Ultima Online

"A massive fantasy online RPG..."

Ultima Online, the multi player version of the Ultima series. You are a person in the land of Britannia, and you have options much like real life. What to do? How to earn money? How to live with other people?

The society of UO is very different from real life though, as is the world. The world of Ultima Online is a fantasy world, where magic and swords rule, and monsters fall. There are many carpenters, smiths, alchemists and tailors, as there are many swordsmen, mages and archers. This game supports it all. You can choose from many skills, and you can be whatever you want. You can be a evil murdered, or a purely good healer. or maybe a beggar? Roleplayers, feel welcome...There are many roleplayers, who play elves, minotaurs, orcs, and other races. In Ultima Online, you have to be human, but this does not stop roleplayers. There are even dwarves. Evil and good, neutral, and just purely confused, you will meet them all in UO..

With the new graphics update, UO still receives an 8 from graphics. They have always been pretty, maybe not modern, but good. With this 3D update, things have improved, and new things are added every day. UO is still a growing community...

Gameplay is also simple. Simple clicking works, but you can do wonders with few keyboard-shortcuts. The interface is rather simple. To be effective, you have to master the game, your mouse, and your keyboard. You sometimes need 3 hands.

Music and sound is also very good. The music is the good old Ultima series music, with a nice, old Britannian touch. The sound effects are not that great, but they serve their purpose.

But there are also problems, and those problems make this game only 8. The veterans of this game are rather unhappy with the ever changing system, and the game is rather easy. You can have a killer character in no time, and it takes a lot of excitement away from the game. It used to be a lot harder. Of course, new players are happy so that they can be like the veterans in few days, but...Well, at least experience still counts a lot, and a veteran player is always a veteran player, and will always be. These days, it is mostly about roleplaying, or player killing. It is also about sitting. Many players just sit, using money for nothing. And some people speak way too l337, to be nice anymore. But it is still a great experience, and still worth those few dollars per month..

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/28/01, Updated 08/28/01