Indeed, one of the game’s main problems is that most fans of the genre will find it a case of been there and done that.
It’s got six classes, a thousand quests, starting areas, 50 levels, mounts, instances, guilds, 36-player epic raid dungeons and all the rest of it. That’s probably a bit harsh on Runes of Magic, which has everything you’d expect from a subscription-based Western fantasy MMO. If someone gave you a packet of crisps, just for fun, but it was way past its sell by date, would you scoff them? Of course not. So, can Runes of Magic be criticised for all of the above, when it doesn’t actually cost anything? Well, of course.
The client’s a free download from the official site, and there are no regular fees. Runes of Magic, put simply, is WoW sans the Blizzard magic dust. The graphics aren’t quite as nice, the presentation isn’t quite as polished, the interface not quite as intuitive and the game world not quite as atmospheric. Runes of Magic might look and play like WoW, but it’s just not as good. Loot-giving corpses even sparkle.īut there’s something off. It’s for all intent and purpose a World of Warcraft clone, with a remarkably similar art style, nigh-on identical classes, a carbon-copy combat system, a deja-vu inducing UI and exactly the same gathering and production skills as Blizzard’s behemoth.
“This isn’t World of Warcraft.” “Oh yeah.”ĭave, as well as inadvertently giving me some colour to start this review with, nailed Runes of Magic on the head. “Why are you playing World of Warcraft again?” he said.”I thought you quit.” “I have,” I replied, eyes fixed on thwacking my fiftieth beetle of the evening. I was rummaging round Runes of Magic, Frogster’s free-to-play MMORPG, when my flatmate Dave walked into my room.