Rating: 
Summary: Stay far away from this game!
Review: This is one of those games that you think is the greatest thing ever invented when you first load it up. However, after a while, you will realize that this game is absolutely terrible. THIS GAME IS 100% HACK AND SLASH! The quests are no fun, since dozens of people are camping them. Getting yourself equipped is no fun, since even more people camp the chests and monsters with items (which are few). Every place that is interesting is crowded. Sure, the world is huge. But 95% of the world is completely uninteresting, so everyone ends up in the few places that are worth going to. Then, your computer slows down from all the people, you get portal stormed away, and you can't read your chat window because so many people are talking. You see all these reviews, raving about how great the game is. I was like that too. But in a month or two, after you have wasted all your time making a powerful character, you will ask yourself, "What now?" The answer: quit; but you won't want to because you spent so much time creating this powerful character with neat weapons and armor. The only thing you can do is get more and more powerful, for no reason other than to get more and more powerful. There are no quests to save the world, no secret items to find, nothing. Absolutely nothing. Asheron's Call is basically one big fancy chat room. After you get bored killing the monsters (which are insanely easy to kill, no monster needs more than one player to kill it), and you WILL get bored killing monsters, since they provide little XP. After about level 40 you need 10,000,000 XP per level (and that rises exponentially). But the most XP you can get is 15,000 per kill, from monsters that are very rare (level 159 Tusker Guards, etc). So think about it. You are killing thousands of monsters. And they all do nothing but run directly towards you, so if there is a wall you just shoot at it (you can shoot through the walls) as it runs at the wall. Fun fun fun. After you get bored killing monsters, then you go Player Killer and kill other players. But you will find that some loser has spent much more time endlessly killing monsters and is level 70. So even though you are level 40, you will get murdered non stop. It's just no fun. So it's a fancy chat room, with Quake 3 added in (but not nearly as intense as Quake 3). If you want to pay alot of money for that, fine. Online 3D MORPG gaming has not reached it's pinnacle yet. Save your money, your time, and your pride. Don't end up like me: looking back at months of time completely thrown away. I am ashamed and humiliated. Watching TV would have been more useful (and fun) than playing Asheron's Call. Also, there are no houses or insignia yet. The designers lied about that. It is buggy and you will find yourself losing valuable possessions due to lag bugs in the game, and if you lose things due to THEIR bugs, they will NOT help you get anything back. There also aren't really any people coordinating the game. Little kids run around swearing at you and stealing all your stuff. You can report them, but they must be caught 3 times in a row (and they never get caught because they keep no log of what people say, a sentinel must be there at the time of the incident, which is rare) before they are suspended for a day. You can guess how effective those countermeasures are. Positives: The graphics are great, the world has no zones (except dungeons), and you can greatly customize the look of your character to be unique. This last thing is the best part of the game. The second best is the allegiance system, which is perhaps the perfect solution to helping out newbies. If only they took all the good parts and made it into a memorable game. Take it from an experienced player, don't listen to people who just bought the game.
Rating: 
Summary: Asheron's Call
Review: My first impression of the game wasn't all too great. I played it for a few days, grew tired of it, and went back to Everquest. I hit Level 50 in Everquest and realized there was nothing left to do, the game was pointless and more frustrating than anything. So I quit and decided to give Asheron's Call another shot. Needless to say I had alot better time than the first. Asheron's Call is a GREAT game if you give it a fair chance. The first few levels suck but after you get past the initial newbie levels the game opens up and becomes very enjoyable. You get to control just about every aspect of your characters development from his eye color to his attributes and skills. I find the landscape and environment graphics to be excellent but the charcter and enemies look a little rough. But if you are looking for great graphics in an online game go to Everquest. But if you are looking for a fun, productive, and extremely large game with limitless potential Asheron's Call is the way to go.
Rating: 
Summary: A breath of fresh air!
