Beta Report 5/20/03

Ok, I have been doing this forum on my former guild website for some months now, but I figure I should be putting this here as well. All info has been borrowed from my MMORPG site and from personal experience as a Beta tester. NDA agreements prevent me from speaking about certain games, but those that have been lifted I will speak about openly.

Planetside

Well, what can I say about this game.....well, it will be killer when they get the last bugs worked out. I participated in the open Beta phase for 4 weeks prior to release ( today ) and this is what I have got from it.

Planetside is the second creation in what will hopefully be a long line for MMOFPS ( Mass Multiplayer Online First Person Shooters ). This game allows you to build customized characters in pretty much any combat facet, from a basic grunt to walking tank to pilot.

The war will be ongoing and match your skills up against any of the three factions in the game. The whole point of this game is to try to capture as much territory as possible and defend it against everyone else.

This will be a time intensive game, but has alot of problems.

Pros:

Built by Sony Online (but we all know it is Verant, builders of Everquest) so you know it will be as good as possible.
Non linear storyline will allow you to explore, fight, and enjoy yourself.
Rewards you for forming groups (squads), but will allow you to fight solo for those who prefer that.
Solid built game with a lot to offer to the world as well as a really good graphics engine.

Cons:

You need a Monster system to play it properly with minimal lag.
Still has a lot of bugs to work out.
New game means a lot of things still unknown about the gameworld.

I rate this at a 4 out of 5, but once they get the last niggling bugs out, it will come close to a 5 out of 5.

Star Wars Galaxies

Oh boy, this game has been hyped so much that a bad review might now be believed, but I will try to stay as honest as possible.

NDA IS STILL ENFORCED AT THIS POINT. I will discuss only what has been cleared.

Ok, everyone has read the website at least 4000 times since release of the site 2 years ago. This game has the potential to be an industry breaker. That statement alone will put people into frenzy when they hear that the game has been set for release next month.

At present the game has become even more stable and more enjoyable for all the testers involved. General feedback about the game though has been a little disappointing though.

There seems to be a problem with the leveling system presently (turning into a level ladder) as well as the way the universe is being set up. They have killed a number of classes and have removed Player Run Cities until a later date (this really upset a lot of people).

Potential is still there, but if the game does not live up to the hype, it could be a very short reign at the top.

World Of Warcraft.

At this time there have been 4 CONFIRMED races being released to the game world with the possibility of a 5th or 6th being added shortly. The game is running perfectly stable at present in the Blizzard offices. This means once it hits the Beta phases, we should be in for a real treat.

Best part about this game is there is no hype around it, so they have no expectations to live up to.

Middle Earth Online

Yes, it has been announced that there will be a game based in the world of the Lord of the Rings. Anyone passionate about the book will be in love with this one; I personally am looking forward to it.

Very little is known about this game, but it is in Alpha testing at the developers. I will include websites at the bottom of this post.

Well, that’s enough for now. Anyone who is interested in upcoming betas in the MMORPG field should look at the sites at the end of this post.

I will talk to you soon.

Christian

(Testing 3 other games currently with background in testing of 8 others. These games include Ultima Online, Anarchy Online, Earth and Beyond, Planetside and Mankind. )

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Christian