THE WAR OF Notum
Once upon a time Rubi-Ka, a rocky planet and semi-desert where the inhabitants they lived in peace. Then one day came the settlers megacorp Omni-Tek, which he had discovered on the planet a very high concentration of mineral rarer universe: Notum. Presenting as benefactors leading technology, Omni-Tek bureaucrats hired cheap local labor and sent to work in the terrible and poisonous Notum mines. It was not long before the miners rebelled and harassed, who joined in clan, waged a war against the invader (using the same weapons that the corporation had brought on the planet).
After years of conflict, some individuals, tired of the constant fighting or simply uninterested in the government of the world, founded the new city: the Clan had nothing to fear from them, and the Corporation had too many problems with the strength to not worry about these God were so born Neutrals.
It is in this setting that takes place Anarchy Online - The Notum Wars.
MASSIVE MULTIPLAYER ONLINE ROLE PLAYING GAME
AoL is a MMORPG (acronym of the title of this section), which is a role-playing game that takes place entirely OnLine and where our characters meet, will dialogue, will join and / or fight with other players' characters scattered throughout the planet (both in the sense of the earth and in the sense of Rubi-Ka). The division of the territory in the guild city, fields and settlements Clan of the neutrals lays the groundwork for a political situation and sides well defined (in fact, the player can choose which side to start), but of course any plot could evolve as they peregrina for the planet.
Clarified these ingredients, we are going to explore the game in detail.
PERSONALITY, CHARACTERISTICS AND SKILLS '
The first thing to do after you have created an account at the site of the game, will be to give life to a character, choosing him for a race, physical appearance and a profession (or class, if you prefer).
There are four races: in addition to solitus (also known as Norm, almost human) we have the opifex (lean and stealthy, but less robust), Nano (not Nani, attention: these individuals are the manipulators of nanotechnology) and Atrox (big, strong, strong, but clumsy and awkward). For the first three races you can choose a character both male and female, but the Atrox are androgynous.
The physical aspect is limited to the selection of the parameters of height (high, medium or low), body type (slim, normal or overweight) and face (selected from many available).
The available classes are twelve: I'm not here to elencarvele all (by the way I took a picture of their own selection screen) nor to illustrarvele in detail, but be aware that the choice should list only the characteristics and skills that the character will be brought more and more freely will increase with experience, but that will not give any limitation to the way you play, allowing you to grow your character as you wish.
Numerically speaking, the character is characterized by Characteristics and Skills: the former are of generic type attributes (strength, endurance, intelligence, agility, etc.) that tend to affect the most basic aspects of the character, or if we are his natural aptitudes; the latter are specific knowledge in specific fields, such as "use guns," "running speed", "swim", "fighting with two weapons" and so on. Needless to say, in practice it will be the responsibility of a character in a single skill to determine the equipment that will be used and how effectively.
Generation, and every time you level up (ie every time, fighting or doing quests, get enough experience), the player has a certain amount of feed points to distribute among its features and its ability more a value is high and most forward points will be needed to increase it further. It is at this stage that the limitations of the class are being felt: Depending on the chosen profession, in fact, you can increase some skills to a certain maximum number of points per level, some less and others even less, indicating therefore limits.
GAME SYSTEM
The game interface is quite simple: with the arrow keys (or with the keys W, S, A and D) Wander your character around the world, either by means of a visual in first or third person (recommended), while with the mouse interact with their surroundings. The left button has utility only selection in the sense that is used to select the target of abilities, the NanoProgrammi (otherwise known as "spells") or attacks that we want to deliver, used in conjunction with the Shift key (or Shift, whatever you desire), the left button will provide information about the object clicked.
The right button is used to use, collect, and so activate the object that is pointed, including commands from the menu. Yes, because in the game there are a number of drop down menus, selection with icons or shortcuts, representing the equipment, or special skills NanoProgrammi known, missions and so on.
Particular importance, as usual, the combat system, which takes place in a very simple way: once you have selected an enemy, pressing the Q key (or right-clicking on the "Combat Mode") the ingaggerete, and if then let it do the battle will continue until the death of one of the two contenders, of course, any time you can use the fighting skills, specific items of equipment, or simply move in search of a territorial advantage (height, coverage) or a escape if things were to get malino.
To classify enemies based on their strength, the developers have used the pluritestato color system: If the health bar of the enemy will appear grayed out, it will mean that we will provide for the slightest threat, and then on all the other shades passing through the green, yellow (clash recommended), orange, to red (avoid at all).
Much like Dark Age of Camelot, so ... but this fact, although it is not synonymous with innovation, is undoubtedly index of the intention to establish a standard for this kind of MMORPG, which is good, since this system is functional and simple in principle free problems of LAG (intermente clashes take place on server ...), it remains curious about which of the two games have provided inspiration to other ...
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT
From the technical point of view, I AoL has fully met: the graphics engine is pleasant, quite detailed, fast, smooth and well-fed special effects. Of course: it's nothing compared to the engines of modern FPS, but after all we are talking about an MMORPG, which is a category of games that the graphics are not the primary requirement, and indeed should be lightened as much as possible not to cause problems LAG between Server and Client.
The park audio is perhaps a bit 'more sparse, with sound effects and music very simple barely mentioned, but also remember that we are here in the field of MultiPlayer ripples, and where you can save on resources is right to do so, so here too the promotion there is all.
Commendable especially the introduction of the PING icon that changes color from green (good) to yellow (acceptable, but with caution) to red (not recommended to do) allows us to see in real time the status of our connection, and therefore decide if it is the case of play or to defer to another time.
THE GAMEPLAY 'AND COMMUNITY
The game system simple and intuitive, especially for those who have had experience in DAoC, immediacy index is very good, and the ability to roam to beat monsters to gain experience in the early stages itself already offers several hours of leisure . In addition, I have to say that the community is very well followed by the Master, who travel often at the departure city and if they find the Newbie in despair (or doubt) will bend over backwards to give them a hand. Maybe a little 'less alert other players, however, probably because the game is very prone, especially in the early stages, the Power-Playing, but certainly veterans have multiple business that I have seen.
The only thing a bit 'boring is that you see for a long time the same area, intimidated by the possibility of going elsewhere ... unless you decide to play from the side (dark) of Omni-Tek will be some time before you see a nice big city (and it's worth it!), but after all Rome was not built in a day, right?
CONCLUSIONS
AoL I liked it and has completely satisfied my claims: leaving aside the difference in environment (which of course goes fishing in a catchment area rather than the fantasy), is superior both technically and as a degree of freedom to the "cousin" DAoC. Try it if you love the genre, because you will not be disappointed.
comment
Anarchy Online - The Notum Wars MMORPG is a very satisfying, well done technically, rather intuitive (especially for those who have already tried DAoC, whose gameplay is very similar), very popular, followed by the Master and with a setting and a really good background. If you like the cyberpunk genre do not have to be allowed to depart.
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