Rift (2011)

 PC
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 587 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 344 out of 587
  2. Mixed: 150 out of 587
  3. Negative: 93 out of 587
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  1. madhotsoup
    Mar 21, 2011
    6
    Pretty game, but does nothing new for the genre. This would probably be a great game for those new to MMORPG's, but for vets it will probably feel like more of the same. What it did do was take some good elements from other MMO's and incorporated them. Control and UI wise, almost an exact match for World of Warcraft. Rifts are pretty much the same thing as public quests from WarhammerPretty game, but does nothing new for the genre. This would probably be a great game for those new to MMORPG's, but for vets it will probably feel like more of the same. What it did do was take some good elements from other MMO's and incorporated them. Control and UI wise, almost an exact match for World of Warcraft. Rifts are pretty much the same thing as public quests from Warhammer online. The multiple class/soul trees have been seen in Guild Wars. This game, along with all other MMO's just feels like it's trying to build on what's already out there but better, which it does do, but at the same time it doesn't bring anything new to the table.… Expand
  2. Delaro
    Jan 11, 2016
    6
    The Cons.
    1. The game runs horrible, Outdated Gamebryo DX9 Engine that is highly CPU dependent.
    2. PVP in this game is pointless there is not Gear Balance here so if your a new 65 get use to Dying. You simply can't kill someone in R2 and above gear unless it is 3 vs1 or better. PVP is still way off Balance most Souls are pointless to even try. 3. LvL 65 is Grindy as hell unless your    The Cons.
    1. The game runs horrible, Outdated Gamebryo DX9 Engine that is highly CPU dependent.
    2. PVP in this game is pointless there is not Gear Balance here so if your a new 65 get use to Dying. You simply can't kill someone in R2 and above gear unless it is 3 vs1 or better. PVP is still way off Balance most Souls are pointless to even try.
    3. LvL 65 is Grindy as hell unless your Raiding, the majority of what you do is Grind for Tokens this is where the game got boring with Dailies and Weeklies.
    4. The game is centralized around making Cash so expect to Fork up real cash if you want to be Competitive especially if PVP is your main concern.

    The Pros.
    1. Good Story line.
    2. Lots to do if you like Achievements, Crafting and Puzzles.
    3. Plenty of Group Activity.    … Expand
  3. AtlasOrion
    Dec 4, 2012
    7
    Rift has a lot of great things going for it, but needs a lot too. The fights are confusing as heck, especially coming from WoW, and end game is very disappointing. The world looks AMAZING and the mounts and mobs are awesome, but the weapon and armor are completely "meh", could use a Korean touch. The rifts are super fun and always give you something to do, the quests are decent andRift has a lot of great things going for it, but needs a lot too. The fights are confusing as heck, especially coming from WoW, and end game is very disappointing. The world looks AMAZING and the mounts and mobs are awesome, but the weapon and armor are completely "meh", could use a Korean touch. The rifts are super fun and always give you something to do, the quests are decent and engaging and world events are sufficiently fun - but the instanced encounters are a mess.

    And the community is both good and bad - they're friendly and helpful in general, it's not full of trolls like WoW, but in instances everyone treats it like a speed run and doesn't talk. So you don't get a chance to learn anything unless you're doing guild runs. I played for 6 months and gave up on end game, levelling the different classes is really fun but ends at level 60 =(.

    The game looks amazing and has excellent playability - from fully customizable UI to complex talent trees that can be swapped out and customized endlessly. The game feels polished and well thought out, but boss mechanics need to be more transparent.    … Expand
  4. Kalfear
    May 18, 2013
    7
    Great game in theory, quite enjoyed beta testing this game and early retail
    in the end though it was to small, to short, to confined for a MMORPG
    Voiced NPCs would have also helped greatly as most folks just ingored the typing and choose the one option that made most sense to them. Talking to players at end game I would say 7 in 10 honestly had no idea what the storyline while leveling    Great game in theory, quite enjoyed beta testing this game and early retail
    in the end though it was to small, to short, to confined for a MMORPG
    Voiced NPCs would have also helped greatly as most folks just ingored the typing and choose the one option that made most sense to them. Talking to players at end game I would say 7 in 10 honestly had no idea what the storyline while leveling up was because they didnt need to read it.

