Rating: 
Summary: Not for the discriminating gamer
Review: Horizons has potential. I'm saying that mainly because of all the things that are supposed to be slated to come in post-release.I beta'd Horizons from late August until they shut down the servers on Dec 4. The game evolved a bit over that time, but nothing that would make it ground-breaking or mind-blowing. Graphics - For a next-gen MMORPG they are mediocre at best and even if you crank them up the visuals don't make up for the 5-6 FPS and horrendous rubberbanding lag. (This on a 2.8GHZ with 1.5 Gig RAM, GeForce FX 5600) Crafting - Good move up the ladder, but still not enough to make you jump up and down. You HAVE to literally craft everything in this game. There are no loot drops such as weapons, armor, etc. The loot drops are formulae, cash and various crafting components (like crystals for socketed items). Crafting is fun for awhile, but then it just gets to be a level treadmill just like every other game. You can build houses, your own shops in which to sell things, storage silos, etc. If all you're looking for is crafting, this game does it pretty well. Adventuring - No dungeons. It is a seamless world with portals to help you move faster, but other than that you can run pretty much anywhere (provided there are bridges to connect over water...which you may have to get a group together to repair...hence crafting again). Creatures and their Advanced AI are lackluster for the most part. Things you've seen before (skeletons, zombies, golems) and some you haven't (ruxus, strawblights). Point and click combat. Very little strategy involved even in a group. Characters - Pretty much all 1 race with different skins. Not enough variation to make picking one over the other give you any noticable advantage (save for Dragons which, in the final weeks, were tweaked to make them more unique). Definitely not enough character cosmetic customization at this point. You've seen one, you've seen 'em all basically. Skills and Advancement - Unimaginative. Leveling treadmill just like most of the other MMORPGs out there. Kill so many of creature x to get lvl y. Craft so many of item x to get lvl y. Even if they add in all the things they are claiming will come in at some point post-release this game might go the way of EA/Westwood's Earth and Beyond and be in the bargain bin for $5.00 in 3-6 months.
Rating: 
Summary: HORRIBLE! This game does nothing to advance the genre.
Review: Overall, this game has very very poor character models, and textures, sub-par graphics, and a combat engine that would put even the most slow person, asleep. Reading the reviews previous to mine, I can't help but think that none of the reviewers actually played the game.. Better graphics than SWG? OMG, the graphics in this game, aren't even up to old Everquest standards, let alone a modern and striking game like SWG. Don't believe the fanboys and hype, its NOT A GOOD GAME. I'll start by saying Horizons Beta was one of the worst managed i've seen in a long time (which tells you how they will manage the retail customer support side). The communication from the development team was almost non-existant, and the format for submitting bugs wasn't easily accessable. Very often, changes would go into a patch, and testers would not be informed, vague patch notes like: "We fixed a few things..". The only person you'd hear from via Email was Monika and that was using a mail-bot to spam out notices of events. David Bowman avoided forums, avoided answering direct questions, and basically was like a scripted chatterbox in the development chats. DB, if anything, proved he lacks the knowledge, foresight and vision to make this game great. Hes an arrogant pencil pusher that is just trying to cash in on the Everquest-Clone craze with his own sorry clone. Did I enjoy Horizons beta? VERY briefly, yes - during the first week I played, the newness of the world, and the thrill of testing yet another game in development was pretty exciting. But that excitement quickly waned, when I saw all of the problems with the game, and the deep flaws with the design doctrine and vision of the development team. In my first week of testing, I posted a list of 75 major things either broke or missing from the game - that should be considered requirements. Three months later, only 2-3 things on this list have been addressed, and the game hasn't significantly changed in that period of time. So you want to play a Dragon? Perhaps this is the ONLY truely unique aspect of this game - but it really isn't very unique when you consider some things behind it. At the end of Beta, dragons were severely nerfed - because it was widely accepted that Dragons would be "Overplayed" in retail, and dragons are the reason a lot of people are buying the game. So they removed most of the power of dragons, and made them into very weak "Jack of all Trades" type toons. Worse yet, Dragon Dens, Dragon Hordes, and half of the dragon functionality is NOT currently in the game, or if it is, its very broke. Nobody is even sure Dragons properly age, since in beta, nobody was aged! Even simple things, like the spell/powers icons for Dragons are missing from the game as the beta ends. So think very very hard if you really want to tolerate something thats roughly 25% complete at release, and very poorly designed. How about next generation features - since Horizons is supposed to be a "Next Generation MMORPG"... Well, considering that MOST of the features people expect in a new mmorpg, are lacking from this game, you can't really consider it next generation.. Familiars/Pets - Not in the game, and no plans to add them... Mounts/Horses - not in the game, and no plans to add them... Dungeons, you know, those great places like GUK in EQ, or Tusken Fort in SWG - Not in the game with no plants to add them.. Great graphics??? Sorry, not in the game, this game has graphics that we were playing 4 years ago with almost no noticable improvement - and even worse character design. The list goes on and on, but suffice it to say, I cannot find one next generation, or even current generation feature in this game! Its all been done before, and done BETTER before. Stay away from this title, or you'll be wasting your hard earned money on a frisbee.. Its THAT bad..
