The kingdom of Camelot is in ruin.  Arthur is dead.  Monsters are running rampant across the land.  Who will stand up to fight these monsters and ensure Camelot doesn’t fall into terror?

Dark Age of Camelot Gold Edition is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG).  A MMORPG is a game that requires you to play online and allows you to interact with other players from all over the globe.  But with an MMORPG, how you play the game is up to you.  There are no stages to complete only quests to obtain players to interact with and lots of time spent at your PC.

The Gold Edition of Dark Age of Camelot includes the stand-alone version of Dark Age of Camelot and the expansion pack, Shrouded Isles.  The game is composed of three realms to explore, Albion (home of Camelot), Midgard and Hibernia.  With each Realm you have several different character classes to choose from, such as a Fighter, Rogue, Viking, Nature, Arms, etc.  With each class you also have several different guilds, or trades, your character can belong to.   For example an Albion Human can be an Acolyte class and belong to a Cleric Guild.  A Midgard Troll can belong to the Viking class and select a Berserker Guild.  With the expansion pack, you can select additional class & guilds, and the size of the Realms has been increased.

In order to create a character you first have to select a Realm to start out in.  Once you’ve selected the Realm, the Class of character you selected determines where you start out in the game.  Once you created your character you then start the game in your designated start town.  As soon as the game begins you stand in front of your trainer.  From this point, how you play the game depends greatly on you.  The decisions you make are up to you and you alone. Your trainer will offer you quests to complete and will reward you for completing the quests.  The quests are usually something simple such as kill a spider and bring back a spider leg.  Other quests can be more detailed such as bring back several items to make a new weapon or explore a dungeon to bring back a lost treasure.

But performing quests in the game can satisfy the single player experience but interacting with others is where the game shines.  There are hundreds of players available on each server.  These players can range from level 1 up to a level 50 character.  Talking to the other players and exploring with them is the true time killer.  You will spend hours just talking with everyone around you and grouping with them to raise your experience points.  Then as you meet more players, you’ll start to receive better weapons, armor and other items that you wouldn’t find on your own. 

Dark Age of Camelot Gold Edition is a worthy addition to any gamer’s collection of MMORPGs.  With a simple interface and great training system, Dark Ago of Camelot would be a good introduction to MMORPGs for new players.   

Gameplay 8.0

The game played smooth when exploring the different areas of each Realm.  There was hardly any slow down because of internet congestion.  The in-game options are user friendly and everyone should have little problems understanding the controls.  The game can be repetitive when you keep hunting monsters over and over again.  But by joining a player created guild or completing assigned quests the repetition can be overlooked.

Graphics 8.4

The graphics for Dark Age of Camelot are detailed for the cities and environments.  However the character animation can sometimes be very jerky.  When you see a character running across the screen, they will sometimes move like a stick figure.  This problem doesn’t occur all the time but it can be distracting.  The monsters moved well but are limited to only a few different animations.  The water and rain effects were very impressive and realistic.

Sound 7.9

As with other MMORPGs, the music is limited.  The music does set a nice tone to the game while exploring, but can be repetitive.  The different instruments in the music came across very clear and precise.  The sound effects for the different monsters in the game did get monotonous after a while.

Difficulty Medium 

With a very helpful training system at the beginning of the game, everyone should be able to jump into the game without a problem.  A rating system allows you to judge the strength of a monster before you attack them which is very helpful.  But the higher level monsters are very unforgiving and a group of monsters (mobs) can take out a low-level character right away.

Concept 8.0 

The overall concept for most MMORPG is the same.  You kill monsters, raise your experience points, and purchase or loot new equipment.  But the layout of Dark Age of Camelot is pleasing to the player.  The chat system allows you to chat to players in a general area, and to players in your guild or group.  When someone from your player created guild starts talking you’ll see an indicator that they are in your guild.  Most Non Playable Characters (NPC’s) have a description in their name to tell you what they do, such as an armor merchant, weapon merchant or trainer.  This is a great help in determining whom you need to talk to in the game.  The game even includes a creative Player vs. Player option, Realm vs. Realm.  You can always fight another player that is from another Realm.

Multiplayer: 9.0   

This game has been designed for Multiplayer since it’s a MMORPG.  One of the early quests in the game will have you join a group with other players.  Even though this quest isn’t necessary, the designers have tried to stress to the player that everyone should work together in this game.  With thousands of players playing the game at any time, there is always someone online to play with.

Overall: 8.5

Dark Age of Camelot is one of the better MMORPGs available.  The controls are well thought out, the graphics very good, and the concept excellent.  The system requirements are low (700 MHz) and one free month worth of game time is included.  However the install process was not user friendly, taking almost 45 minutes to complete.  The monthly charge of $12.95 to play is a little expensive but this is a common price for most MMORPGs.   For veterans of the other MMORPGs or someone wanting to try a MMORPG this is a recommended title.