOs. Tabula Rasa does often try to build a storyline around its persistent world but I can’t help but wonder just how many players will pay attention to the story. For the most part people seem to go to single player games for a storyline, MMOs to interact with real people. Forced events such as the checkpoints (the capture the flag like incidents mentioned earlier) can get irritating after a while when you were just planning on going back to your base for five minutes in between quests.

Tabula Rasa also offers a crafting system but currently it feels a bit tacked on at the end, there’s barely any mention of it within the manual or the tutorial so the only way to find out more is to ask other players. Also the same skill points you use to increase your combat abilities are used to increase your crafting abilities making it a bit silly to concentrate on crafting as you will have very weak combat abilities. Obviously you can create a clone solely for crafting but it’s not quite the same. As well as this, the actual items that can be crafted are not usually of much use so far. Hopefully in the future, a patch or two will be able to cure this and make crafting a lot more relevant to the game, as many players enjoy being able to craft their own items. Linked to this, there is currently no auction house and from what I saw during my time playing, no one was selling items to each other, ruining any chance of a player economy. Again, this is supposedly due to be fixed in a patch soon, which will hopefully create a better community within the game.

There have also been reports that there have been a number of bugs within the game, such as items not spawning for quests, random crashes and very bad lag. However I didn’t see any of this personally, so recent patches may have helped cut down any big problems. I did see some players report of problems with quests being bugged though so that is something to watch out for. There are regular patches, around once a week so this should rectify any serious problems.

Tabula Rasa is far from complete, but no MMORPG ever is when it is first released. As it stands though, it forms a good solid basis for what deserves to become an extremely popular MMORPG. Despite the strong competition of World of Warcraft and Everquest 2, Tabula Rasa manages to add some unique and innovative features to the genre such as the cloning system, and hopefully with a few more patches under its belt (adding extra features); it will be guaranteed a strong player base for many years to come. Although perhaps not a great MMORPG for a newcomer to begin with, due to its slightly sparse tutorial, it is a good example of a MMORPG and deserves to be played by many who fancy something a bit different from the relatively simplistic World of Warcraft. Go out and give it a try.

Space Siege is officially an action RPG played from an isometric perspective much like its predecessor Dungeon Siege and Diablo. I say officially because really it feels more action than RPG and I suspect many RPG fans will be disappointed if they expect something like Baldur’s Gate, for example. Instead the game feels much like a third person shooter with an RPG style control system. Much of the playtime is spent wandering up and down spaceship corridors, clicking on your enemies a few times to shoot them. It’s not overly exciting at all and there are many reasons for this. First of all, the control system leaves a lot to be desired. You will be spending most of your time using the mouse, the mouse controls where you shoot and where you move, which is a key problem. Most notably it means it is impossible to move and shoot at the same time. There is an ability to dodge but it’s far from effective. Why wasn’t it possible to use the WASD keys to move about? Who knows, but it’s incredibly irritating, as well as takes a brief while to adapt to. It also feels like some elements of skill have been removed as essentially all you can do is stand still and fire at your enemy, who does the exact same thing to you. Technically, it’s not a huge problem as the enemy AI is mostly lacking in intelligence anyhow opting to run at you whenever possible rather than hiding behind cover, but that’s hardly a consolation!

So the control system is seriously lacking in quality, maybe the engrossing gameplay and story will keep you playing? I’ll be surprised if it does. The game begins with the player shooting at aliens in a very dark, dull looking corridor on a spaceship, and from then on, that’s pretty much all you see. Whoever did the art design for this game was obviously either very depressed or very bored of his job. The actual storyline starts out reasonably well, with the cutscene showing hundreds of alien ships descending upon Earth intending to exterminate us all, you play Seth Walker, seemingly the last hope for humans. The problem is the characters that are revealed throughout the storyline are instantly forgettable and so is the story. I know I keep saying it but why are the interiors so monotonous?! After a while you wouldn’t even be able to tell exactly where you are if it wasn’t for the very minimal map provided and the fact that it is so linear, you can easily assume you just have to go in whichever direction you haven’t been yet. Supposedly the ship is a colony ship; I hate to imagine how awful it would be to live in such a depressing looking place.

