The lands of Norrath have often been a hazardous journey for those indulging in the journey across their landscapes. Now that journey has taken on an added dimension of danger.

It is the lost age of Norrath, on the continent of Antonica. Three main factions have assembled, to battle for the platinum mines, to set their footholds firmly in the land, and to rise to the rank of Lord.

Lords of EverQuest, a release for the PC from Sony Online Entertainment and Rapid Eye Entertainment, trots out an all-star cast to lend their voices to this real-time strategy outing. The cutscenes tell a rich back-story and set the stage for rather typical game play.

There are three factions in this game and players have the opportunity to jump into scenarios as either of them: the Dawn Brotherhood, the Elddar Alliance or the Shadowrealm. Each group has stock tree for the construction of units and buildings and you can build up your forces through mining platinum for the financial resources to build and maintain units.

You build the structures that allow you to launch more buildings and more units.

The Lady Sakti is a 14-year-old warrior, fierce in battle, and one of the youngest generals of the Dawn Brotherhood. Her first task, which is the first tale in the evolving storyline, is to march northwest with a group of warriors, and wipe out the Shadowrealm forces camping the platinum mines. Initial skirmishes are easily won, and she will pick up more units along the way, including a heal-casting dwarf who will keep your troops from falling as quickly during the onslaught.

Oh, don’t worry, no need to keep your eye on the troops’ health bar and manually have the wizard heal those on the brink of death. The heal is an auto-cast and he will rain health down on those in dire need – well, at least until his mana runs out.

As players level, they acquire new abilities. Some are automatically used; others have to be triggered. Sakti’s initial skill is feign death. When enemies are closing in, she can fake dying so they leave here alone. Yep, that’s a skill you want to see in leaders – take a dive so they attack your fellows and not you. How inspiring is that?

The game has 15 lord models and more than 60 warrior types. Each lord has special attributes, which can rub off on those in close proximity to them. The title will allow up to 12 people to compete online in a variety of mission types, had a game editor for those who which to create their own scenarios, and free online play through SOEgames.net.

When you launch the game, you get to choose your ‘lord,’ the one to lead your army. Each has unique gifts and each will have an effect on the mission difficulty. Some are easy to play and others hard.

After you have picked your commander, you are whisked into a cutscene that sets up the beginning scenario. Each successive scenario evolves from your entry point into the game, but don’t expect a lot of variation. Launch the Sakti character and then the Lord Huigar character and you will be struck with that ‘didn’t I just hear all this?’ feeling. Yes, you did. The mission base is extremely lean when it comes to variety.

Sure, the game makes an attempt at being immersive, but with everything seeming to play out within the same story frame, only changing up the characters and voices, the only variance are the spells and the difficulty rating.

The player interface is customizable, but those familiar with the RTS genre will have no trouble at all leaping into this game with both feet.

Graphically this game is lush and colorful. The water effects within the environments are tremendous and the overall look of the game is superb. The voice work is also well done, though some of the actors seem misplaced in terms of the characters they are voicing, and the musical score is spot on.

Lords of EverQuest is typical of the genre. There is really nothing new or exciting in terms of a foray into the RTS field. This would be a good game for newcomers to the genre but fans of EQ might find this to be a little too elementary.

One little aside to this story: When the game was initially put on the P4 2.26 GHz system with a GeForce 4 MX 420, it did not work. The interface was scrambled and there were no interface options to click on. On a whim, the game was installed on a P3 800 MHz with a GeForce 4 Ti4200 card and ran fine. Both machines are running the Windows XP OS.

This game is rated Teen for blood and gore and violence.

Gameplay: 7.6

The game does have a fair amount of cutscenes, but the missions take place on a finite mapboard, which is seamless. The action is all in real-time, which means the game flows smoothly through each scenario.

Graphics: 7.8

The cutscenes are well done, for the most part, and the environments are lush. The battle animations are smooth.

Sound: 7

Some of the voice characterizations of the all-star cast works; some do not. John Rhys-Davies supplying the voice of Lord Huigar, a dwarven warrior of the Dawn Brotherhood is an example of one that works – likely because we are used to hearing his rich voice as Gimli in the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. However Katey Sagal’s (likely most widely known as Peg on the television show Married With Children) voice is too mature to pass as the 14-year-old Lady Sakti. And rather that give this fine cast variety, they end up saying the same lines over and again in similar missions. The musical score is very good

Difficulty: Easy/Medium

Each mission is rated in difficulty, but the medium missions seem a little on the simple side if you have had any experience with this style of game.

Concept: 6.5

In many ways this is a typical RTS trading off the EverQuest name.

Multiplayer: 7.5

This is where the game gets a little more interesting. Players can link up through SOEgames.net, and indulge in two styles of gameplay, a free-for-all or team. There are five styles of play – last man standing, body harvest, platinum rush, grim reaper (another version of the last-man standing game) and lord of levels.

Overall: 7.2

Lord of EverQuest sports richly detailed environments, a solid soundtrack and gameplay. However, this game is a somewhat typical foray into the RTS genre.