User Rating: 8.2 | Horizons: Empire of Istaria PC
This is my first review at GameSpot, so bear with me. Gameplay -- There is no PvP in Horizons, the adventuring PvE is a little weak, and loot drops/dungeons appear to be nonexistant, so if you're looking for the next great DAoC with regards to these attributes, look elsewhere. However, the crafting system in this game is phenomenally deep, very polished, and is truly the heart of the game. This blows out of the water every other crafting system currently out there ... I'm having fun CHOPPING DOWN A TREE for cryin' out loud! The player-based economy, buildable housing, and a few quests factored in from the beginning improve this score, but the combat area is still somewhat weak -- 7 overall. Graphics -- A 1337 gaming rig is NOT an Athlon 1700+ and a GF3, despite what people on message boards will tell you. I'm running an XP2800+ with Radeon 9800Pro AIW and a Gig of RAM, and the game looks absolutely GORGEOUS. The environments are very detailed, with a very distinct look and feel to every city and major area within the game. The player models, aside from the dragon, however, look very weak and out-of-place within this context. If the player models were on par with the environmental graphics, this would be the best-looking MMORPG out there currently -- 9 overall. Sound -- While the sound effects are a little lacking, the music more than makes up for them. The music in this game is absolutely fantastic, lending to each area a truly unique setting just based off of the music. The dynamic fading between "adventuring" music and "combat" music is the best I've heard since Serious Sam. I would easily spend $20 to get a CD of this music! -- 10 overall. Value -- So far, a lot of promised content is missing and/or not filled in yet. The developers *have* slowly been adding content through server-side patches, and it's understandable that they're working out more important issues with regards to server availability, but as of yet, it's hard for me to seriously recommend this game at $50 + $12.95/month ... I'm truly hoping that huge amounts of content will be available (here's to a 100MB patch!) -- 7 overall. Reviewer's Tilt -- This is my first true foray into a MMORPG. I've played UO, EQ, AO, and DAoC at friend's houses, but they didn't "suck me in" within the first few hours of playing. The Realm, an older MMORPG by Sierra (now by Codemasters), was a cartoonish pseudo-3D game that sucked up a good portion of my free time. Horizons is looking to do the same, provided that they can get some content released and fix the major issues with regards to server availability. I'm looking forward to what this game promises -- 9 overall. Total Score: 8.2
