Lords of EverQuest
- November 12, 2003 00:00 AM PST
Judging by the playable beta version, Lords of EverQuest may break WarCraft III�s stranglehold over the strategy genre.
While WarCraft III rules the real-time strategy genre with an iron fist, Sony Online sneakily prepares to counterattack with Lords of EverQuest. An RTS with a distinct role-playing twist, LOE pits three factions�the Shadow Realm, the Dawn Brotherhood, and the Elddar Alliance�against one another in a story set during the �Lost Age� of Norrath.Judging by the preview version, LOE should boast smooth, steady frame rates when played on solid PC hardware. The early build also offered plenty of eye candy, including flowing 3D terrain, sparkling magic effects, and swarms of detailed enemies. The audio was notable as well; the designers have hired top vocal talent (like John Rhys-Davies from LOTR and Katey Segal from Futurama), lending the voice-overs some dramatic muscle. On the gameplay side, LOE also made favorable impressions; the clean, uncluttered interface was highly intuitive. Overall, LOE didn�t seem to stray too far from the WarCraft formula, but the animal-mounted fighters were a welcome addition.
The preview suffered from a few bugs, such as lengthy load times and occasional distortion in the audio. But if these are corrected, Blizzard may finally have some serious competition.
