RuneScape

"It's worth how much you paid for it"

Runescape, Runescape, Runescape...where to start?
(THIS REVIEW IS LONG AND LENGTHY, AND MAY CONTAIN A FEW SPOILERS. BE PREPARED)

For those of you that have never heard of it, Runescape is a free online MMORPG made by Jagex Ltd, which is accessible at www.runescape.com. How can one describe RS? For me, the phrase "You got what you paid for" comes to mind. It's a good concept, but Jagex didn't execute it too well. In fact, they didn't execute it well at all.

1 - STORY
MMORPGs aren't really known for their storylines. This is no exception. Basically, you make your character's looks, you get dumped on a tutorial island and see how to do everything, then you go to some place called Lumbridge. There are three Gods, but I'll be damned if I can figure out what influence they have (besides answering mail on the RS site, but that doesn't involve the game). You kill things, you level up, end of story (harharhar).

RATING: 3/10

2 - GRAPHICS

It's free and it's online, so nothing of FFX-caliber. But they're not actually that bad, so nothing bad over here. Again, don't expect FFX-esque graphics.

RATING: 6/10

3 - SOUND

I've never turned on the music in game myself, so I can't give this a rating.

RATING: NA/10

4 - GAMEPLAY

*play crash.wav*
Gameplay is where RS falls. The concept of the game genre (MMORPG) remains the same: get stuff, level up, get better stuff, level up, etc etc. But I reiterate: Jagex executed this horribly.

First off, skills:
I'm a skill junkie; skills in a game rock. One of the main things that drew me to D&D (Dungeons and Dragons for you not-knowers) was the 27 skills it had to offer. RS has many different skills, but the system is clunky: Get stuff, click. It's that simple. It's the simplicity that drives me nuts: if you have the time, resources, and patience (which, I might add, you need a lot of), you could level a skill up in a matter of hours: I don't think I can catch lobster and swordfish in a couple hours fishing. Or become an awesome magician that can teleport across continents within a few hours. The skills system made me cry.

Next, combat:
You have six "combat" stats in this game: Attack, Strength, Defense, Prayer and Magic. These stats combined and ran through some odd formula I can't remember determine your combat level, which is effectively, your level in this game. You raise your stats (except for magic and HP) by using different attack forms while fighting things. How do you fight in this game? Point and click. You get to see your character swing his sword or his fists at the other guy/creature/demon/spawn of the underworld while he's also trying to attack you. You get hurt, you eat food.
That's right, eat food. Have a delicious swordfish dinner while the evil dragon of doom in front of you is ripping your innards out. And you don't even get basic healing magic at first level magic, what? On the subject of food: it takes me at least 5-10 minutes to eat a chunk of beef, and 3-10 hours to digest the stuff and get its benefits, yet your character stuffs a piece of cooked meat in his mouth and is healed instantly in the time it takes to swallow and get the food to your stomach. Bleh.
Also, some enemies give enough XP early on to get you finely equipped: You can beat the snot out of cows for your first couple of stat levels and be able to wield mithril-adamantine equipment before you need to move onto bigger things. I wish I could wield things made out of the hardest and lightest materials in the world by butchering cows for a living. Maybe I should go become a farmer...NAAAAAH.

Magic:
You cast magic by using runes and having the right magic skill. Easy enough. They've got a nice selection of spells that you need higher and higher magic levels to cast, and more exotic runes, and lots of those exotic runes. But from the looks of it, they didn't develop magic as much as they did combat, and most of the really awesome magic aspects are availible only to members (we'll get to that later). As long as you have runes though, you can't run out of spells: no spells per day, no magic fatigue, etc. That means you can string together big Armageddon-esque spells one after another after another...

Prayer:
Prayer represents your spiritual and religious power. Prayer augments your abilities and things like that. You get a certain number of prayer points, which you can replenish by praying at an altar. Simple and decent. Me like.

In conclusion, combat isn't executed too well. So meh.

Overall, gameplay is bad. Very bad.

RATING: 2/10

5 - COMMUNITY

The community in an MMORPG makes a bit of difference. It can determine whether you like the game or not. The community in this game is, to put it nicely, insanely atrocious. Most people speak in 1337 speak, which is the least of your problems. Most everyone is a pain in the rear in this game: being a newbie in this game is like being a woman in Wulfgar's tribe in RA Salvatore's books: basically, you're treated like a piece of crap. Which brings me to another point: most every person in RS is an egotistical son of a (BEEP). Sure, you have the people that'll help you out and be considerate in game if you're level 5 with bronze equipment, but most will be like "LOL U N00B IM LEVEL 61 AND I GOTZ TEH FULL RUNE LOL M I RITE M I RITE". The community in this game, I reiterate, is insanely atrocious. Don't expect anything good.

RATING: 1/10

6 - DIFFICULTY

Insanely easy. That is, if you have the patience and the willpower to get through it. Level 40 in most skills takes just a couple hours straight if you go at it, which is enough to make lots of cash and beat up most everything in your way. Most RPGs take many moons before you get ultimate power and you have to work at it: In RS, it's click, wait, get stuff, click, wait, get stuff, repeat. Very very easy.

RATING: 2/10

MEMBERS:

Members is the "upgraded" version that you have to pay five bucks a month to get. In exchange you get twice the amount of world, lots of cooler stuff (which is relative, most stuff in this game stinks), even some new skills, among other trinkets. No dedicated RS player doesn't have members, so if you really want to get in this game (even after reading this), subscribe to members for a couple months. You have to pay by credit card or paypal, so those of us with parents that are anal about credit cards, no members for you. I don't have members, so I don't have all of this cool stuff, so I guess I'm bitter.

GAME SYNOPSIS:
This game is an endurance test. Combined with decent graphics, abysmal gameplay, and one of (I'm not saying worst) the worst communities ever, this game is horrible. Of course, it can be improved, so I hope Jagex puts something in that'll make me want to come back.

MY SCORE: 2/10 (not an average)

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 02/22/05