    Good game that could have been much much much better

    I have not tried the new expansion that brought forth many changes    … Expand
  5. Mac_55555
    Nov 3, 2013
    6
    Rift has the same issues as WOW see below), as they copied almost every feature from that game. So where does wow/rift go wrong? It’s a cookie cutter type game with no depth in gear, spells or abilities… everyone has the same stuff. A new expansion comes out, your: Int, Agi, Str goes up 20 points… ooowee, how exciting! These games are good for a while but you tire of them quickly.Rift has the same issues as WOW see below), as they copied almost every feature from that game. So where does wow/rift go wrong? It’s a cookie cutter type game with no depth in gear, spells or abilities… everyone has the same stuff. A new expansion comes out, your: Int, Agi, Str goes up 20 points… ooowee, how exciting! These games are good for a while but you tire of them quickly.

    Rift figured it would copy WOW because they are successful, which is only partly true. WOW is successful largely due to the fact that there is no competition for this genre game on the market, rather than it being an epic game to play.

    So instead of being creative and coming up with an epic NEW game, Rift sealed its fate by coping another game on the market; a game with more resources and experience in the market. To add to their problems, their developers are not as good as WOW’s (less cash to work with), they have not figured out a proper PVP balance between classes (big issue!), class/gear/dungeons have even less depth. And selling gear and mounts for cash (US dollars) is simply a mistake in the long run. Yes, you make some quick cash but this will come back to bite them later, as it creates major imbalances in PVP and spoils the idea that earn quality gear! Rift definitely has some positive like good support, and sound on-line game play, but the focus of this post is how to improve the game.

    So the big question, how do you fix these games, or better yet, make a game that blows the competition away! Think unique and individual. Who wants to be the same as everyone else? Instead of spending all that time developing PVE which no one plays in end game you build up a colossal gear stash 1st, a broad range of abilities to level (slowly), EQ’s AA were very good. I could say so much here but don’t have the time or space to write it. How do you make PVE fun? Opportunities for reward!! (GEAR), make it challenging where you require team play, and easy group joining creates friendships, roaming rare monsters and again drops worthy GEAR). I’d make opportunities for good gear equal whether it’s PVP, PVE or Raid and almost everything would be drops… very little purchased! How about building your own weapons with special abilities, weapons that level with the character (30-40 levels minimum) so the gear drop really mean something. More of the gear is tradable. And when gear drops is for your level not something you out grew five levels ago!

    PVP is based on skill, rather than level/gear so you avoid the unbalanced PVP matches. And is it really that difficult to balance the different classes? It must be because Rift does a horrible job of it, as of 10/2013 rogues and heals rule in PVP, mages are pawns and clerics, warriors do ok.    … Expand
  6. Kaytyworg
    Oct 27, 2013
    7
    RIFT has a feel like WoW--I'm pretty sure it was designed that way. Starting areas for Guardians and Defiants are both interesting. Rifts were fun--at first After the starting areas, the game starts to bog down--leveling seems slow, and I for one got tired of fighting ghouls and ghosts and demons and zombies, or undead whatevers. Like some other games I've played, you have NO chanceRIFT has a feel like WoW--I'm pretty sure it was designed that way. Starting areas for Guardians and Defiants are both interesting. Rifts were fun--at first After the starting areas, the game starts to bog down--leveling seems slow, and I for one got tired of fighting ghouls and ghosts and demons and zombies, or undead whatevers. Like some other games I've played, you have NO chance fighting anything much above your own level. C'mon, guys, you should at least have SOME chance at this Other players were friendly and helpful at first, then things degenerated into kill-fests with not much interaction. End-game content was geared at the Uber-characters(Twinks)--My 50 got Nowhere repeatedly (I -think- that was the highest level!)
    Lack of interesting things to fight made me leave. Too bad--Game showed promise.    … Expand
  7. Hall7718
    Feb 21, 2014
    7
    Rift scores positive points for their unique talent system (souls). However, the system was also hard to balance. Loved the open world events (Rifts). High marks on innovation.
  8. HopelesslyGame
    Dec 6, 2011
    6
    I have written a short review on this game. A quick summary of why I gave it a score of 6: Technically wonderful with lovely graphics, smooth response and very minor glitches. However, gameplay feels a bit bland for long-time players of MMORPGs. Good effort from Trion.
    http://www.hopelesslygame.com/2011/04/entering-the-rift/
  9. Daematune
    Aug 1, 2011
    6
    RIFT is by far not perfect, but an excellent start to possibly something great. The class system is easily the biggest reason you would play this game. It offers a range of choices for any play-style you can really think of, it lacks healer roles though, and is impossible to be balanced. The quest system is repetitive and very boring. The game world itself is extremely small. The biggestRIFT is by far not perfect, but an excellent start to possibly something great. The class system is easily the biggest reason you would play this game. It offers a range of choices for any play-style you can really think of, it lacks healer roles though, and is impossible to be balanced. The quest system is repetitive and very boring. The game world itself is extremely small. The biggest thing that really stunk is that the dungeons are very, very easy.. even in Tier 1 and Tier 2 and some raids, the boss fights are simply tank and spanks with one easy tactic. The dungeon finder as well as the PvP queues are very long as well. If your looking for a challenge with good quality to it you might want to look elsewhere, it's highly overrated.… Expand
  10. MarcTryon
    Nov 27, 2014
    5
    How quickly things change. You can see a positive review from me in July. Now, after a very ill-considered change to the auction house and increasing lag and instability, including a much higher frequency of a very annoying appearance bug (face turns pale and lips green) that you can find references to in forums as far back as 2012, I have to drop my rating.

