Dark Age of Camelot

"A bright age for MMORPGs"

Ah, Dark Age of Camelot. Given all the press this game has received, I shall make the brash assumption that you already have heard about this game, and is possibly why you are reading this review. On the off chance you haven't heard of this game, and you want to know what it's about, let's start with a brief description of the game and it's general premise.
This game is an MMORPG, much along the lines of EQ or Asheron's Call, only much more refined. The game is based in the time directly following the death of King Arthur of legend. The result of his death is that there are now 3 major factions vying for control of his now empty throne: the Realms of Hibernia, Albion, and Midgard. And the story pretty much ends there, and continues with you.
Seriously, this is an MMORPG. The game is not story driven, it is player driven. The story that Mythic puts forth is to create context, and it does a very good job of it. The setting they've created has allowed for a lot of great mini quests, epic quests, dungeons, realm battles, and much more. But in the end, this game is about players and player interaction. So on that note, let's talk about gameplay.
The gameplay here is rock solid, especially if you're a fan of table top games such as AD&D. You start as a lowly 1st level character, where you are promptly given a few quests by your trainer (someone you shall become intimately familiar with) to get you into the game. Within the first 5 levels you will have learned the ropes of fighting, training, grouping, and exploring. At this point, you choose your specialization, which will be your class for the remainder of the game (all 50 levels of it).
The abilities you get in the game are wide and interesting, to say the least. I won't delve into them deeply as there are many of them and they are different for each realm. The general system works like this though: You start as a base class until you hit level 5. Then you choose a specialization class, as I mentioned before. At this point, you get a new trainer, and you start getting abilities specific to your class. Each realm has 4 basic classes (Rogue, Fighter, Magician, Healer). In some cases, these classes are divided up (for example, Albion has both the Elementalist and Mage, both of which are magic users, but end up with different specializations). New abilities are gained through training, which costs specialization points that you gain every level. Once you put enough points into a certain ability area, you gain a new ability specific to that area of training. For example, once a Friar trains up to level 23 in Staff, he/she gains the Friar's Redress ability.
All the neat and fun abilities aside, the meat of the gameplay here is based around grouping and realming (as it is called). The game rewards groups and guilds. Getting to know people will only benefit you in this game. You get more experience fighting in groups, and when you head into the realm areas, groups are the only way to survive. Which brings up the foremost aspect of the game: Realm vs. Realm combat.
Everquest had player vs. player combat, but that was only on certain servers, and it was every person for his or herself. Camelot gives more purpose to the killing. Each realm has two relics and 8 keeps. The keeps provide a way of rating which realm is ''winning'' (as well as they allow access to one of the games biggest dungeons, Darkness Falls, a very recent addition). There is no way to win in this game, the game does not end. But you can be ahead, and for quite some time too. The relics are hard to access, even harder to take, and hardest still to keep. The relics provide your entire realm with bonuses to certain stats. Each realm has 2 relics, one for Power and one for Strength. While your realm has its relics, you basically stand at normal. If you lose one of your relics to another realm, you lose 10% to appropriate performance (so if you lose your Strength relic, you do 10% less damage). Conversely, if you take an enemy relic, you gain that 10% bonus.
This is not to say that these elements are the only thing in the game. Of course, you can find equipment (magical items, armor, weapons, etc.) which all help you in these different areas. And if you can't find what you need, chances are that it can be made. Crafting returns in this game, though pared down quite a bit from it's Ultima Online form. You can join one of the many crafters guilds in the game based on what class you are. From there you are assigned a primary craft, and numerous secondary crafts. Your primary craft is the only one that you can truly master, the others can only reach a percentage of your primary. Depending on what your primary craft is you can make weapons, armors, or siegecraft parts. This is another element that promotes group interaction, and I applaud Mythic for doing it this way. Siegecraft can be used to very easily take down the doors of a keep or destroy enemy forces. However, one person cannot construct a siege weapon alone. They require many different pieces, each of which can only be made by different craft types. In the end, to construct the best siege weapons in the game, you must have a master of each craft available to make the parts.
''Ah, but with all these nice things they've put into the game, and all the effort they've made to improve the experience for the player, this must be a text based MMORPG'' is what you are thinking. Fear not, however, for this game has graphics, and described to you these shall be. The visuals of the game are effective and nice, with requisite flashy spell effects and attack maneuvers. The graphics are nothing that will break new ground though, regardless of the fact that the game does require a 3D accelerated video card. The characters don't sport high polygon counts, though the sheer number of creates and players that can be on screen at once is astounding.
The visuals in this game mainly serve the purpose of creating the world, which they do tremendously well. There is really nothing quite like entering the realm grounds, looking off that 200 foot cliff over miles of terrain, with fog covering it and tress everywhere. The visuals create a great sense of a vast world with rolling hills, deep dungeons, huge lakes, and vast canyons. The visuals really help to immerse you in the world.
Unfortunately, for all these ups to the game, there are some downs, and those come in the form of the audio department. The music, while catchy at first, is forgettable and sometimes horribly irritating, especially since there are a grand total of about 8 different music tracks in the whole game (8 for each realm, but you really end up playing only 1 realm primarily). I often find myself playing this game with my cd-player hooked up to the speakers, so I don't have to listen to the same music again and again. As well, especially considering the advances in MP3 technology, the music sounds harshly reminiscent of age old MIDI music. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is a far cry from the fully symphonic audio in Jedi Knight 2.
Not quite so bad are the sound effects in the game. Again, there seem to be quite few of them, though Mythic has added new ones in their patches (which come out at least once a month, which is incredibly impressive). The sounds do get recycled between enemies, moves, and spells but this isn't so much bad as it is funny. You'll know what I mean when you hear a frog making the noises of a wolf.
This allows me to note the final impressive point of this game, though it's more a point about Mythic themselves. The game is updated monthly (or there about, they try) through a in-program updating utiltity (ala Battle.net for Blizzard). When you first connect, it will check for updates, and download any that have been released. What is truly impressive about these patches is they not only fix bugs, but they add new features into the game. During the time that I've been playing the people at Mythic have changed ability sets, altered skill points, changed creature models and spell effects, and most recently have added an entire new dungeon to the game (a Realm vs. Realm dungeon at that). This isn't to mention all the changes that have been made to items and money that drop from creatures you kill. Mythic is truly making an attempt to not only fix technical issues with their patches, but to improve and add to the game. This is a great change of pace from the EQ method of releasing a new add-on which costs $30 more. With Camelot, you can really see where your monthly charge is going.
In the end, Dark Age of Camelot is a really well designed and implemented game which truly shows why this entire genre of game works. The game provides a great play environment, hours of fun play time (whether you play or just talk to friends), and a constantly changing experience. This is a game I would highly recommend anybody at least try. Even if you only play it for a month, you will not regret having tried it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/22/02, Updated 04/22/02