Rating: 
Summary: A good attempt for MMORPGers, but not for everyone.
Review: First of all, let me start by saying this game certainly is not for everyone. If you like PvP with your MMO experience, just stop reading up on this game and go elsewhere - this has none. Looking for breathtaking graphics to feed your 3.0ghz PC? Try something else. Those of you left, however, are in for a real treat if the live teams handle things well enough (which, by the beta, seems promising). I will also say that I have played several MMOs - including the recent Sony offerings Planetside and SWG, as well as the ever-popular DAoC. While all three of the listed titles certainly look pretty and play well enough, each misses something integral to the experience - a point. This fact is somewhat mitigated by PvP in all of the above... but it's so glaring that I quit both Sony offerings because of it. Yet, what I see here is a company trying to bring that back to the experience - by not only making an effort to draw multifacetted characters and interactive content (i.e. the constant war with the Undead), but working with the worlds dynamically to reach those ends. The reason it won't get five-stars outta me is 1) I'm in no mood to be a fanboi/antifanboi and 2) many of their listed claims skirt the truth about the game. So, while this is not for everyone - the target audience should love it. :)
Rating: 
Summary: Horizons: Empire of Istaria
Review: Since of alot of this is NDA, meaning it cant be discussed. The game is ok. Decent graphics, sorry it isnt EQ2 standards of graphics. Graphics dont make the game. I will be beta testing EQ2, hopefuly they will fix the problems with EQ1. If you want a game that is very craft base then maybe it is for you. If you want to have crafters make all of your items, then this game is the one you need. We don't need another average online RPG. I can't say much becuase of the NDA. It has promise but it will die a somewhat slow death. Their are many better games coming out and old ones better too. I suggest you wait awhile and see if this game pans out. Kent
Rating: 
Summary: this game puts atari back on top!!!!!!!!!
Review: This game is great it has crazy graphics, awesome game play, a bunch of different races to choose from, tons of different classes to choose from scholor, to a warrior. If you are a dragon you will be able to fly, if you are a dwarf you have dwarven toughness. Every race has a special ability. You can work as a team to kill golems, zombies, skeletons and a whole bunch more. You can build your own towns. You can make your own weapons, armor, food to use or sell. When you make things you get experience when you make things. Alls I have to say is this game is INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trust me when I say buy it its a really good game.
Rating:
Summary: Horizons is not for everyone.
Review: Horizons is not for everyone. It doesn't have PvP and the monsters don't drop pretty armor and swords for you to play with. Dragons are going to be very difficult to level up to the point where they can even fly. It is a game where griefers, macros, kill stealing, ninja looters are not welcome and they won't even enjoy this type of game. Horizons is a game where if we don't work together then the undead can and will take over our cities.
In Horizons things are not handed to you on a silver shield. The crafting system has great depth and the combat system grows increasingly complex.
I will play Horizons. If you want to play then read up, ask questions and learn about it. Decide if it is for you based on the facts, not the incorrect and odd rumors.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This game has great potential. The races, the strong fantasy theme; the zone less world, and the unbounded ability to explore mountain ranges, vast plains, seashores and so on. It is a large world. A very detailed crafting system, many combat classes allow the player to dabble in many different areas. I've been in beta for several months, and I still find many new things to do, quests to explore still.
Rating:
Summary: Not recommended for experienced MMORPG'ers
Review: It's about 2 weeks before release and the current beta version is horribly buggy. Framerates (on my high end computer) are pathetic (averaging about 15 - occasionally dipping below 5fps). Gameplay is, to be generous, very boring and very tedious. Graphics are good, but not great. Character development is shallow, all characters are basically the same. One bright spot is crafting - which is somewhat deep - but mindnumbingly boring. I'd wait a couple months before I bought this dog. Maybe after an update or two it will be worth buying. This would be a good beginner ORPG for a young teen or someone who has never experienced MMORPG's before. Experienced gamers should avoid Horizons.
Rating:
Summary: EQ re-hash with no dungeons or content
Review: I'm in the beta test, don't be fooled by any hype. This game has NO original concepts, you can fight boring computer monsters only, and there are no dungeons only the same boring landscape everywhere, hell your character can't even swim! Combat is so simplistic you can get up and go get a snack and it has no effect on the outcome, your auto-attack is just as good as any other power. ALL RACES & CLASSES ARE THE SAME, they are no different except in appearance. Your level 20 fighter will be the same as every other level 20 fighter, ALWAYS! Save your money!
Rating:
Summary: Not sure what kind of drugs these positive reviewers are on
Review: But this game is far from ready for release. There are horrible bugs still in gameplay, I cant even make a dragon at the moment. The graphics are excellant, for a video game 5 years ago. The animation is not so good as well. They need another 6 months at least for beta before this is ready for release. FYI..I am doing the European beta.
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