Rating: 
Summary: A lot has been said about this one
Review: I pre-ordered Dragon Edition and took one week out of work to play. I wasn't dissapointed.
Lots of people criticize the game, because the world is small, the voice acting poor, the characters are not deep enough... Just a few games stand so high that these are their only (minor) faults.
I enjoyed the adventure feeling, the compelling environment, the quests, the exploring (yes, even a "small" world has lots of things to explore).
I had player Baldur's Gate to the end before playing Ultima. I consider BG a great game, but it lacks depth, limiting itself to combat. This is exactly what Ultima isn't.
Ultima makes you think. A sensation I thought forgotten when playing RPGs (sorry Diablo fans).
Rating: 
Summary: Still Buggy and No Support.
Review: U9 could be a good game. Not a great game, but a good one. Unfortunately, even with the so-called "Final Patch" the game is extremely buggy. Origin calls it the Final Patch because they claim to have fixed all the bugs. Yeah, right. They may have fixed all the plot-stopping bugs, but many bugs do remain. For example, whenever I try to bind a spell to my spellbook, it crashes to windows. Some people can't even get the game to run at all. Combine this with the fact the EA tech support absolutely will NOT respond to any requests for tech support, and this game deserves 1 star. I strongly recommend against buying this game, but if you do buy it make sure you buy it from your local EB or Babbages so you can easily return it in case it won't run on your system. It's very sad actually. Even if you play this game 3 years from now, only the performance will be better because you'll have a more powerful system. But because Origin and EA don't want to waste any more time on a bug-ridden product, the game will still be very frustrating and un-enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but not like the series of old.
Review: This game can really be very good,if you have the very latestin hardware, and down loaded all the patches it requires. Graphicallyand sound wise it is very impressive, with a real living breathing world and small touches like fluttering butterflys and the sounds and sights of lightning and thunder if a storm comes(this some times happens periodically in the game). My only complaint is that it is that it isn't the same kind of game as the Ultimas before it. It just isn't the same. The game actually plays more like tomb raider than a real role playing adventure, but fans of the genre and series should still enjoy this, and any new comer for that matter. It's all about the exploring, I hope you have a lot of time on your hands. END 0
Rating: 
Summary: Great game? Bad game?
Review: OK!This game has outdone what anyone could even imagine!Well...litterally it did, but you better have one of those "10 years away" computers to run this at a FAIR framerate. If your computer can actually handle this game and play it like it is supposed to be played, then no porblem, buy it! For those people who can play it, heres your review. Graphic wise Ultima 9 is the granddaddy of all graphics (for a while, but wait 'till Team Fortress 2 and HALO come out). Every town and city are magnificentley detailed. This game makes you "dwarfed" to objects like I've never seen before. Enemies look odd, but if your a familiar person to Ultima then you'll have no problem acually understanding them. In every town you go into you get to interact with hundreds of people. You can have conversations and everything. Bottom line is that if your computer can handle this game, then buy it as fast as you can. If your computer can't handle it then just sit back and dream of the day that you get that brand new, 800mhz, 300 mbs ram, Voodoo5 3000 APG, Sounblaster live! 5 piece speaker system computer. =)
Rating:
Summary: Good, but not great
Review: Ultima Ascension is a good game, but do not expect it to live up to the standards set by previous Ultimas (Black Gate and Serpent Isle in particular). Also, the Direct3D support for this game is very poor. Make sure that you have a Voodoo-based card installed in your system before playing the game. Finally, make sure you have patched the game to its latest version (1.18f) before playing. Otherwise, you are in for an extremely frustrating experience.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, amazing, astonishing game
Review: Yeah, you need a mighty machine for it and you definitely need the patch from the Origin site. Having gotten that out of the way: the world of Britannia is detailed beyond belief. I love this game. Very true in feel to Ultima 6 and 7.
