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Review

Archlord

7.6

Format PC

Developer Codemasters

Publisher Codemasters

Genre Role Playing

30-Nov-2006 Flipping the visor on the MMORPG in which you can rule the world. Mwahahahaha

3 Comments

Many people will attack ArchLord for one thing before they even look at it - mainly, that it's not World Of Warcraft. While it's weaker but with similar ideas, it's also fun, rewarding and not half pretty for a game that's been out for more than a year overseas.

Like RF Online, ArchLord is a Korean MMO localised for our fair seas, entering a rich canon of inaccessible grindfests built to steal your waking hours and push you to malnutrition and social isolation. Plus, what you actually get for your money has a somewhat milder learning curve mixed with newbie-friendly quests that will ease in even the most unseasoned of gamers.

With an appeal similar to the National Lottery, you'll seek to defy the awful odds and rise to the top of each server through a series of events to become the one and only 'ArchLord', a PvP goliath who rains fire on other players, rides a dragon to work and always has a bird on his arm. Regardless of this heavy emphasis on PvP gameplay, there's a generous amount of questing to be had around a varied and expansive landscape, and while the classes and combat don't do a lot new for the MMO industry, they're familiar, intuitive and a laugh to play.

LORDING IT UP
The PvP atmosphere is what brings ArchLord down, though. The current model of player-on-player combat in MMOs is a hurricane of half-skill and the ability to circle your opponent endlessly, and there can only be one ArchLord per server. What's more, the actual odds of reaching it are so remote that it's hard to justify a great investment of your time - and even if you do make it, your 15 minutes of fame will be that of an empty PvP god-mode.

While not a WOW-beater, ArchLord is definitely a viable alternative. It's a mishmash of unoriginality behind slick, gorgeous graphics, with a fair bit of content to plough through to get to level 99 and potential to expand. It ends up being a fun MMO romp for casual players and a rich PvP hamster wheel if you're sitting out there with an axe to grind.

PC Zone staff