    The game has its moments but    How quickly things change. You can see a positive review from me in July. Now, after a very ill-considered change to the auction house and increasing lag and instability, including a much higher frequency of a very annoying appearance bug (face turns pale and lips green) that you can find references to in forums as far back as 2012, I have to drop my rating.

    The game has its moments but the combat is sluggish by modern standards and Trion has clearly decided to put it in 'harvest' mode: minimal support while they extract what cash they can. I'd suggest thinking twice about any long term commitment to it but it's worth dabbling with.    … Expand
  11. guinevere2
    Jul 9, 2011
    5
    I just could not get into this game...It does everything right, it is polished, has nice graphic and character creation/development system...but everything else about it seems to be so uhmm, generic and unmemorable, that after 3 days I had to force myself to log in. In my opinion this game ia a monument of how lackluster the mmorpg bussines has become. It is just the same WoW over and overI just could not get into this game...It does everything right, it is polished, has nice graphic and character creation/development system...but everything else about it seems to be so uhmm, generic and unmemorable, that after 3 days I had to force myself to log in. In my opinion this game ia a monument of how lackluster the mmorpg bussines has become. It is just the same WoW over and over and over again made by different company under different name with different world, races and classes, but the core is the same. The only innovative thing about Rift are those "rift events" which turned to be just another excuse to mob grinding...Crafting is poorly designed and unexciting, no open world pvp makes the game even more boring later on...It is just another WoW clone with total lack of immersion factors… Expand
  12. Flash_Over
    Jun 23, 2011
    5
    I will start with the Pros. The games graphics are very impressive. The dungeon system is smooth. Basically everything you would expect from a paid MMORPG is here. Also RIFT brings more things to the table, like multi-class system tree which allows for good variety of game play. Character customization is also more in-depth then most other MMORPGs. The rift events also add a good twist.I will start with the Pros. The games graphics are very impressive. The dungeon system is smooth. Basically everything you would expect from a paid MMORPG is here. Also RIFT brings more things to the table, like multi-class system tree which allows for good variety of game play. Character customization is also more in-depth then most other MMORPGs. The rift events also add a good twist. Cons: The graphics and cities could be a major lag issue for people with less powerful computers. Even by lowing the graphics the mire presence of many players in fairly small cities could cause a major lag issue. The dungeon system is smooth, but they do not make key factors in boss fights easily recognizable (Which could be a con and pro). Rift events especially major ones cause such huge lag problems and can be chaotic with 50+ players attacking the same target, thus moving or even fighting nearly impossible. The armor and some weapons from level 1-40 are pretty much the same looking, 0 variety. The game also lacks a in-game re-customization of your character like WoWs and Lord of the Rings Online's Barbershop. It also lacks a dungeon finder leaving instances easily skipped to avoid the headache of spamming for LFG. Most of all the combat experience is smooth, but leaves you empty hearted and yearning for the "I just kicked some butt" feeling. That eventually leaves you bored and uninterested in grinding. Over all, this games a dud, but by far the best MMO to be released since 2004. If you like casual RPGs with low intensity leveling and combat. Rift is the game for you!… Expand
  13. prh99
    Oct 7, 2011
    5
    You're not going to kill WoW by copying it. The interface, talent trees, and professions etc all feel very WoW like, sure there are some minor additions and tweaks, but this is very much a game buy a company who wanted to go the safe route. Which is not surprising given the costs and time required to make a triple-a MMO, but to then try to go head to head with an 800 pound gorilla that isYou're not going to kill WoW by copying it. The interface, talent trees, and professions etc all feel very WoW like, sure there are some minor additions and tweaks, but this is very much a game buy a company who wanted to go the safe route. Which is not surprising given the costs and time required to make a triple-a MMO, but to then try to go head to head with an 800 pound gorilla that is WoW and invite direct comparison in the ads was fool-hardy at the very least. I mean Warcraft has 20 years of story and lore development from it's origins as an RTS, you can't beat that. It's not a bad game, but it was never going to be a WoW killer. Trion should be congratulated on making a very polished game, and hopefully their future releases will start to veer off the path Blizzard created.… Expand