Rating: 
Summary: Ultima for Dummies
Review: Here's hoping you have a fly-swatter by your side before journeying onward into this now ill-fated, infested continent of Britannia. The sinister Guardian plays vanguard to an endless host of compelling malignancies here -- Wyrmguards, bugs, betrayals, DirectX Errors, dark magic, and an apparent deficiency in competent speaking skills plaguing the inhabitants. All joking aside, I've never been so wholly offended by a piece of software in my life. In a setting where life now pivots on the bereavement of its 8 major towns' respective virtues, one would think a game with this ambition would offer a little more than 1-dimentional pseudodramas a la, "The formerly honest town is now home to all liars." ; "The once humble town is marred by pride," etc. The presentation of the basic story is blunt, and told from a condescending "Good deeds are good; bad deeds are bad" perspective that was clearly aimed at the lowest common denominator any audience could share -- the crowning achievement of a 1st grade education. Old-timers familiar with the hallmark of the series, Ultima VII, will be dismayed by the lack of continuity and respect for formerly developed characters Ascension throws out; for example, Gwenno is a cardboard character bearing no resemblance to the influencial ever-pupil that she was portrayed as in Serpent Isle. Nystul, and other once crucial characters, are simply omitted with no trace nor explanation. New-comers will simply be misled into thinking Ultima was never great, deep, or noble in the first place. Without dissecting any more subdetails, the most holistic adjective one could use to define Ultima IX would be "rushed". Not only in factual truth, but in spirit, as well. Even technical issues aside, there is a severe lack of creative passion that groans through all of Britannia's non-synergic communities, thus detracting from any mental immersion the product may have simulated. That said, in all honesty, one cannot completely neglect its good points. The graphics and sound are assuredly outstanding. But via this criteria, you'd be better off with an Ultima Screensaver. While the physical landscapes are well-crafted, complex, and intruiging, the game entails too many other shortcomings to justify buying a $40 sight-seeing tour. Where the engine is indeed "cutting edge", being that it fails to do what any engine should (that is, simply be the unsung foundation for a game of this type), it actually obtrudes upon the gaming experience with generally slow framerates and unnecessary awkwardness. A game doesn't really "push the envelope" unless it succeeds and can be viewed as a model for other competitors; the ambitious tragedy of Ultima IX may do just the opposite. Furthermore, while not inherent in the product itself, but significant nonetheless, customer support for this product is notoriously nonexistant. So, for those interested in the genre, you'd be well-advised to check out Planescape:Torment or even Might and Magic VIII, the former being a superb story-driven RPG, and the latter being a genuinely fun and non-frustrating RPG. In essence, with such qualities, they both make up for everything that Ultima 9 is not.
Rating:
Summary: Solid game, shaky program
Review: I'd highly recommend this game, but with one caveat: make sure you get the patch, and expect some troubleshooting even after you get the "lastest, bug-free" buggy version. The game itself is awesome, and has a very solid plot line behind it. The Avatar's voice sounds... well, Grade-B acting, but the script is pretty good and largely to the point. The graphics, which are generally excellent, get kind of choppy when you're in town, however, so a high-end machine is recommended (I'm running on a PIII, 450, 128ram). There are also plenty of well-done cutscenes (a personal must-have) which keep you interested in the game and allow for additional plot development. Don't expect flawless performance, but do expect a great and enjoyable game.
Rating:
Summary: Ultima 9: Ascension
Review: after a little tweeking on vidio card, i now have the best playing game in the history of rpgs, the graphics are phenomenal, the sound is good, (but maybe a little too much of it.). Some of the game playing is so intence, that the hairs on my neck, stand up, no other game has done this since Daggerfall. All rpgs should be this great, to bad this is the last of the Ultima,s. So long Lord British!
Rating:
Summary: Do not buy this game under any circumstance.
Review: The Ultima series was popular. I still think that "Ultima: Quest of the Avatar" is one of the best role-playing games ever created. I can only be saddened to see how much the series has changed over the following years. Origin's latest addition, Ultima IX: Ascension, is probably one of the worst Ultimas ever, for the following reasons: 1) The system requirements are too high for most people's computers, and you just need to read the other reviews to find out that even if you do have an adequate system by their standards, you will still experience difficulty playing the game, because of all the bugs. At the price I paid Ultima IX I certainly expected something of greater quality, and I was very disappointed. 2) What I also disliked was the "lone wolf" approach used in Ultima IX. Ultima has always been renowned for their role-playing games. Yet, role-playing games implicitly require companions or a group. Having control over a single character is not role-playing; it is an action/adventure game, very different from the most popular role-playing games of the day, such as Baldur's Gate, and very different from the previous Ultimas. 3) The graphics might be nice (if you just happen to have the ideal computer system), but in this case I fear they are used to hide the fact that there is no plausible story. Previous Ultimas always had a good scenario, but not this one. The voices are very annoying, so are the vision angles used (instead of being top-down, with an angle, as used in most role-playing games, they are first-person), and Britannia is this time very, very small. Wasn't the appeal of previous Ultima games based on the feeling of exploring the vast and unknown wilderness ? I have installed this game the afternoon I bought it and had uninstalled it by the next morning. So, role-playing games fan, waste not thy money on this game.
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