Finally, we come to the skill systems and the much mentioned branching storyline that you can directly affect supposedly by choosing to turn more cybernetic than human or not. This could have been the saving grace of Space Siege; unfortunately it wasn’t as well executed as it could have been. The skills system is fairly minimal for an RPG, there is only one combat tree to follow and one combat related engineering tree, neither of which you feel truly in control of. Instead it just feels quite scripted as advancement points seem to appear at set places from one mission to the next, so it doesn’t really feel like you can affect much in the skills system. Leveling up on the whole seems to occur at predetermined points which detract from the RPG element hugely. It could have been a deeply complex system, but instead it feels like an afterthought, which for a game that markets itself as an RPG is a terrible idea. The skills aren’t even overly thrilling; there are no major upgrades so it doesn’t feel exciting at all to add another skill point to one of your skill trees. Plus the few decent upgrades there are, practically force you to follow the cybernetic route, thus ruining the moral options you should have to be either human or cybernetic. It’s hugely unbalanced as, in an ideal RPG, all the paths open to you should have their own advantages and disadvantages so you can tailor a character specifically to your needs and wants. To upgrade your items, you must collect upgrade parts, which is the only thing any enemy ever drops. It’s very functional but again so dull, there’s no excitement of ‘at last the heavy duty shotgun scope piece has dropped, I’ve been looking for that for ages’ instead it’s the same piece over and over again, collect 250 and you can have an upgrade. I’m sure most games use a similar system beneath the surface but it’s nice to have it covered by a much more engrossing manner that many other games use with ease.

Ultimately, the only good things I found in Space Siege was its atmospheric music score and some decent combat animations. It does offer a multiplayer mode where you can play four player co-operative games but this eliminates the story and the minor RPG elements by giving you all the skill points and upgrades you need at the start, meaning all you’re left with is the combat system, which as I’ve already explained is poor at best.

Overall, Space Siege is quite a sad game really. I’m sure no one deliberately went out to create such a boring experience with depressing backdrops and uninteresting characters, but that’s exactly what has happened. The branching storylines that were meant to display the moral quandaries that so many players wish for in games just doesn’t quite work. When your options as a player are to go the human route and be weaker with no advantages, or to be cybernetic and stronger, why would you even contemplate being cybernetic? I really can’t find any reason to recommend this game, it’s not the worst game ever, there’s simply no point in playing it unless you’ve played every other half decent RPG first.

Clear Sky is the prequel to Shadow of Chernobyl, set in the same zone surrounding Chernobyl shortly after a second nuclear incident there. However there are now the additions of certain factions that can make the open world a lot more violent than in its predecessor, it also makes things a lot more interesting which we’ll investigate later. Initially life is a little bit uncertain as you start out as the only survivor of a nuclear emission, saved by the Clear Sky faction of Stalkers. As is often the way, you quickly discover that you are the only known human to have survived direct exposure to an emission, which makes you just a little unique really. The first few tasks are a little monotonous, nothing more than showing you around the Clear Sky camp, but once given the opportunity to explore the areas around you, the openness of the wilderness becomes strangely claustrophobic. It makes a welcome change from the usual enclosed spaces often used in FPSes, although provides nothing new to veterans of the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R game. Of course, this zone is far from empty. It is literally teeming with mutants, other factions and anomalies all out to kill you of course. This is where one pitfall becomes apparent, it’s no easy game. Even on the easiest mode of play, it’s simple to be killed. Those expecting to be able to blast their way through the game will be very surprised. The difficulty level is no big deal in theory; it’s great to have a challenging game that takes a fair while to complete. However often it can feel extremely frustrating and unfair to die. For example, the enemy’s accuracy with grenades is near perfect every time. The game greatly focuses on surviving the Zone rather than feeling like an overpowered hero; don’t expect to breeze through this game or to feel hugely empowered either.

One useful feature that gives you a better chance of survival is the addition of rival factions. They also mix up the game’s aims too. Some tasks are simply delivery jobs, others can be as dramatic as full assaults against other faction’s strongholds; and these set pieces are particularly spectacular. All of these tasks can help you in the long run greatly, for one thing if your faction rules an area of the map; it makes it safer to travel through besides the obvious rewards of items and precious ammo. Another addition is the character customisation options, it’s essentially a very basic RPG element that allows you to improve your weapons and armour to your liking. To be able to do that you need artifacts, which are nowhere near as simple to acquire as in the first game. This time round you need a detector to spot them as they are invisible and you have to get incredibly close to them to detect them in the first place. Still, at least it means you feel a huge sense of achievement finally upgrading your items. Pity, the game can take them away from you later on thus somewhat ruining the point.