Review: After countless hours of frustration and disappointment with Ultima Online and EverQuest (although UO still retains a great deal of potential), Asheron's Call was a great relief. One of the best features is that the monsters aren't "typical" sword 'n sorcery fare. In other words, don't come looking for orcs, goblins, giants, etc. While the bestiary of AC obviously derives from these fantasy fiction archetypes, it develops them differently, adding to the strong sense that one is truly in an "unknown world." AC is a bit quiet as far as ambient sound goes. Honestly, I like that. I usually listen to music while playing and this arrangement suits me just fine (and for any veterans of EverQuest, it's certainly nice to not dream about that incessant and irritating gnoll barking). The graphics are a bit basic, but again, I find that a likeable feature. And if nothing else, it shows that the game developers and programmers are more concerned about the FUNCTIONALITY of the game than the appearance. However, the environment (and most especially the night sky) are detailed and quite stunning in their own right. This MMORPG is also excellent for the casual player (such as myself). Other games requiring endless hours of sitting, practicing skills, fighting, etc in order to make the smallest headway. AC's rewards are more commensurate with one's efforts, and those rewards are satisfying. AC is admittedly not for the power gaming types, although they are there. Since I'm not a power gamer, I feel more comfortable with the people online there and have a much better online role-playing experience.
Rating:
Summary: Simply the best
Review: I have spent countless hours on this game traveling around the world with other players, you will become addicted to this game so be careful. The people are always friendly and will be willing to help begginers out Once again this game is simply the best.
Rating:
Summary: An instant classic
Review: Asheron's Call is an addictive RPG based in an online world called Dereth. Microsoft has briliantly taken ideas from many other RPGs adding a few of their own to make this a fun, if slightly addictive, game. The producers did not use any of the traditional RPG "rules", making this game a breath of fresh air after playing games that follow the mold of the traditional RPG.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the current crop of MMORPGs
Review: When EverQuest came out it was clear that the developers from Verant had learned from the mistakes made in Ultima Online. Now with Asheron's Call, it's clear that the developers at Turbine have learned from the mistakes made in EverQuest. The evironmental graphics are superb, easily better than EverQuest's eye candy. Unfortunately the character/monster graphics aren't quite as well done. Sound is wonderfully well done. You can actually identify many monsters by the sound of their footsteps, something that can't be said for EverQuest with a few notable exceptions. There's no repetitive midi music to get on your nerves every time you go to town. Unlike EverQuest, Asheron's Call won't force you to group with others. That means that you can still play even when you can't find a group to join. In EverQuest I almost never ventured into dungeons because I was usually playing solo and dungeons just weren't viable. In Asheron's Call I've spent a lot of solo time in dungeons with no trouble at all. Camping is not as much of a problem in Asheron's Call as it is in EverQuest. It still happens because people know they can get certain items in certain places but you can actually get better items off of random kills. Kill stealing also isn't as much of a problem. Whoever does the most damage to the monster still gets primary looting rights to the corpse but at least you earn experience as you fight monsters instead of when you kill them, which means you'll at least get your fair share of experience. Derath is a huge world compared to Norrath so overcrowding isn't as much of a problem. If there are too many people where you are now, just pick a direction and run off a little ways and you'll be all by your lonesome. When you die you temporarily lose some hit points and stamina, but you get them back as you gain more experience. You also only leave behind half your money and one or two of your most valuable items on your corpse so if you can't get back to it for some reason, it's no big deal. That's a lot better than EverQuest where you lose increasingly large chunks of experience and leave all of your gear on your corpse, losing everything if you can't recover it for some reason. Customer support is good. I've actually seen advocates wandering around asking people if they need help with anything. Turbine also announces planned updates well in advance giving full details and explaining why the changes are being made. And Turbine plans to have monthly developer online chats so the players can make their opinions known. Turbine also plans to have a special event every month that will advance their ongoing storyline and so far the special events have been designed so that everyone can participate in some manner. Thats a lot better than EverQuest where a special event is defined as letting the GMs see how many 10th level and lower players they can kill with an army of 20th level warbone skeletons before the high level players step in to help the newbies out. Asheron's Call does have some drawbacks, which is why it only gets 4 stars instead of 5. As I've already mentioned, the character/monster graphics aren't all that great. The interface is a bit clunky and could definitely be better. The chat system also needs work to make it easier for players to communicate with each other. Monster AI isn't all that good, often making monsters easier kills than they should be. Since the game is being bankrolled by Microsoft, you have to play it on the Zone which means you're getting lag from people playing other games and you have to use Internet Explorer instead of Netscape Navigator or another web browser. On the whole, though, if you're looking to get into a massively multiplayer online role playing game, Asheron's Call is the way to go. At least until another MMORPG comes out that's learned from AC's mistakes. ;-)
Rating:
Summary: ASHERON'S CALL
Review: You will play nothing else! Simply put, Asheron's Call will keep you glued to your computer to the exclusion of everything in your real life. Be forewarned that once you enter the world of Dereth it will be very, very hard to return, it's that good.
