Dark Age of Camelot

Mythic Entertainment blind-sides the MMORPG genre with Dark Age of Camelot, beginning a new chapter in online role-playing history.

King Arthur has died, and with him died the golden age of Camelot. Without his uniting rule, the realm has split into three warring factions: the chivalrous Albion, the brutal and wild Midgard, and the naturalistic, mystical Hibernia. You must choose your allegiance and your role in the battle, and you must fight for your realm to see which lifestyle will dominate the world.

Dark Age of Camelot is a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, or MMORPG. When you first log on, you?ll choose a realm, create a character, and enter a persistent world alongside thousands of other players. It is by no means the first MMORPG on the market; Ultima Online, EverQuest, Asheron?s Call, and Anarchy Online all share an audience that Camelot would like to steal. What Camelot brings to the battle is a well-honed launch strategy, incredible graphics, uncanny customer support, and a well-tuned system of 12 races and 33 unique classes. What?s more, there?s a feeling that Mythic really wants their players to have a great time, and the interests of the players don?t seem to be sacrificed in the interest of some nebulous ?vision,? as it is in other games.

Class Act
There really is something for everyone here. Each Realm has 10-12 classes covering the spectrum from sneaky Infiltrators and Shadowblades to heavily-armored Armsmen and Heroes. While the classes stick to certain archetypes (the Midgard Healer is much like the Albion Cleric), there are enough differences to give each Realm a distinct feel (the Albion Scout can use a powerful Longbow, while the Hibernian Ranger can wield two weapons at once, and the Midgard Hunter can charm animals to do his bidding). The Albion realm alone boasts four mage-type classes on its own, each one drastically different in play style and spells.

Mythic seems concerned with making sure players have a good time. An excellent Help system pops up Tips from time to time, and beginning quests are designed specifically to teach newbies how to fight, equip arms and armor, invite other players into groups, and so on. You can break up your mindless leveling by taking on quests, which are kept in a wonderful journal, so you don?t forget what you?re doing. If you don?t have time for a quest, you can ask any NPC you find if they have a task for you, which will consist of a short delivery, a small hunting trip, or some other minor goal for you to complete. Those who want to learn a trade skill (of which there are currently four: weaponsmithing, armorsmithing, tailoring, and fletching) will find that their trademaster will give them consignments to fill for a cash profit. Unlike other games in the genre, Camelot lets you gain most of a level without aimless camping and killing, and you can actually make a profit with the trade skills.

Beautiful Age of Camelot
Camelot screams with graphical detail and auditory atmosphere. The first time you come over a hill and see the gates to the great city of Camelot itself, you?ll be impressed. Or maybe the glowing stone in the center of a zombie-infested cemetery might capture your interest. Or perhaps a rainstorm while you?re resting with your hunting party, waiting for a wolf named Throatripper to arrive so you can pay it back for the deaths it?s caused. The haunting, otherworldly giggle of a bloodstained large skeleton as its bony fingers tear through your flesh. The satisfying crunch as your giant two-handed warhammer finds its target. Calling a bolt of lightning down from the sky?one that actually looks like a bolt of lightning, and not a red burst of sparkles around the target.

Graphically, Camelot suffers from very few problems. One that sticks out pretty noticeably is the way the game drops animation frames when figures are far away. They did this most likely to keep frame-rates from dipping in general, but it is a bit distracting at first, since it turns Mythic?s beautiful animation into Ray Harryhausen?s nightmare from long distances. Also, the major cities suffer from an obvious drop in frame-rates, but that?s mostly because of the high number of characters being drawn onscreen at once. Compared to the graphical (not to mention other) problems suffered by Anarchy Online at that game?s launch, Camelot?s minor glitches are just smudges on the paint.

How Does It Play?
Camelot?s control scheme is a bit daunting at first. You have to master hotkeys, macros, and the game?s awesome Quickbar to really get the best experience; otherwise you?ll be consulting the quick reference card on a regular basis. Luckily, every key can be remapped to suit your own needs, and you can create macros of oft-used commands (such as the phrase you use to request a task from an NPC). An 8-page Quickbar allows you to create banks of hotkeys for things such as equipping weapons, casting spells, and performing combat styles. With extended play, the control difficulties go away, and you?ll quickly find yourself mastering the interface.

As for gameplay, the genre doesn?t get much better than this. Whereas EverQuest forces you to group to thrive, Camelot encourages grouping but doesn?t forbid solo adventuring. A group will be able to take out more powerful monsters and survive dangerous dungeons, but you?ll be able to fight well by yourself. They?ve fixed player-killing by creating a Realm-versus-Realm system, in which you can?t kill members of your Realm, but all others are fair game. Classes are balanced with Realm-versus-Realm combat in mind, as well as Player-versus-Monster fighting. While EQ gimps classes to keep with its ?vision? (Why can archery be a viable combat style? Because that didn?t fit with Verant?s ?vision?), Camelot?s classes are on a rock-paper-scissors style of balance. Melee classes can beat archers, which beat spellcasters, which beat melee classes. Every one of the 33 classes has a unique ability or combination of abilities that no other class can use. The addition of quests and tasks to help with leveling, and consignments to help with trade skills, means you?ll always have a purpose for your hacking, slashing, and traveling.

A New Golden Age?
Dark Age of Camelot may not be a new golden age of online role-playing, but it?s a number of steps in the right direction. The sheer scope of this game (to repeat it again: 12 races, 33 classes, 3 realms) and its incredible quality level make it a shining star in the MMORPG sky.

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