Ultima Online: Third Dawn Preview
We take a look at an early build of the latest game in the Ultima Online series.
Despite a very rocky start and intense competition from more glamorous online RPGs such as EverQuest and Asheron's Call, Origin's Ultima Online continues to attract a sizeable population of online gamers. It's not that surprising, really, when you consider the steady improvements that have been made to the game over the past three years, either through the continuous flow of patches or the two retail updates. By the time the Renaissance expansion hit the streets, Ultima Online had matured to the point where almost every element of the game was ideal.
The one remaining--and glaring--weakness was the graphics, which were barely current when the game originally shipped and now have grown extremely dated. Enter Ultima Online: Third Dawn. This major update completely overhauls the game's original 2D graphical presentation. In its place, Third Dawn inserts fully 3D character and monster art, enhanced terrain imagery, all-new particle effects for spellcasting, improved lighting, and an entirely new interface system. When in place, all of these elements should combine to bring Ultima Online as close to up-to-date as possible, as far as technology is concerned. And combined with the mature game system that has evolved since its original release, Third Dawn could be an ideal update for longtime UO fans.
We recently had the opportunity to try a beta of Third Dawn for a few long days of intense, hands-on adventuring. What we saw generated mixed feelings, as the new features and graphical enhancements are promising; but the overall state of the beta reminded us of the early days of the original Ultima Online and its unpolished retail release. While the game's new 3D artwork has potential, Origin clearly has a number of issues to sort out before this game finds its way into gamers' hands.
It isn't hard to spot the most notable change in UO: Third Dawn. Every scrap of 2D animation has been tossed out the window in favor of fully 3D polygonal character and monster art. This has two distinct benefits, aside from making the game more technically savvy, of course. The first is that it allows for much smoother and more varied animation. The original UO suffered from choppy animation even when the game was not lagging, but the motion-captured movements of the new player models is a major step forward. In the beta, several movements are a bit wacky and unfinished--the bizarre swimming motion that results from casting some spells, for example--but most look remarkably good. The movements of most monsters are also much improved as a result of the 3D changeover.
- Electronic Arts
- Fantasy Online...
- Release: Mar 26, 2001
- ESRB: Teen
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