Rating: 
Summary: Once unplayable, now a masterpiece
Review: I just want to put in my 2 cents' worth.
When this title came out it was unplayable.
As soon as you got into a major city the framerate
dropped to about 1 frame every 5 seconds. I cancelled.Recently, I tried their new free trial. That same dense
city is now fine. My p2 450 with a GForce 2 card can
handle Anarchy's densist urban environment, with some slowdown
at times for sure. But absolutely playable. Nothing at all
like before. The game also has incredible graphics. There is just nothing like Anarchy Online. Once an impenatrable buggy mess, but now a fantastic online title. Go for it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I don't know how this game played before, but I have been playing since December 2001 and have found the game to utterly enjoyable. There may have been many bugs that plagued this game on initial release but Funcom is doing an excellent job about getting patches released. At this time the game is a complete joy to play and has been reviewed by many computer magazine as one of the bests MMORPG of that has been released.
Rating: 
Summary: Throwing in the towel at level 170
Review: The game has 200 lvls im lvl 170 and quiting. It's plagued with bugs and lack of content, total class inbalance. This game should be taken back to the concept drawing boards. DO NOT BUY IT! for your sanity sake.
Rating: 
Summary: Joy, excitement, loathing and frustration all in one
Review: I first recieved this game back in the summer of 2001 when my friend bought it for me, account and all, as an early birthday present. At the time, I was extremely anxious for the much anticipated Star Wars Galaxies online game (which has still yet to be released) so I figured that Anarchy would prove to be an adequate substitute until Galaxies was released. At first, Anarchy totally blew me away. I was hooked almost immediately. For weeks on end, I played the game, leveling my character, learning new things, finding new areas, discovering new and more powerful weapons. For that summer, the game was a complete blast. It was like a party, everytime I turned it on. Months sooned rolled along, and as they did, my player slowly began to increase in level. By level 30 I was noticing a very subtle change in the game's pace. The change was coming at me from all directions, both in game, and outside. In game, I was just beginning to break through the surface, and beginning to see some of the problems within it. Outside, the developers were constantly changing and reworking the game. Suddenly, I was overwhelmed with patch after patch, supposedly to help make the game better, and more fun to play. It turned out, for me anyway, the game became less enjoyable, and more of a test in patience. Character classes in game were constantly getting downgraded to the point where they were just useless (such as my beloved Agent class). While all the while, enemy AI classes were constantly getting upgraded and more difficult, bugs were continuing to run rampant, and nothing truely new had been added overall to the game's atmosphere. The balance was now shifting, but not between the Omni and Clan facitons, but between consumer (player) and producer (game). Even as people threw up their arms in protest, FunCom developers continued to plug away, seemingly to make the game to better suit them, as opposed to the public they were supposed to be making it for. Things continued to worsen. New and more irritating bugs began to emerge through the endless piles of code. The test in patience had now become a test in tolerance. Patches continued to be released, things continued to worsen, Funcom continued to ignore the public outcry. I finally reached a point where I could no longer take it. Three months ago, I had had it. My character was going absolutely nowhere because frankly there was nowhere to go. Soloing was a complete waste of effort, because of so many bugs and annoyances, such as uber-buffed mobs, and over twinked opposing players. And it didn't seem like there was any effort being made to appease the social gamer, as all there was in the game to keep one motivated, was the prospect of leveling. But never underestimate the power of leveling, for it has fueled (for me anyway) some of the better moments of my in game experiance. But in the end, it really just isn't enough to keep the gamer. I took a three month hiatus from the game, hoping that at some point in those three months, there would have been some kind of noticable change to the game. I have just recently gone back to playing, and in those three months, and after umpteen patches, the game is still just as frustrating, exciting, loathsome and joyous as it has always been. I still enjoy leveling, but considering that is the only thing to really enjoy, I really have little else to compare it with. I still feel outclassed by ever single mob that I come across, and that frustrates me to no end. However, I have faith...Though little, I still maintain it. This game is enjoyable to an extent, and there is promise that many of the changes that the developers had made in the past will be reworked to (hopefully) make things better finally...
Rating:
Summary: Excelent game...
Review: I don't know what's up with everyone else who's reviewed the game, but as of the writing of this message, I have not once had any problems with AO, other than an occasional skip in the major population areas that (newsfalsh!) ALL MMORPGs do. And I don't have a stellar computer either. 1ghz, 512 megs ram, TNT2, cable modem. And I've had no problems. The game is fun, and when you get to the higher levels, what do you do? Well you could become and engineer or fixer and make weapons, jewlery, etc... Or you can move the story along by doing missions.
Rating: 
Summary: The most immersive multi-participant virtual world yet
Review: This game is utterly fascinating and highly addictive. I have read of many users' woes about the early stages of the game, but I would say the bulk of major complaints have been fixed. On a P4 1.3GHz system with 512 MB and a TNT2 Pro, I get 10+ FPS framerates, even in densely populated cities. There is no appreciable lag in server response, and I have played extensively on a poor modem connection with great results. Of course, I would never have played at all if I did not have access to a T1 at work to download the 50+ megs of mandatory patches...
The world itself is the strongest feature. It is wonderfully detailed, enormous and beautiful in its own right and represents an unthinkable amount of work. I can not stress too much that this is the most believable virtual space ever made, for any reason. It really is a place you can go. The sky, complete with weather and moving heavenly bodies alone would be mind-blowing.