  14. bosnian
    Mar 18, 2012
    5
    Great graphics and nice balance to the most polished MMO I have seen on the release date. However, game offers one thing that is different from any other MMO, a rift concept, which was cool for the first 20 hours or so and got incredibly old and tideous after that. Other than that, it is WoW... released 7 years later.
  15. Sicklecell
    Sep 25, 2011
    5
    Disappointing game because it's really not about "rifts". It's about dungeons.. and lots of them. The way the game is sold is as an alternative to WoW but it's that only in the sense that fast food is dinner compared to a meat and potatoes meal. There is a TON of grinding for nothing but gear at endgame so if you were looking to escape from WoW because of that, you actually fell out of theDisappointing game because it's really not about "rifts". It's about dungeons.. and lots of them. The way the game is sold is as an alternative to WoW but it's that only in the sense that fast food is dinner compared to a meat and potatoes meal. There is a TON of grinding for nothing but gear at endgame so if you were looking to escape from WoW because of that, you actually fell out of the frying pan into the fire. Rifts seem to be static loot pinatas that you whack every so often and coins for gear come out. Whack enough rifts and you get some really super average gear that isn't worth the time. the lower levels in this game are absolutely abandoned and if you start now, you won't be doing a lot of the huge boss rift invasions because of lack of interest from the community. most people are level 50 and play on alts which they are speedleveling to 50 to play with buddies, so noobs won't get the time of day. fanbois will say "my server is packed and we do stuff all the time" but that's everygame has one or three servers like that while the rest are dying. Rift has about 70 servers mothballed; not technically closed but not technically open neither. If you have a toon there, you can stay but if you start the game you won't even see the server on your list. There are plenty of folks who made homes on them only to have Trion shut them off from everyone else but you can transfer out. That ruined a lot of communities in the game and people quit. their sub rate is bargain basement (probably the lowest in the industry) due to falling subs so if you pay for a year in advance you can pay as little as $120. Pretty desperate but if it fills the game then good idea I guess. SWTOR and GW2 will be coming out soon (GW2 next year) so I'd play consoles until then like BF3, GoW3, Madden, etc and save the 120 bucks for the big event games coming like those. RIFT will probably be going FTP by next summer so holding off would be wise while they try to fix the awful PvP balancing and at least give people something to fight for as now it's just arenaball with no ball. World PvP is non-existant. The game has good things like hit a button and sell all your grey loot, decent graphics (not AoC or FFXIV worthy), and low price. But the replayability is awful because there are only TWO starting zones.. that's right.. two. For a mmo launching in 2011 that's lazy. The armors look horrible (do a Google search for Rift armor and you'll see) and they repeat like.. level 10, 20, 30, 40 etc. So if you find some epic gear at 50 it will have 50 stats but looks EXACTLY like level 30 gear. Again, LAZY DESIGN. It's hard to believe they spend 50 million dollars on this and five or six years development. They didnt even have guild banks at launch. The mounts are all the same that repeat like CE mount: plain turtle. World event mount: Green turtle. Achievement mount: White turtle. LAZY DESIGN. The lore is pretty bland and mundane; it inspires nothing. You dont feel a part of the world or like your fighting to keep mobs from invading.. it feels like your grinding for loot because the story is canned. The game was few bugs at launch but as it's gone on, it's gotten more buggy. Notsure how that happens but things just get broke. Maintainence is pretty much almost every day and for 20-30 minutes at a time but you can have several of those.. sometimes back to back which is annoying. Better way would be once a week for four hours and then done but the piecemeal work is upsetting. The community is made up of 600k people from WoW (or was) so it was kind of immature to start but now it's just plain nasty with one or two nice guilds telling trying to convince everyone new this isn't "their community" even though they play their game. Amazingly funny that. Anyways, to recap: WAIT FOR THE SUMMER WHEN RIFT GOES FTP as they already have a cash shop in the works from their other game that they will no doubt switch over because the population is dropping fast. if you have other games you've been wanting to try FTP now (Fallen Earth, DCUO, EQ2, LOTRO, AoC, WoW trail, Dragon Nest, Champs Online, Star Trek online) you'd be better off spending 10 or 15 bucks once or twice in there and be done with it.… Expand
  16. Reaktorblue
    Apr 3, 2011
    6
    This game was fun from 1-50. Unfortunately 50 can be achieved within 5 days by an average person, even faster by a power gamer.

