Dungeons and Dragons is probably--along with the Lord of the Rings trilogy--the real 500 pound gorilla in the room of fantasy worlds.  Their Greyhawk setting established fantasy role-playing and Forgotten Realms, Dragon Lance, Planetscape and others have all added to the whole.  It would seem there are very few properties that would be more suited to a massively multiplayer role-playing game than D&D.  Sadly however, Dungeons and Dragons Online doesn't really live up to the legacy of D&D on the PC.  If the game remains as it has been in the latest beta I can't recommend it.  As is, this is a game that can't compete with the great D&D-based games of yore, nor can it really make a move on the reigning kings of online role-playing: WoW and Guild Wars.  I know this is an unfinished game so I won't nitpick but at the same time its ship date is very near--so I know they won't have too many major design changes left if they are to make their dates. 

            Just like any MMOG, the first thing you're going to do is create a character, and this is where the first glaring omissions start coming up.  Several of the classic D&D races aren't in the game.  You won't be able to play as a half-elf, half-orc or gnome. Following your choice of race, you next must select your class.  Those choices include fighter, paladin, ranger, cleric, barbarian mage, sorcerer and bard.  (So I hope you weren't looking forward to playing a druid or a monk because you're out of luck for the time being.)   The rest of the character creation is fairly nice.  You can do quite a bit with your face to give your character a unique look and the stats and feat selection works pretty nicely.  I rolled up a cleric, paladin, fighter and sorcerer just to try some stuff out.  Lastly, their aren't any epic abilities as the game is a “low level” game with a max level of 10 and no prestige classes so you won't be able to roll a Red Dragon Disciple or a Champion of Torm or something like that.  Further, the really awesome epic powers aren't going to be in the game.  There may be an upside to keeping it low level but I'm not really sure I understand it. All this stuff just annoys me and makes me yearn for Neverwinter Nights 2 or even just more modules for Hordes of the Underdark. 

            One of the design choices made on D&D Online, that to me was a real turn off, was the lack of a living world.  You've got one city, that's it—and then a bunch of virtual dungeons.   This really limits the appeal of the game as it takes away from that feeling of verisimilitude that other MMOGs use to get you to feel like you're a part of something bigger than just a silly game.  Like Guild Wars all the content is instanced, however unlike Guild Wars their isn't any way to go play PVP so all you're going to be able to do is go on quest after quest.  I don't really care for PVP but this strikes me as a real limiting factor for the game.  Further, Guild Wars is free whereas they're going to want a fee for this game so it certainly limits the appeal against one of the two reigning champions. 

            Then we get to the actual in-quest gameplay.  The game starts you off with some solo quests to familiarize you with the combat system.  The first shock to me was how the real time combat system played out--it really didn't feel very D&D to me.  If you're looking for a great representation of D&D on the PC, let me point you to the Temple of Elemental Evil and Neverwinter Nights Platinum or Diamond.  The interface is a mix of ugly and clunky, especially when compared to Warcraft's far more elegant minimalism.  Everything presents too much crap on the screen and that just detracts from the whole of the experience.  Also unlike WoW, not everything is viable as a solo-able approach for any length of time.  If you play a cleric, bard, wizard or sorcerer, you're going to need to group with a melee class almost from the very beginning to be effective.  Unfortunately, the same isn't true of the melee classes.  If you play a fighter you'll be able to get by easily for a good while without any troubles. 

            Technically speaking this game is pretty vanilla.  I didn't have much in the way of lag issues despite seeing tons of people almost everywhere.  But graphically speaking, the game is pretty unimpressive.  It's not ugly per se but their just doesn't seem to be anything to make you go "ooh" in the area of graphics.  It's technically average and artistically average--unlike WoW, where the game is technically below average but artistically superior.  The audio presents a mixed bag as most of the sound effects are pretty vanilla, but I really did like the narrator they used to try to simulate the DM experience.  

            All in all I'm not sure what I'm supposed to like about this game.  It's a bit of a tweener.  It does too much like D&D to be a good MMOG experience like World of Warcraft.  It's just not easily accessible enough, not beautiful enough, not fun enough.  It's also not a great D&D simulation as to replace Neverwinter Nights and Temple of Elemental Evil.   It feels a lot like a game that's trying to appeal to two large groups and is going to end up pleasing neither.  I wish they would have gotten this right as D&D is an awesome ruleset but there is just too much here that is not right for me to be excited.  Maybe after a lot of work this game would be worth my money but I can't see it as is.