Asheron's Call

A fantastic RPG for the PC. The opportunities for character creation are endless, letting you make that sword-wielding, fireball-flinging thief you always wanted to be.

Add to that the underlying technical stability of the game—aside from a few minor and easily avoided inventory bugs and a bit of white speckling in the landscape, this game was more solid at the time of review than most massively multiplayer titles are after six months of updates—plus the general lack of prime-time server lag and scarcity of disconnects, and you have a title which has more than earned its place among the big names of online RPG entertainment.

From the moment you step into the world of Dereth, there is an overwhelming sense of actually being part of a world. Towns are the size you'd expect a town to be, roads are miles long, and the wilderness is a vast expanse.

Some people won't take to the fact you can only play humans and that there are no orcs or goblins to bash. The fact that you have extreme control over your character's destiny will turn off as many people as it turns on. Yet if you want to experience an original fantasy online RPG -- one that will always have something new to discover -- then Asheron's Call is the place for you.

A solid, well-rounded online role-playing experience that's at least as good as any other out there.

That's one of the beauties of a game like AC: there really isn't an end game, or a finale. The world just keeps going and going, with new adventures and new locations to explore constantly available.

People have different styles of play to go along with different tastes and preferences. You now have some choice as to which RPG is for you. I could never really say which is better than the others are since they are so unique, yet so common.

The worlds are so huge, and the population spread so thin, that many players will find themselves feeling a bit lonely. Forming parties is easy, but it's often difficult to find players to join your cause.

Asheron's Call is also very addictive - I sat down and told myself that I was only going to play for an hour, but after I finished playing I noticed that I had been playing for over four hours, which pretty much explains that I'm hooked.

It brings to life all that is good in RPGs and improves on other things that were not so good. With it, we encounter the best of the genre in quests, combat, and a revamped magic system.

Asheron’s Call is full of successes and problems and provides a game world that provides both excitement and frustration.

There's not much new in terms of gameplay, but the 3D accelerated views, rapid scrolling and distinct lack of lag make it spectacular to look at and wonderfully smooth to play. [PC Zone]

Suffice to say, Asheron's Call is a fun, semi-addictive game with a fantastic interface for people new to the genre. However, some drawbacks and the lack of complexity may drive "Everquest" and "Ultima Online" fanatics bonkers.