    After hitting max level, it seemed like to play the game was forcing regurgitated content down my throat. Kill more rifts for more planarite. Do more of those same dungeons you have been doing with maybe 1 more boss and a new corner of the map. Keep doing these    This game was fun from 1-50. Unfortunately 50 can be achieved within 5 days by an average person, even faster by a power gamer.

    After hitting max level, it seemed like to play the game was forcing regurgitated content down my throat. Kill more rifts for more planarite. Do more of those same dungeons you have been doing with maybe 1 more boss and a new corner of the map. Keep doing these for, you guessed it, more currency to spend on items.

    All told, the game feels like its solely based on grinding the same things over and over again for currency to spend for minor stat increases. This would not be so bad if the game was not able to be played in such a way that gets you to this boring point within a week.

    In the end it just feels like nothing was done that was meaningless. The collection factor (the emotion you get after all that hard work on your character) just isnt there.

    Plagued with the standard bugs most games has, coupled with awesome content (that unfortunately fizzles out after a month) means we have an awesome game here thats worth only playing until the subscription price kicks in.

    If you want all your time and effort to mean something, Rift is not where you will want to turn.    … Expand
  17. dondon
    Jun 9, 2011
    6
    Been there done that. Nothing new to make the game call itself it's own. Something new to look at and better graphics. If this was my first paying MMO ever I would keep going with it but it's not. If your looking for ranked PVP you won't find it here. Devs themselves stated they will not implement ranked arenas but there is battlegrounds for those light pvpers. Combat a lot like WoW,Been there done that. Nothing new to make the game call itself it's own. Something new to look at and better graphics. If this was my first paying MMO ever I would keep going with it but it's not. If your looking for ranked PVP you won't find it here. Devs themselves stated they will not implement ranked arenas but there is battlegrounds for those light pvpers. Combat a lot like WoW, nothing new except learning mechanics for the bosses.… Expand
  18. TerKaDer
    Mar 26, 2011
    7
    I bought Rift with a couple of guild mates from Wow. We needed a break and that is definitely what we found in rift. The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the beginners zone was how beautiful the game looked and sounded. I don't have the best computer but even at medium settings it looks great. The class system is a nice fresh way to get different specs as well, when you canI bought Rift with a couple of guild mates from Wow. We needed a break and that is definitely what we found in rift. The first thing I noticed when I stepped into the beginners zone was how beautiful the game looked and sounded. I don't have the best computer but even at medium settings it looks great. The class system is a nice fresh way to get different specs as well, when you can mix and match what ever you would like to make a tank, dps or healer on nearly every class. The random rift openings and invasions help to keep things fresh for a bit, and the fact that you can jump into a public group and take care of these events or even jump into a group to finish a quest is great. But in the end Rift is still a MMO and you will still get a multitude of quests of go here and kill this many enemies and then take this letter to that guy three feet from me because I'm too lazy. Rift is a great game and if you enjoy MMO's or are curious to play one this is a good game for you.… Expand
  19. grandroyal
    Jul 10, 2011
    6
    This game is exactly what it appears to be, a WoW clone with a better graphics engine. This is either a good or a bad thing, depending on your experience. For me, it was a bad thing. Right from the start of this game, I couldn't find any reason to care about the plot or my character's progress. After character creation you're given a very small piece of lore to explain whats going on, andThis game is exactly what it appears to be, a WoW clone with a better graphics engine. This is either a good or a bad thing, depending on your experience. For me, it was a bad thing. Right from the start of this game, I couldn't find any reason to care about the plot or my character's progress. After character creation you're given a very small piece of lore to explain whats going on, and then sent to the leveling treadmill. To be fair, the Defiant's starting zone was actually pretty cool, and their story works well. The Guardian's however, is just..... bad. So with little incentive to read into the thin plot, I found myself grinding levels, professions, rifts, etc... then I realized that I'd already spent 100's of hours doing the same thing in WoW - and honestly this game just convinced me to go back to WoW (which I haven't played in over a year). Seriously, with the time I've invested in WoW and how many friends I have there, Rift offers absolutely nothing extra to make me want to make a permanent switch.