The main problem with Clear Sky is it’s not very easy to get drawn into the world the game tries to create, just as you start to be enveloped by it, you’re reminded just how fake it actually is. With features like the PDA that show you where you are at all times, it also shows you where mutants are, reminding you instantly that despite the idea of the land being uncharted, it’s actually just been created by a games designer. To add to the ruining of atmosphere, random bugs get in the way. Faction fights aren’t triggered when they should be seemingly because of random bugs that really should have been noticed in testing. Although I haven’t experienced it myself, there have been reports of save files being corrupted and the game randomly crashing. Thankfully there has already been a patch released for it but the reports of corrupt save files are still appearing, and worst of all any save files before patching do not work once patched, which is frankly ludicrous forcing players to start over again on a game that should have been fully working to begin with.

So you’ve probably reached that point where you can’t actually tell whether I dislike this game or recommend it. And that’s the problem, I’m not actually sure. Much like the original, it has a charm about it that makes you want to like it yet it is hugely flawed with its many reported bugs and performance problems. It doesn’t quite deserve the term ‘flawed gem’ but nor does it deserve to be discarded either. The latest patch doesn’t appear to have helped sufficiently but hopefully in the future, other patches will finally make this game worth playing. Simply put, if you managed to put up with the flaws of the original, you will enjoy this despite its problems. If you couldn’t face the original, then you probably shouldn’t go anywhere near this until it has been patched sufficiently. Really though, it deserves some attention from you, as well as its developers, nobody’s perfect after all.

As is almost always the case with this type of game, there’s an awful lot of juggling the world (actually, the universe in this case) economy, combined with diplomacy with your rivals and resource management. Unfortunately in the case of Lost Empire, it’s not very well explained despite the tutorial offered. The storyline is also just as messy and ultimately you probably won’t care much because you’ll be more interested in the gameplay offered. To sum it up briefly, it is the very distant future. The once powerful Eonian Immortals (so that’s where the name came from) are a ruined civilisation thanks to a war against a rival faction. Luckily two survivors decide to rebuild their people with the aid of six mortal races, which is where you come into it. As is often the more interesting way in games, the two survivors have different views on how to rebuild their civilisation and a war commences (you’d think they’d have learnt from the last one), so it’s down to you to choose what to do: take a side, ignore them or defeat them.

All six mortal races are available to play as, ranging from humans to horde (no relation to the Warcraft type). The only real difference being their racial bonuses. Once you get started in a game, prepare for it to be far from short. Each game can take many hours to complete purely because the maps are so large. At first, you’ll mainly be concentrating on expanding your civilisation and ensuring you have enough resources to survive and grow. As the game progresses, you’ll make first contact with the alien races which is where things get messy. The game AI is somewhat unpredictable, sometimes first contact will be very peaceful, other times it’ll be all out of war and you’ll have to concentrate more on defence than resource gathering. Sure, it’s realistic in its way because why would any opposition in reality be predictable? But realism doesn’t always make a good game, especially not here. Instead, you have a huge balancing act on your hands which will test even the most hardened of strategy gamers.

Unfortunately the battle system is also somewhat poor. For some reason, while the rest of the game is complex, there’s seemingly few tactics to the battle system. For the most part, the battles are not interactive which can get a little dull although a welcome break for your brain at least. The battle replays also show how much the game engine is lacking on the graphics front. Despite the scale of the galaxy, which is quite astonishing, it doesn’t look overly exciting, just massive. It doesn’t need impressive graphics but they are often welcome. Throw in the poor audio and it’s not very welcoming for many more casual players. Just a touch of voice acting here or there would have been nice.

There are some nice bonuses such as being able to design your own ships, but they’re poorly implemented much of the time and just feel like missed opportunities. The game actually has quite a pace on it, certainly once first contact has been made so it might have worked better as a RTS, a la Age of Empires, rather than this board game like appearance.

I’ve got a strong feeling that Lost Empire: Immortals is a true marmite game. It’s a bit of a cop out to say in any review, but this really is an example of a game you’ll either love or hate. The hardcore strategy game fans amongst us will adore this. It’s a true challenge and it will last a very, very long time. However if you’re any less than a hardcore fan (and I mean the type of fan who will forego sleep for a week just to play networked Civilization) you might not like this at all. The game starts out complicated and the further you get, the more demanding it becomes. On the plus side, it will really last you forever, especially with an always welcome multiplayer option. It’s a very traditional strategy game underneath the surface, it could quite easily get by as an ASCII based game years ago as it’s all about the gameplay; to some that’s a huge draw, but to others (including me) it’s just a turn off. Excluding the somewhat unpredictable AI, there’s nothing essentially wrong with Lost Empire: Immortals, it just offers nothing that makes it worthwhile playing over other, better turn based strategy games, or even a good old fashioned board game like Risk.

