Nef’s Buyers Guide — September ’09.
Posted by nefchast on September 9, 2009
This month has been exceptionally busy in the world of MMOs. We’ve got Champions Online having launched just last week, Fallen Earth entered its head start, and Aion is launching in a couple of weeks. For two more curve balls, throw in Ultima Online’s expansion that launched yesterday, DDO Unlimited, and Cities XL launching sometime next month. There are plenty of choices in the MMO field right now, but what might be the best choice for you?
Champions Online: If you’ve read this blog at all recently you’ve seen plenty of this game. It’s no secret — I really enjoy this MMO, even with the launch day “nerfs”. This is s game you may want for a few reasons: fast paced combat, superhero theme, and highly customizable characters. There are some issues with the game — bugged quests were fairly common at the higher levels (and some during the lowbies) and a gap in content once you reach the early thirties. Pretty much all of the missions that were bugged for me have been fixed, so that isn’t much of an issue now, but there is still a gap in content. Luckily, there have been dev responses noting that they are working on fixing it and adding more missions. If you’re interested in the game, might be a good idea to wait for the holiday season and pick up a copy then. I think most of the wrinkles will be smoothed out by then.
Fallen Earth: I tried to love this game, I really did. Something just did not click with me, though, and I never could get into it. Needless to say, I won’t be getting a copy of it… I think. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t. FE is different from most, if not all, your average MMOs out right now. It has FPS controls that work quite well, a post-apocalyptic wasteland to explore, and challenging game play. What I did not enjoy was the more pronounced grinding of leveling/crafting — it is something in most games, but I could really feel it here, the wasteland was really a wasteland — not too much to see. The game felt a bit old, or more like something that would of launched five or six years ago, not simply because of the non-sparkly graphics but the actual feel of the game. That’s not really a positive or a negative though, just a preference. You may want to check the game out since the market is terrible lacking in the post-apocalyptic setting, but it’s another good one to wait till the holiday season on — I might snag it after the first price drop.
Aion: This is the big behemoth on the horizon. It’s garnered more attention than any other title on this blog, and while that’s not saying much it is something — people are really interested in it. I won’t be covering it till launch — and even that might be a tad late since I’m moving that week — since I really want to keep the content fresh for myself. The game is beautiful to look at, runs quite well for the graphics, has great PvP potential, and some fun, somewhat fast paced game play. The downside is that not much is new — WoW with pretty graphics and a slight challenge increase comes to mind, and the flight (a major feature) is pretty limited. CO has less restricted flight and aerial combat, as did City of Heroes — no need to restrict a fun thing, that makes it boring. It is definitely worth looking into. Of all the titles this should be the easiest to decide on — whether you like this type of familiar game play or you don’t.
Ultima Online: Stygian Abyss: I don’t have much info on this one, apart from a features list, but I do want it. In fact, while Aion and CO sort out their launches I may just buy it and give it a whirl. I’ve done a short trial in the past, posted about it too, and found the game enjoyable. It is apart of our gaming history and should be checked out before it eventually goes under. A new race is a great place to begin as there should be plenty of lowbies running around. Expect some posts on this in the future.
Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited: I played DDO when it first launched — took about a week to complete all the content, even with school and all getting in the way. I haven’t been back to check it out yet but now is a good time, and dice it’s free — you might as well check it out too. If anything it will tide you over till the other games you do want to play are patched up or launched. I will say that the game was a lot of fun when I played, with some great group instancing game play.
Cities XL: This game is set to launch sometime next month, so you may be able to afford it after going on a buying spree this month. If not, should you wait? If you love SimCity deeply and spend hours setting up and running virtual cities, it might just be worth the wait. The MMO aspect is interesting, but I would have liked seeing it implemented a bit more deeply. This is a niche game, but worth it if you enjoy the genre.
That’s all the gaming I can think of right now, if I see some other games going on sale in the near future (or if you do, eh?) I’ll see about adding them here or to a new post.