    Anyway, great game engine, designed well, but absolutely no originality and therefore no lasting value. Sorry.    … Expand
  20. dionissos
    Dec 31, 2011
    6
    Ok rift has not bring revolution to mmorpg genre. It seem to follow the same path like wow and any other wow clone in mmorpg. Same boring quests, same gameplay mechanics , boring pvp.
    Is not bad game if you never play again a mmoprg but is boring for a veteran in this genre. The game has some good moment like the nice graphics and the open world and a nice idea for the randomly invasion of    Ok rift has not bring revolution to mmorpg genre. It seem to follow the same path like wow and any other wow clone in mmorpg. Same boring quests, same gameplay mechanics , boring pvp.
    Is not bad game if you never play again a mmoprg but is boring for a veteran in this genre. The game has some good moment like the nice graphics and the open world and a nice idea for the randomly invasion of mob through rifts.    … Expand
  21. Dethstar
    May 17, 2011
    5
    I have been playing since early beta and finally gave up today. The launch was pretty smooth and the game felt alot more finished than many MMOs at release. All great stuff. Unfortunately, its so like World of Warcraft I just got serious dejavu all the time. Now that might sound like a good idea but consider that Wow is something like 10 years old now. It just feels out of date. TheI have been playing since early beta and finally gave up today. The launch was pretty smooth and the game felt alot more finished than many MMOs at release. All great stuff. Unfortunately, its so like World of Warcraft I just got serious dejavu all the time. Now that might sound like a good idea but consider that Wow is something like 10 years old now. It just feels out of date. The PvP in particularly is a disaster. World pvp has no integration or objective so in reality your just harassing people which soon gets boring. There is a lack of end game content and for the first weeks until recently to hide this Trion just made the game harder and harder. People started to leave in frustration, both at the lack of content and the lack of difficulty. So a week or 2 ago in some sort of kneejerk reaction they dumbed the game down to the point where pretty much anyone can do anything. Reducing everything to a mindless grind and putting a massive skill gap between the end game raids and the general instances dungeons. (Same ones you probably already done a 100x or more). If you like PvP then this is probably the worst MMO choice you could make. If you like WoW, your probably already playing it. Also, forgot to mention, it runs like a lame dog on high end machines. particularly multi gpu. All this has resulted in a game loosing subscribers hand over fist (at least on the pvp servers I play on) I actually cancelled my subscription today. I had more than 50 people on my friends list 4 weeks after launch. Now, only 1 or 2 are still playing. Its cartoony and its simple, its very safe for kids being highly corny with some of the most corny cartoonish voice acting you will see this side of loony tunes. I would feel comfortable with my teenage kids playing it. is probably the only real positive I can offer on this after experiencing as much as I can get out of it.… Expand
  22. goliva
    Aug 28, 2012
    7
    This game is a WoW clone, a good one but the graphs are more serious-realistic look like. At first sight it looks kinda bad, but if you give it a chance and explore and level your character further on, you will find it pretty entertaining.
  23. hakblood
    Oct 11, 2012
    7
    This review is just Rift and the 1st 6 months from release. It was a fun and polished entry to the MMO market. It is a WoW-clone, no bones about it, but it was entertaining and better then the later xpacs of WoW. The class system was nice for the players, like myself, whom like versatility. I let my sub lapse after 6 months and moved on, however i enjoyed it enough, that with an upcomingThis review is just Rift and the 1st 6 months from release. It was a fun and polished entry to the MMO market. It is a WoW-clone, no bones about it, but it was entertaining and better then the later xpacs of WoW. The class system was nice for the players, like myself, whom like versatility. I let my sub lapse after 6 months and moved on, however i enjoyed it enough, that with an upcoming Xpac on the horizon, I am considering re-subbing.… Expand
  24. tunaphish6
    Mar 13, 2011
    7
    It's always difficult to review an MMo. While just about any and every MMo will have problems and glitches upon launch, usually they can be ironed and the game improved upon over time. However, there are many things that are simply too ingrained into the game, its gameplay, mechanics or engine to readily be changed.
    Half the reason any other MMo's have been successful is the general    It's always difficult to review an MMo. While just about any and every MMo will have problems and glitches upon launch, usually they can be ironed and the game improved upon over time. However, there are many things that are simply too ingrained into the game, its gameplay, mechanics or engine to readily be changed.