I’ll already state here that I do apologise for continually mentioning the W word but these days, it’s hard to not compare when Warcraft has achieved such a strong monopoly, at least in the West. However, Lineage 2 started out as a Korean enterprise and was never meant to appeal to the same people as Warcraft did. Instead it, and its predecessor Lineage, were aimed at a more hardcore market of MMO players: those who wanted to feel constantly challenged and to feel that they earned each level, and I can appreciate that to an extent. Back in the early part of this century, I had a long running addiction to Everquest. The original Everquest when I played it was pretty challenging. There would be ‘hell’ levels where it was even harder to level up and every level starting from 10 felt like quite an accomplishment. I distinctly remember the 30-40s being the hardest, or at least feeling like they were the worst. I never managed to get to the maximum level, they moved the level cap up to 70 just before I quit and I’d lost the urge. But compared to World of Warcraft, it was no walk in the park at all; you earned every single drop of experience. What has this got to do with Lineage 2 you ask? Well, Lineage 2 manages to be even more hardcore than that which is very much a double edged sword.

All around Lineage 2, there is a distinct ‘old school’ feeling to it. As you go to create your new character, you can’t help but notice the relatively limited choices for customisation. There are now six different races to choose from: Human, Elf, Dark Elf, Orc, Dwarf, and the new race available with this expansion pack: The Kamael; a race of creatures that look like fallen angels with one wing and an evil appearance. However, there are then only two classes initially open to your character: fighter or mystic, with only fighter available to you if you choose Kamael or Dwarf. These do expand later on in the game but at first, the options are somewhat limited. There are also extremely limited options regarding appearance which although only a minor gripe, it would have been nice to see. Fortunately the options that are available are well animated and look relatively realistic, certainly for a MMO game.

Once you’ve got your online persona sorted out, it’s time to delve into the grand world of Lineage 2, which can be pretty daunting at first for a newbie. Even those used to playing other MMOs may be a bit thrown by the control system. Rather than the typical and fairly intuitive control system of the wasd set of keys, Lineage 2 concentrates on a mouse driven control system. It ends up being simpler to move by clicking on a location you want to walk to. However, at first, it all feels a bit unfamiliar and can take you out of your comfort zone a bit. Even keys such as pressing escape to go to the system menu to log out, isn’t available. Instead you have to use the mouse to select the appropriate menu. It’s all something that takes a bit of adapting to, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, just a different way of working; but in the early stages of the game when everything is unfamiliar, it can catch you out slightly. The game is also not overly welcome to newbies in terms of the early content either. After the first simple quest, it can get a little overwhelming regarding where to go next in comparison to other MMOs that tend to hold your hand for much of the early levels. When you do find a quest, it can be quite tedious as well. I found a number of quests that seemed to revolve around killing 20 or more of one type of creature just to collect their teeth, when the teeth rarely dropped from the mob (when surely all animals have teeth anyhow?). Experience doesn’t seem to flow as quickly as, for example; World of Warcraft which is no bad thing but can get infuriating when there’s so much to see. So many non player characters will simply refuse to offer you a quest because you’re too low levelled even if you want to risk a much harder quest. Unfortunately the quests don’t even seem to add much to the storyline so they just become another way to gain more experience, when often ‘grinding’ the experience by fighting creature after creature, works out better anyhow.

However, if you persevere and find friends to play alongside, the game becomes a lot more enjoyable. You can end up quite reliant on groups but that’s no bad thing. Safety in numbers is always a good thing especially if the group you’re with works well together as a team. Besides ensuring that you can all gain levels faster, it’s also extremely wise when you consider that Lineage 2 is one of the few true PvP (player vs player) MMOs on the market. This means you can be attacked at any time by another player which gives a constant risk factor but highlights the importance of being in a close knit group. The PvP aspect of the game is both a good and bad thing. Some players will thrive in such an environment and find it much more thrilling as it is never quite safe. However for casual players it may be a bit offputting when they have to take into account other players as well as the quest or grind expedition they are trying to complete. The best method to avoid any problems would be to join a clan, a feature available in many MMOs but somewhat more crucial for advancement in Lineage 2. Knowing that you have a group of like minded teammates able to aid you if you get into a spot of bother is always handy. There are also castle sieges available regularly within the game requiring a clan to work together with some often fairly complex tactics needed to get anywhere. It’s a nice touch and an extremely interesting concept once you figure out the ins and outs of it all. Clans can also level up and form alliances enabling more features to be open to them, so the clan system on the whole is one of the more detailed systems I’ve seen in any MMO.

