The classic paper and pencil role playing game plans to shatter the MMORPG market with Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach. Set in the pulp fantasy world of Eberron, D&D Online creates a rich world that's easy to get into and difficult to pull away from.

DDO is inspired, but not truly based on, the current 3.5 system that many table top gamers use. The game goes one step further by incorporating real time combat elements. The combination blends together very well, proving a balanced and challenging effort. While you certainly can choose to simply target a creature and attack it until the day ends, chances are this lack of strategy will be the bane of all but the heartiest of warriors. Also, spells and skills are only allowed certain allotments between rest periods, making resource management paramount.

Gone from this game are the slaughter fields and fetch quests of many other predecessors. Instead, this game puts a heavy focus on alternative quests; in fact, that is the only way one can receive experience. While players may need to kill horrid creatures within an area to survive, killing the creatures themselves will not grant experience points.

There is a heavy emphasis on party play, which makes sense when considering the game's roots. Classes are very balanced, allowing each character to bring something to the table. Rogues add to a party by helping ensure they don't set off every trap in a dungeon--and oh, there are a lot of traps. Wizards and sorcerers generally bring the bang, fighters distract the enemy and take the brunt of the damage, clerics ensure that moderate wounds heal before they become fatal, and bards inspire. The use of feats and skills allow flexibility within the character creation process, allowing for different ways to play the same class, although if players expect to hold a party's interest, it's best not to be too specialized.

The game is stylish and the graphics polished, although at times I've found certain objects to be a little angled for this day and age of gaming. Animation is generally smooth, though in combat, it was not uncommon for creatures to seem like they were moonwalking or floating towards me when they were actually dashing. But this is a qualm I'm sure will be fixed during the current testing. The ambiance is a suitable one and the voice acting of the Dungeon Master that describes certain events is a nice touch, but the lack of voice acting outside of the DM gives the game a less-than-involving feel. At the time I played the game, there were only five races implemented: the dwarf, the elf, the halfling, the human, and the warforged. Also missing was the monk class, but with nine other classes to play with and multiclass with this was easily forgiven.

At this point in the beta testing, it looks like fans of the Dungeons and Dragons role playing experience will be pleasantly surprised with what this game delivers, and players of previous MMORPGs can be cautiously optimistic this game will take the genre in a new direction. Look for Dungeons and Dragons Online: Stormreach to be commerically available in the US on February 28th.

SCREENS

• Follow the arrows
• Exploring a town
• Raining

LINKS

• Forum Discussion
• Official DDO Website
• Turbine Website