    Half the reason any other MMo's have been successful is the general fluid-ness of gameplay, its (default) interface, graphics and animations. While the graphics might seem 'modernized' compare to more dated MMo's, no screenshot can do justice to how jarring the animation can be. Personally, I'm    … Expand
  25. cassus
    Mar 19, 2011
    7
    There's really nothing bad about this game, on the flip-side, there's not a lot of great stuff either. After about 100 hours of playing I lost all interest in continuing. I had quite a lot of fun doing rift events. PvP was okay-ish, and the questing was.. well.. Questing will always be dull in mmorpg's it would seem. The game has a nice interface, quest log and map markers and stuff, allThere's really nothing bad about this game, on the flip-side, there's not a lot of great stuff either. After about 100 hours of playing I lost all interest in continuing. I had quite a lot of fun doing rift events. PvP was okay-ish, and the questing was.. well.. Questing will always be dull in mmorpg's it would seem. The game has a nice interface, quest log and map markers and stuff, all very nice. It shows that the developers have been playing WoW for a while and stole many of the addon designs for that game. The real problem is that the gameplay is just a ton of stuff you've already played a million times. And the casting/combat in the game has a sluggish feel to it that's just uncalled for in this day and age. It's slower and more janky than WoW, and 5 years past the release of WoW, there's just no excuse. Combat doesn't feel immediate at all, it feels like you're just queuing up stuff for your character to do at its leisure. Suggesting spellcasts and attacks, much like the olden days of mmo's. With games like Tera and Guild Wars 2 on the horizon, going for that old tick based sluggish combat system seems like an odd choice. I assume the reason they went for such a system over a more direct control instant cast type system is that the netcode of the game feels somewhat unrefined. All in all, though, it's probably the best mmo so far in 2011, and if you were let down by the crappiness of Cataclysm, it's well worth a try. If for nothing else than the Rift events, which are pretty sweet, and shows just how awesome Guild Wars 2 is going to be with its way more complex public quest type gameplay.… Expand
  26. kozmonster
    Mar 3, 2011
    7
    Firstly, I should say that I think that Rift is in no way a bad game. For a game that has just came out it runs fairly well, has quests placed in a well thought out order, and has an interesting way of doing character progression. The rift concept works well to break up the leveling grind and from what I've seen it doesn't look like there will be racial imbalances for apposing factions.Firstly, I should say that I think that Rift is in no way a bad game. For a game that has just came out it runs fairly well, has quests placed in a well thought out order, and has an interesting way of doing character progression. The rift concept works well to break up the leveling grind and from what I've seen it doesn't look like there will be racial imbalances for apposing factions. For a game that just came out it has very few bugs and graphics are nice. The reason I cant give this game a positive score aside from the minor bugs that should be fixed with a patch is because of the lack of innovation. It isn't a terrible thing to take the better aspects from other games and use them, but after this many years of mmo's, one might expect something more than the standard quest grind to end game then raiding with PvP mixed in there every now and then. If you like WoW chances are you'll like Rift because in the end its almost the same game. Not that its a bad thing, but I'm just tired of playing the same game with different names.… Expand
  27. makdrumz
    Mar 18, 2011
    7
    Right now the user positive reviews are 108 where the negative ones are 14 which says something on its own. I won't say anything more than that Rift is similar, if not better, in content and gameplay to WoW and it barely just launched. The present and future for this game looks bright. On the other hand WoW had no future since its first expansion. Congrats to Trion.
  28. Thicky
    Mar 23, 2011
    5
    It's been a month now. I love MMO's when they are fresh and still retain that new game smell. I tend to rush and tell my friends about the most amazing game I am playing, then a few weeks later the shine is gone and I hardly remember a thing about it. Most recently I drug friends and family through the launches of champions online, Aion, Warhammer Online and Fallen Earth. Each time I wasIt's been a month now. I love MMO's when they are fresh and still retain that new game smell. I tend to rush and tell my friends about the most amazing game I am playing, then a few weeks later the shine is gone and I hardly remember a thing about it. Most recently I drug friends and family through the launches of champions online, Aion, Warhammer Online and Fallen Earth. Each time I was excited about the games and how awesome they are. They weren't awesome, they were just new and a little different.

