A wonderful addition to Ultima Online that makes it to look less dated, have a better interface & new player experie
To start, the most interesting and obvious improvement is the graphics, it uses the Gamebryo graphics engine (which was used for other games such as The Elder Scrolls III and IV: Oblivion as well as Civilization IV). With it they have created a three dimensional world that is still isometric and 2D 'feeling' but really isn't. And, why it doesn't use the engine to such potential as Oblivion it does retain the wonderful art style that Ultima Online has always had. But, with these new improved graphics comes a slew of new graphics bugs and glitches, which while slightly annoying are not game stopping or all that bothersome. And, it is to be expected that there would be a few problems since there is ten years worth of art to redo perfectly. Next, we have the new interface. It pulls all the good qualities from other MMOs interfaces, such as customization and an interactive macro editor. Both of these items are being continually improved by EAMythic and just continue to become better featured and more useful. The new features work well together and truly blend into the new Ultima style unified interface that still has that Ultima feel.
And, there is the new player experience which includes a tutorial that explains the basic controls of Ultima Online. Once you finish the tutorial you are released upon the island of Haven which includes quests up to 50% skill level for all skills. This works well, since the island is perfect for new players and it features increased skill gain so that they can get ready for the full game even faster than normal.
Finally though, the main problem with the client. Performance. It suffers from the same performance issues that every other game that has used the Gamebyro engine has had. It will randomly hang, slow down or crash. But, it is slowly being improved and will soon probably be eliminated.
All in all, a wonderful addition to Ultima Online that allows it to look less dated, have a better interface and lets you have a easier time starting.