Lords of EverQuest

The answer is a rather uninspiring yes and no.

Developed by Rapid Eye Entertainment, a group of former New World Computing programmers (responsible for the Heroes of Might and Magic series), LoE tries to take the Everquest MMORPG experience and squish it into the confines of RTS wargaming. The game centers around your "Lord", which, like the "Hero" unit in Blizzard's Warcraft III, is the leader of an army of creatures you work to upgrade and develop into a conquering force. Lords are members of several different "factions" which determine what kinds of armies you can raise. As with both Warcraft III and Everquest, you need to level up and advance your Lord by defeating other enemies and obtaining experience points as well as complete mission objectives in order to advance in the game. Unlike WCIII, however, you can actually level up your troops and even "knight" up to two troops to give them powers nearly equivalent to your lord. This feature alone is what sets LOE apart from any other RTS on the market today and presents some very interesting and unique gameplay strategies.

As with all other RTS games, you accumulate resources to build buildings and purchase upgrades to train and outfit your army. In this case, there is only a single resource: platinum. The "money" system is simpler than in other RTS games in that the challenge lies in budgeting your platinum on buying the right buildings and units rather than trying to acquire a wide variety of different resources.

But with the leveling system, it's quite possible to take a group of basic troops up to very high levels without ever needing to create specialized units.

There are two primary modes: a single player "campaign" which involves completing a series of scenarios with some light RPG elements interspersed in between, and a multiplayer mode where you can fight other players online. The single player game is servicable at best, with an only casually interesting storyline (disappointing, given the amount of history and lore in EQ). Many of the maps seem somewhat linear in design and the objectives are nothing any RTS gamer hasn't seen before.

In fact, many will argue that besides the leveling aspect, there isn't much in LOE that hasn't been done already, and implemented better. In particular, the AI/pathing is irritatingly bad with units often taking the longest, most baffling route to get to whereever it was you wanted them to go. They also have an annoyingly short attention span and will sometimes disregard orders to stay put and go run off and attack things when you don't want them to.

This alone is what really hurts the game in the long run. The RTS field has reached maturity to where these types of problems simply aren't acceptable anymore and most players will pass on the game because of it.

Which is somewhat of a shame, since underneath the rough elements is a relatively intriguing RTS game. The graphics and animation in the game are quite good, with realistically-drawn 3D models and cool spell effects. In addition, one of the most entertaining aspects of Everquest, the level up "Ding" sound, is retained here and is just as satisfying as it was in the MMORPG.

Also, the idea of leveling up troops does create an extra dimension of strategy, especially in multiplayer, where you can try to kill NPCs to gain more experience before attacking your enemies.

Unfortunately, many reviews have complained that there aren't enough differences between the units of each faction to make battles interesting. Those people inevitably rely on the obvious warrior-healer strategy for their army, but more inventive players will likely find other ways to develop their forces.

So here's the rundown:

Pros:
Graphics & Animation are solid--the zoom feature is nice.
The level up system is entertaining--all troops can advance!
Some RPG elements to break up the monotony.
Buy and register the game with an EQ account in good standing before Jan 3, 2004 and you will be invited to EQII Beta

Cons:
Atrocious AI and Pathing algorithms
Units don't always respond to commands
Game balance: there is little incentive to find different strategies to win
Units can seem too similar no matter which faction you play

Overall, this is an average game with limited entertainment value. I thought most of the reviews of the game so far were too harsh, but agree there are enough issues with the game that prevent me from making a recommendation (especially at the retail price that Sony wants you to pay). I would recommend obtaining the demo first, then purchasing the game at a discounted price if you decide you really want it.

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This game was a waste of time, not so much money for the fact that there is a beta invite in the package, but this game is by far the worst game I have played since "Real War". And another thing..dont you think that if you can only register your product for the beta one day, 23 hours and 59 minutes, that the site will be lagged out or down most of the day? That sounds like a trap, like a gamble, they say you are sure to get a slot when you register, but whats to stop them from saying " The server was up, but you thousands of people just forgot to do it, no, this is a gamble, be warned... There is no guerantee anyone will get into the Beta of EQ2 this way. I hope they take into account long time users of EQ, I'm still playing it, even after all these years.

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Let's get specific, shall we?

Storyline:

Utterly uninspired, rehashed, redone, predictable, and dull. Voice acting so awful you'd swear it was intentional. With four years of world-building in the Everquest franchise, you'd think they could make up something at least passable. Wrong.

Graphics:

So terrible that it's difficult to comprehend that this game isn't something you bought three years ago and forgot about, then found in the bottom of a drawer. Units are awkward, poorly crafted, unoriginal pieces of dung that don't withstand any scrutiny.

It isn't so much the painfully low polygon count on units as the poor artwork that led such things to exist. I've heard that a lot of companys are outsourcing programming work overseas to bottom dollar workers, but I didn't know that applied to artists and designers. It's painful to look at a "hero" unit with a giant smile frozen on his one-polygon face while he laments the death of his closest friend in a melodramatic tone.

Gameplay:

Unintuitive, tedious, and one-dimensional. There is no need for strategy. Simply select all your units and send them at the enemy, then pick your nose like a slack-jawed dullard and watch for several minutes as the overwhelmingly stupid AI eventually kills something in spite of itself.

Units wander aimlessly in circles while other units blindly flail at them from behind. Troops stampede recklessly to persue their foes to whatever end. I would estimate that the unit AI took approximately three minutes to jot down on the back of a cocktail napkin at 2:00 AM after consuming about a gallon of vodka directly out of a plastic bottle.

Interaction with the environment? Nonexistent. Despite some awkward attempts at eye candy, it's almost entirely meaningless in terms of affecting strategy.

Sound:

Turn it off. Enough said.

Summary:

Everything about this game has been copied from somewhere else. Most of its game mechanics are ripped directly from Warcraft III. Unfortunately, Sony lacks the talent of Blizzard. They lack the attention to detail, they lack the standards of quality, and they lack the vision.

My question to Sony is this: If you're going to do something that's already been done, and do it so poorly, why do it at all?

This game is a blatant money-grab. Sony is banking on the uninformed consumer and die-hard Everquest player to buy it without thinking.

Don't prove them right. If you need a RTS game, go buy Warcraft III. If you already own it, go play it again. If you want Warcraft III to have that "Everquest" feel, punch yourself in the groin, stab yourself in the eye with a pencil, and play Warcraft III. Just don't buy Lords of Everquest. It brings a new definition to the word "Pain."

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