On the whole Lineage 2 is the type of game that you get back exactly what you put into it. It’s not really geared towards casual players as it is not exactly welcoming. It’s a slow and sometimes arduous time to reach level 80 but once achieved, it’s a huge thing to accomplish. For a casual player I couldn’t quite recommend it. They would be better off going to one of the more newbie friendly MMOs such as World of Warcraft or Everquest 2 where they are guided gently into the realms of MMORPGs and are able to choose if they want to face PvP combat or not. However, if you are a hardened MMORPG player of days gone by, you miss the days when a level up sound effect was really worth something and you want the camaraderie of requiring a group of people you have never met before in game just to gain a bit of experience: this might well be worth a punt. It manages to be strangely compelling yet equally punishing, not least of all because of some fairly weird bugs that can show up despite so many updates that should have fixed them long ago. I wouldn’t say that I was hooked on it but I can see why others may be, if you fancy a change from the more common MMOs, I’d probably recommend Eve: Online first but if you’re adamant on a more medieval style setting, give this a try. Just don’t expect to hit level 80 this year, at least not without a lot of missed sleep.

As soon as I loaded up the game, I was instantly reminded of fond memories of Monkey Island and Broken Sword. Starting out with a cut scene of a zany mad Doctor T and his assistant Miss Gristle, the silly cartoon humour was instantly apparent. Early on there was even a cheeky nod towards knowing it’s just a game with a comment about how all games make a player aggressive anyhow. As the game goes on, the zany style continues. The story itself unfolds to be centred around Jack Keane, a supposedly British adventurer who has been given the task of meeting up with a secret agent and taking him to the mysterious Tooth Island. I say supposedly because despite being told in the game that Jack was orphaned and abandoned in London, his voice sounds distinctly American; although it doesn’t affect the game at all as the voice acting carries a great sense of enthusiasm anyhow. As Jack discovers, he is inadvertently involved in a tea conspiracy…yes a tea conspiracy! Or so it seems at first, before the carnivorous plants start appearing.

The story gets sillier and sillier as the game progresses, but that’s a great thing. It matches the bizarreness of Lucasart’s older games without copying them too much. All the action within the game is extremely cartoony making it fun to play. The puzzles in point and click adventures are often the downfall, getting far too illogical and silly. In the case of Jack Keane, they gradually get harder meaning by the time you’ve got to them, your brain is working in the way that’s needed to understand the problem. There are also no timed sequences in the game so you can take your time to solve each puzzle making it a very relaxing game, although sometimes infuriating when you just can’t figure out the solution. Jack Keane himself is a very likeable character, the stereotypical cartoon like adventurer. Think Indiana Jones mixed with George Stobbart of Broken Sword fame. Further on in the game, you are able to play as another character that initially seems like an enemy of Keane but turns out to be a valuable ally. It’s not a huge change to the gameplay as it’s still all point and click action but it makes the story a bit more interesting and causes quite a twist in the player’s perception of what will unfold next.

The graphical style is completely appropriate to the type of game. It makes all the scenery look luscious and extremely pretty, but in a distinctly cartoon like manner. Deck13 obviously had no intentions for realism, and that’s what makes Jack Keane all the better. It is a welcome change from gritty realism. The graphics are pseudo 3d so the perspective is just right, much like one of the newer Broken Sword games but more defined. The voice acting is also extremely enjoyable, full of caricatures and slightly camp perhaps, but perfectly matched to the rest of the game.

Deck13 even managed to throw in some bonus features. Admittedly they’re not the most interesting of features, wax works of the characters in the game, but it’s always nice to be rewarded in some way. All of these bonus features are unlocked through completing small puzzles scattered around various parts of the game, which are not necessary to complete so as to progress within the game. Also at the end, make sure to watch to the end of the credits for some outtakes, always good fun!

Overall, Jack Keane does exactly what it says on the box. It’s an enjoyable romp of a point and click adventure, it manages to maintain a fun sense of humour, and it is the perfect antidote to the domination of instant gratification first person shooters and real time strategy games. It’s well worth anyone’s time and should cause a chuckle or two as well.