Written by IRS on 08/03/2003

Asheron's Call 2 is the most intimidating and beautiful MMORPG out to date.

Final Score 87%

The Good: Beautiful graphics. The patron system is unique and intuitive. Complexity of combat. Complexity of character development.

The Bad:To run this game well you need a really excellent video card. My room mate tried it and quit because of fps/choppiness, and he was using a mx440 64ddr geforce4. I even experienced poor performance if there were enough people in one area. Some of the people I played with had to reboot their machines regularly. Good thing u can try it w/o spending any money.

Reviewers Tilt: A solid mmorpg, so long as you have a very solid machine.

Reviewers system specs: AMD Athlon XP 2600, 896 mb DDR RAM, and an ATI 9500 PRO video card.

The first thing that you will notice about AC2 is that you do not need to buy any software. You can download the game and start playing right away without spending a dime. There is a 2 week free trial period and after that subscription fees are 12$/month.

Character creation allows for a good amount of customization across 3 races, and unlike most mmorpg’s, you do not choose your skill path at the start. After you create your character you go on to a tutorial and introduction to the world of AC2. You receive less and less guidance until you are pretty much off on your own questing and mobbing as you see fit.

AC2 has many innovative features that I feel positively effect the game play. For example that is a patron system which encourages higher level characters to assist and teach lower level ones. When I played, I had 6 vassals who swore their allegiance to me. I would check on them every time I logged on, answering questions, power leveling, and helping them to complete quests. Good patrons tend to accumulate vassals while bad patrons loose their best and brightest vassals. "Guilds" are formed by networks of allegiances that are built like pyramids. This is intuitive, and generally leads to the most amiable helpful players being the leaders of Allegiances (guilds/clans in AC2 lingo). Needless to say, this system is a real breath of fresh air, and encourages players to help each other. AC2 has a very friendly atmosphere.

Another positive thing you will notice about AC2 is the artistic creativity. The landscapes are beautiful. The dungeons are dark and full of atmosphere. There are places so beautiful in AC2 that you will be in complete awe. Every bridge and river is a real masterpiece. The player models look great. The items look great. The only thing i felt was lacking were some of the mid level mobs. If you want a game to test the power of your video card, AC2 is the one.

Before I talk about the game play itself, let me first warn the reader that I do not last long on any single MMORPG. I generally get bored very quickly.

Now onto the game play experience.

My first character was a mêlée based Lugian, and got boring pretty darn fast. Also I must say, I got tired of looking at him. My second and primary character was a human archer. This character was much more fun and I didn’t mind looking at him. Too bad there weren't any good looking female characters, because I do prefer to the female form as it is easier on the eye.

Here is how combat against tough mobs typically went for me:

I'd aggro the mob with a fire, or poison arrow which does damage over time. I would spam it with my regular attacks until it met my pet, a sort of hound companion. Then I would start using special attacks as it was fairly easy to hit, being bogged down with my pet, and I thought, a good use of my mana. At this point I could choose whether to heal my pet or let it die. Generally I'd let it die and summon another right in the nick of time then I could pull back and continue my missile attacks. If the mob was particularly tough or fast I would need to use a bluff attack which would send it running.

To me, this was some of the most interesting combat I've ever experienced in an MMORPG. It can get really interesting with large groups of mobs and players. Dungeons are particularly interesting and enjoyable.

The experienced gamer should fly through the lower level content rapidly and get into the more interesting higher level content. This is not to say that you can max out easily or quickly. The model for leveling is a parabola, where you level quickly at the bottom and slowly toward the top.

The game also includes the obligatory trade skills, which are extremely useful, but difficult to develop at high levels. For example, all my armor was crafted by players until level 31. In fact i crafted my own armor (and my vassals too), until level 29. Trade skills are supposed to take place at workshops. However, as my patron showed me, it took such a huge amount of fuel to get, say, a forge, going that you might as well practice your crafts near the mines for the resources you need. Having a wealthy patron donate gold to your crafting is especially helpful ;).

In summary, this is a real piece of eye candy with some innovative and successful features, nub friendly atmosphere, and higher level content for real fans. Monthly updates and integrated story line put this game ahead of most in immersion and developer follow-through.