The choice of characters' breeds, professions, implants, clothing, skill allocation, etc. produces a combinatorial explosion of complexity resembling the real world in some ways. All characters are truly unique. They have crossed a threshold of complexity here, beyond which things just start coming alive of their own volition.
The great pity is that there is little to do other than killing monsters and each other in this marvelous world. Trade skills are crippled, and Funcom has recently nixed anything but combat-based missions (alas). To make matters worse, combat is boring and automatic. Not unlike repeatedly rolling dice, as in the old days...
That the effort is inconsitent in so large a project is unsurprising. Nonetheless, some of the problems break my heart because they severely limit what could be one of the most satisfying experiences currently possible in the medium of online gaming.
Still and all, though, this is the best ever, and getting better. Try it and don't let it die from bad PR and annoyed early adopters. Yes, Funcom brought this anger on itself, but once you play AO you'll realize that Rubi-Ka is too good to be sacrificed for somebody's quarterly earnings statement.
Rating: 
Summary: A Brilliant, Buggy Mess of a game
Review: Take a look at the date of my review, because as of this date, many magazines and websites have claimed that Anarchy Online has fixed most of its problems. HOWEVER, I just joined the game, and am unable to play for longer than 5 minutes without getting kicked off. Yet I still play. And I still get kicked off. Over and over. It is a shame that a game this much fun is so difficult to play. I will tell you that I witnessed many other players who didn't seem to have any difficulties at all playing, so maybe you might not either... But it is still a gamble... Bugs aside, this game is brilliant. Brilliant in a thousand little ways that only a massive online RPG can be. I know because I've played the other games before, and I can see how AO has reduced the repedativeness and boredom of some of these other games. Custom missions give players their own private dungeons, so they can play without competition for loot. Apartment buildings give every player their own space, right off the bat. Various transportation networks give different professions different abilities to travel, and 3 major factions have split the world apart such that one character will never be able to see everything. Add to this little things like built in scripts, macros, reduced healing time, blah blah blah, if you don't know what I'm talking about, just take my word for it, AO is the best online -game- there is, if it only weren't hampered by its bugs. Veteran players, most of the requests I've seen for other MMORPGs are in AO, in some form or another. Check it out, but at your own risk.
Rating:
Summary: Worst experience I ever had with a game
Review: A friend recommended this game to me so I bought it when it first came out for around 50 bucks. I went home and installed it. I tried to log in and got errors. I went to the web site and discovered that customer service was only an email address. I looked over the site and found there were patches I needed to download, so I patched it and still couldnt log in. I wrote customer (no) service an email. I talked to the sales clerk who sold me the game who was also a player, he told me some convoluted way to patch it which involved skipping certain patches, etc. I did that and still couldnt log in. I re-installed the game after each time that the patch process failed to work, and after several days I still could not log in and still had no response from customer (no) service. Now its been, what 6-8 months now, and I have had no help or support from customer-NO-service, and have had only two form letters from them that did NOT address my problem. The first arrived about a month after I emailed them. it basically appologized to me for the delay and asked me what my problem was. I re-submitted my detailed bug report/compaint and got no response/help. about 4-5 months later I got another form letter from them that did not address my problem at all and was something like a "thank you for playing" kind of letter. my recommendation is do not buy this game.
Rating:
Summary: Safe to go in the water!!!!
Review: I agree with the newer reviews, this game has finally lived up to what it promised to be 2 years ago. Funcom finally got 99.99% of the bugs worked out, as well as added TONS of high-level player content. What did I find different when I took them up on a 7-day Free Trial after an almost 2-year absence? Responsive Customer Service, Balanced Classes, Quests, Static Dungeons galore, working guilds, ARK Guided Tours of the Planet, acceptable lag in only the most insanely overpopulated zones, trade skills galore, people actually role-playing, .... this list could go on for a while. If you hated canceling your first subscription because of the potential you saw in this game, now would be a good time to give them another try - they've really got their stuff together this time!
While AO has some nice eye-candy, it is nothing more than poorly coded beta-software. Customer Support is non-existant, yet they charge more than any current MMORPG out there.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful game, but has too many problems
Review: Anarchy Online invaded my life for several months, unfortunately. It was my first MMORPG so this game took me by storm at first, and exploring the beautiful world of Rubi-Ka was a long venture in and of itself.
The skill system is great, combat is genuinely suspenseful and fun for the most part, and the people in-game were helpful and mature most of the time. But ultimately AO became nothing more than some idle chat with others and running on the leveling treadmill. I would go to a mission booth, run to mission cave, finish it, go to shop, wash, rinse and repeat. It can take a couple of hours early on to level up, and as it goes on it can take several hours at a time. I felt like I was getting nowhere and the missions were incredibly repetitive and dull. All of them looked the same and behaved the same, and you always fought the same handful of creatures or people. To add to the frustration Funcom constantly tinkered with the game's balance, almost literally ruining the game with one patch, it created so many new bugs and problems people jumped ship big time. I joined a guild which was nothing more than a private shopping chat channel and team matchmaker. PVP action is filled with no-lifers who "tweak" their characters with the help of higher level players and "implants," and Funcom has let this go on since the beginning. The game is repetitive, frustrating, buggy still, and has the worst lag of any online game I've ever played, that alone was enough to make me quit. I wanted to like the game and make it a long-term habit, but the game wouldn't let me. And judging from the new "ideas" being considered for the game this summer, I don't see any hope for this game at all.
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