Review: Codemaster’s Archlord

Codemaster’s Archlord made quite a splash when they originally announced a contest for 1 million dollars to the games first Archlord when it was released. In case you hadn’t heard, Archlord is not only the title of the game, but it is also a title in the game. Unfortunately, you might not ever actually see the title. Players could vie through PvP to be the best, in this case, the Archlord. Some of the things that came along with this were special summonable mounts to fly around on, the ability to summon protective mobs to help you out, and the ability to, um… control the weather? But the contest was plagued with cheaters and botters, and eventually the entire contest just became harsh feelings to whomever played the game.

Unfortunately, that contest wasn’t the only thing that didn’t turn out well. Archlord, at best, is a mediocre MMORPG that brings nothing new to the table, other than it’s Archlord system which has already fell flat on its face once.

Character creation is a simple thing, really. Pick from 3 races, and a hand full of classes such as the staple Knight, Hunter, Archer, Berserker, etc etc…. Gender is based on class type, and of course classes are race specific. Customization of your avatar is also disappointing, as a lot of the choices are bland and you don’t have access to all options in the creation process. Once you get in game though, you can opt to pay for haircut, color and face changes at the stylist in town, which is an idea I always have liked and am glad to actually see in game.

Combat is nothing special. It’s your standard fare hack and slash, click to use skills, skill points at level up affair. Skills are level and class based, meaning you get one skill point a level, and are limited to not only just what skills you can use at that level, but also how many points you can have in them. For example, early in your career, you will find yourself walking around with a couple extra skill points pooled that you can’t use. Your skills have as many points in them as they can have, and yet no new skills have opened up for you to spend your newly earned skill points on.

Graphics are also nothing to gasp at, although I wouldn’t go so far as to say they are terrible. They meet the needs of the client though, and run pretty well even on aging systems like mine. The music is decent, but sound effects on the other hand got so repetitive that I had to my sound down fairly early.

Leveling is also very standard, with your groups of mobs to mow through, with random “elite” type mobs in camps. And the quest system also consist of a lot of go here kill, fetch repeat quests. One of the things that usually make those manageable, to me at least, is interesting story or narrative to go with the quests, but nothing ever really grabbed my attention enough ever really make them more than a bore.

PvP is something that is an integral part to the treadmill of the game, especially with it’s Archlord system, but honestly I didn’t have a chance to partake in it. The reason for that is, is that I just could not get past a lot of flaws in the PvE game, which is nesscary to get the levels needed to participate in the PvP game. This to me is a glaring issue. The only people who are going to be participating in PvP in its seige forms, are people that can manage to look past the games flaws and stick with it to the end.

All in all, Archlord was a disappointment to me. Before you even say it, I realize that Archlord is now on a Free 2 Play(F2P) model now. But even on that model, I don’t think the game is one that I would rank up there as one of the few good F2P games. It just didn’t pull me in as a lot of other F2P games have actually managed to do, and you can’t even compare it to most of the Western developed Pay to Play games.

Score: 2.0/5.0
Recommendation: It’s your basic F2P model type game, but it’s more boring than average grinding result in a game that is just not worth the time invested unless you are into hardcore PvP and the Archlord system. If you are one of those gamers, and can get passed the flaws of the title, you may find some enjoyment within the game world.

System Specs used: Athlon XP 2800+, 1 gig PC3200, ATI1650 AGP card.