RuneScape

"Crapfest"

I'll start by saying Runescape IS free, unless you want like, the 9/10s of the game that is missing, in which case you need to pay.

GRAPHICS
I'll be plain with you. The graphics suck. When you equip armour, it looks like coloured styrofoam, and the weapons seem like a sort of iceblock - cube thing. The Dragon Longsword especially looks like a red paddlepop. The buildings look like they were crapped out by a two year old and redesigned by an arcihtect who has never heard of the word 'Crap Buildings'. The water just sits there like the eerily creepy clown doll that mysteriously appeared on your chair last night, and the landscape looks like the remains after an 'All you can eat!' night at a Mexican restaurant. Albeit with less nachos and more shoddily drawn apple pie.
Overall: 2 / 10

SOUND
You have to pay for the sound. WTF!? We're paying to have sound? Regardless, some tunes are quite catchy, but most flat out suck. Some more options to the jukebox would have been nice also, instead of having to click the song you want everytime it finishes. I like about, 5 or so songs, but that is about it.
Overall: 4 / 10

LENGTH
Runescape doesn't last for long..... about a month. Not that long compared to most MMORPGs, but better than most single player games.
Overall: 9 / 10

QUESTS
The quests aren't that great. Some are cool, like my favourite Prince Ali Escape, which is very creative, but most are just plain dull.
Overall: 3 / 10

CHARACTERS
There is very little in the way of character creation, but you cannot expect too much from MMORPGs. After all, you should be greatful for what you get you sick puppy. Regardless, the NPCs in Runescape are horrible. Not only is their speech flat out crap, but you can't converse with normal peasants that have nohting to do but talk, and they don't have voices. Voices don't bother me, but one funny thing is, you can kill off the population of a town and the guards don't care.
Overall: 3 / 10

SKILLS
Most MMORPGs have special skills nowadays. For World of Warcraft, it was talents, for Runescape, it's skills. It has a wide range, from the very helpful Herblore, Alchemy, Mining and such, to the moderately useful pickpocketing and woodcutting to the flat out sucky things, like firemaking. Why the hell would you want to make a lame ass fire that can cook things, when you can cook them and get a better chance AND you don't have to chop down the wood at kitchens? HUH? HELLO!
Overall: 2 / 10

UPDATES
One thing I'll give Runescape is that it is updated often. Not as often as some MMORPGs and games, but it's still updated. At least it isn't forgotten by the developers (namely because this is about his only game) which will give the rabid fanboi's something to dig their teeth and red paddlepop swords into.
Overall: 7 / 10

GAMEPLAY
The combat is bland...... imagine this; a green blob is strolling around a forest that looks like your garden which you haven't touched in over 5 years. Suddenly, a pink block brandishing a mighty blue helmet and, of course, his deadly red paddlepop struts out and stands there. He pokes him with a sword every 10 seconds. Or he raises the sword and drops it like a toddler dropping a lego brick. There are three types of combat; melee, ranged and magic. The magic has a good idea with runes, but the gameplay sucks. The combat doesn't get more exciting then that.
Overall: 2 / 10

INTERACTIVITY
Runescape definitely had good ideas. For example; you can fish, mine, forge and other stuff, and you need items for it. This is made dull by the fact you have to wait nine years for your character to hack away at a tiny cylinder called a tree, and your reward? a few logs. Wow. Absolutely groundbreaking.
Overall: 4 / 10

PAY TO PLAY
The pay to play version adds, like, the other nine tenths that the game was missing; but you have to play, which is why they call it pay to play. It adds a crap load to the game, but it's not that great the content added, and you have to be a high level for it to mean much to you.
5 / 10

PLAYERS
This is where Runescape falls flat on it's ugly, hideous, horrendously drawn / animated / scribbled ass. You can't walk 5 seconds without someone calling you a noob. I started a character and walked through the starting town, and got called a noob repeatedly because I asked where I could find a bank. This was my first character, mind you. Then there's people like ninja looters, who WILL steal the items that you rightfully claimed. It has good control over kill stealing, since there's only specific areas where more than one player can attack enemies. However, pretty much everyone will try to scam you, and there ain't much they'll do about it. If your account is stolen, and you miraculously get it back, chances are you won't get much on it. If you get scammed, you don't get your items back, which isn't fair on the people who tell the truth about the items they had.
0 / 10

OVERALL
3 / 10
If you have nothing better to do AT ALL then Runescape maybe for you. It's a pretty crappy MMORPG, and you can get better ones at the same price, albeit with longer loading times, like Silk Road, or Adventure Quest. I would have rated this game 3/10 to be fair, but it's so hideously appalling that it gets a 1.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 05/14/06, Updated 12/30/08

Game Release: RuneScape (US, 03/29/04)