Rating:
Summary: You must buy Asheron`s Call!
Review: Well,where should I start? How about the amazing graphics.They are simply amazing-even without a 3-D card!.And how about the core of any game,the gameplay you ask? Rock solid is the perfect statement.After a half hour of getting used to the controls,it plays like a dream.I have never once lost to any monster in the game because of the controls.[I wish I could say that about my reflexes!] For all of you people worried about the lag,let me assure you that ever since I have been playing Asheron`s Call,I have NEVER been disconnected or have had any really terrible lag at all!.This was to say the least,a really good sign that Turbine really wants their game-no,world to go on for a real long time. There are only two minor problems worth talking about.#1,the music in the game is pretty weak,but the landscape sounds[like birds chirping and monster noises]are very well done.#2,This game is VERY,VERY,addictive.You will lose all sense of time when you play Asheron`s Call-this is a testament to it`s gameplay quality and sense of `place`-you really feel like you are in another world! In closing,I really must say,BUY THIS GAME-even if you don`t like RPG`S-it will win even hardcore anti-RPG players over with it`s slick gameplay.If you already love RPG`S and don`t have this and are not sure,TRUST ME,I have been playing videogames hardcore for 17 years[and I`m only 22!]and I DO NOT lie to fellow gamers-please don`t miss Asheron`s Call! Signed,Mouse the Sick from Rithwic on the Thistledown server.[Look for me there,and I will hook you up with weapons!]
Rating:
Summary: My rating of this game: ******************** (20 stars)
Review: Where to begin? Asheron's Call is incredible. I won't explain all the MMRPG stuff here (I do that five times a day to my vidiot mom and dad), but I'll tell you it's crazily addictive. Only play this if you don't mind spending hours in front of the computer, watching the seasons cycle by outside your window. Or you'll be paying attention to the season cycle by IN THE GAME. That's a great thing about this game: it's dynamic (I won't explain that term either). Day turns into night, every December 16th snow starts falling, other seasonal changes occur, cooking (yes, cooking) and other contests begin and end, and the ever-changing story deepens with every day spent (or even not spent) in Dereth. The character creation system, as well as the magic system, are both in-depth, easy, and fun to use. I wish I could write more than a thousand words about this game. My love for it is beyond description.
Rating:
Summary: Immersive, beautiful and addictive
Review: I've been playing Asheron's Call for about a month now, and it just gets better. There are exciting new developments (recently, the descent of a sudden ice age)and ongoing plot twists. Gameplay is intuitive, characters are unique, and roleplaying is a distinct possibility. Yes, there are lots of hack-and-slash non-actors out there, but my husband has amassed a huge fortune and ample experience as a professional bard. Asheron's Call is as good as you make it-- for a good gamer, it's the best experience out there right now.
| 