    Rift, played the game in all of the beta phases. Loved it. Absolutely adored it. I bought the CE and a 6 month subscription. I got my brother inlaw to do the same. "Dude, so many soul choices, build what you like!", he was sold.

    It's now been a month of release and tonight I get a text from my inlaw "r u logging on tonight?", no I am not. The magic is gone and here's my thoughts:

    Classic Trinity. Warrior tanks, Cleric heals, Mage dps. We were supposed to be past this, but we're not because Rift is a clone. Rift is a mashup of WoW and Warhammer. You will hit the level cap within a week without trying, once there you will have nothing to do but join Warfronts (pvp battlegrounds) and hope your team has less bots and afk'ers.

    Bots are EVERYWHERE. Just pause for a moment in town and watch the characters run on rails following a scripted path. Why are people botting? For one, there's no cheat detection built into Rift. There's a program called rifterrorhandler which just scans what programs you're running to make sure it's not cheatengine or something easy to spot. But any cheat or bot that is not listed will not be caught. The next factor is the level cap, there's not much to do at 50 other than very tedious pvp battles for rank. Join a warfront at any level and you will quickly notice that sometimes half of your team isn't moving. That's the afk'ers. They just run a script that let's them join warfronts and collect xp for your hard work. The other people on the team may be bots. Does Leggolas always jump down to the left of spawn and wander off to the side instead of heading to the objective while ignoring your pleas for help? That's a bot. Since release bots have invaded the game without any action from Trion.

    Hackers. Rift was released with an exploit that allowed anyone to access your account and take your items and money. A large chunk of the population was hit by this exploit and it has been weeks since it happened and customer support refuses to help them.

    Customer support. Pretty much non-existent. Trion Worlds contracts out their support staff to a company called Rightnow, which is ironic because if you need help it won't be right now, it will be much much later. It could have something to do with having customer support based in Nigeria (not a joke), check their own link https://trionworlds.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/478/~/how-do-i-contact-trion-support%3F

    I have canceled my account with Rift. I look forward to the next shiny new MMO to hit the market and again I will try and hold off on a rushed review.    … Expand
  29. Fireside
    Mar 18, 2011
    7
    Got a rogue to level 30, then quit playing. 0 interest in ever playing this game again. It was fun till level 25, then it just got boring. Maybe i'm not in the right mindset for mmo's at the moment.
  30. Deyadissa
    Mar 13, 2011
    6
    LAcks PvP endgame Content, doe snot keep it's name for next generation even in Pve. Raids are boring and it's the same mechanics we've seen before.
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Awards & Rankings

27
#27 Best PC Game of 2011
31
#31 Most Discussed PC Game of 2011
50
#50 Most Shared PC Game of 2011

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 59 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 59
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 59
  3. Negative: 0 out of 59
  1. AusGamers
    Nov 29, 2011
    90
    There have been obvious comparisons made to WoW, with some even going as far as calling it a clone. But what makes Rift so special is that it goes out of its way to avoid falling into the same traps as the many that have fallen before it. It avoids the painful, mindnumbing grind, makes incremental patches everyday and listens intently to its rapidly growing community.
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  2. Computer Games Online RO
    Jul 20, 2011
    89
    It's true that the soul trees offer outstanding flexibility for character development and the rifts bring a welcome sense of insecurity into Telara's everyday life, but for some players this simply might not be enough.
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  3. Gamers.at
    Jun 28, 2011
    88
    Rift offers a really polished MMO experience but looks and feels much like a mix of many good MMOs like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online and Warhammer Online.
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