Kingdom of Loathing

"Sure you've played some online games. But have you played the greatest, most addicting, and funniest of them all?"

An adventurer is you!

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, it's this game! KoL: A game that looks bad on the outside for some, but in the inside it's BRILLIANT! Come play this masterpiece made by Jick and Co!

[The Story]
You start out as an adventurer of you choice, of one of six choices, and either a boy or girl. You may think each choice doesn't differ, but they differ WAY more then imaginable. After you are born, you are sent on a quest by the council of loathing to free the king from the evil Naughty Sorceress. Sounds boring? Well it's isn't. Actually, it's far from it.

[p2p]
You might have heard of paying to play, like in runescape, but in KoL you don't need to pay. If you donate $10 or more, you can get a mr. accessory or more (depending how much is donated) Oh, so you think this game still nudges you on to pay, just because you get a special item only obtainable to pay, don't you? Well, think again! this item is easily obtainable without paying, from gathering enough of the game's currency, meat, to pay for it. You may have to work a little to get that much meat, but this item doesn't cost much at all.

[Graphics]
10/10
Fuzzy, stick figure, GIF images not your style, eh? So you think this game is crap because of it? Wow, then you are on picky person. This game doesn't have good graphics just because of the humor in it, so if I was really rating the graphics based on the image and image only, I would give it a 4. But, I gave it a ten based on the humor in these graphics, the fact that these graphics don't add lag to an online game, and the fact that this game might be pretty bad with a bunch of graphics. All and all, these graphics aren't too cold, nor too hot, they are just right. (And in my opinion, better graphics then runescape)

[Story Line]
9/10
Ok, so what if the story line is repetitive, enough that you can know this game by heart? This game has a great story line, with side quests being added all the time, and a main quest each level, and even the fact that sooner or later this game will have a huge expansion (nicknamed NS13) that'll add a lot of new content to the story. Repetitiveness matters in this game? For good, not bad, as this game also focuses on record boards for quick storyline runs, aka speed runs (common in a lot of games, online or not)

[Multiplayer]
10/10
Ok, by multiplayer you probably think it means grabbing a buddy and button mash on Halo 2, or maybe some XBOX LIVE, but if your new to online games you'll soon find out that that's not the real definition for online mutliplayer. In KoL's case, it's chatting, PvPing, trading, selling, buying, listening to others on Radio KoL, joining a clan, leaderboards, posting on forums, a great kind (and sometimes not-so-kind ten year olds who spam the place) community and a bunch of more stuff. If any of these interest you (probably ALL of them), then KoL is right for you!

[Sounds]
N/A
Sounds? Who needs sounds to play a browser-based game? O_o Unless you are counting Radio KoL.

[Repetitiveness]
11/10
This is where the game truly shines. This is now the heart and very soul of KoL. The ability to ascend, or start over WITH A VAST AMOUNT OF POSSIBILITIES. A fairly-old addition to this great game, ascension is one of the greatest ideas ever. Every time you ascend, you can re pick your character, choose a sign to ascend under (with varying effects), repick your gender O_o, get a new item (If you went a special path and hardcore or not) get a new tattoo (until you grab them all)

Notes:

The online chat feature may allow a bit mature content, so is really only for people over the age of 13. (As mature I mean swear words, not at all adult only content. That stuff is bannable)

I have played KoL, and got a fairly good amount of ascensions, enough to say I'm not a noob ^_^, I've played for half a year until I recently quit a month or two ago, just because the game fed on me. It was overwhelmingly addictive, and I went crazy if I couldn't get to a computer to play it each day, took hours and hours of my life, made me stay up for a bunch of hours, and I went just crazy. I had to try countless times to quit and tried and tried until I finally gave my password to someone in /hardcore, my chatting home. It was THAT fun. This will likely NOT happen to you, and you probably aren't as much of a freak as I am ;) You probably didn't need to know that, just thought it would help to persuade you to join in the fun.

This game is found on www.kingdomofloathing.com

This game fully deserves a 10/10. Thanks for reading my review.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/27/07