The Catholic Game Nerd

I have to admit, I'm a late adapter to the MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game for all you gringos out there) scene.  However, after my free trial with World of Warcraft ended, I had a desire to play more, just without having to pay money.  Now, if you look online, there are entire sites devoted to reviewing the myriad free MMORPG sites out there.  I've played several.  Runescape happens to be one of them.  What do I think about Runescape?  Well, you're reading my review aren't you?

Runescape is a nice 3D graphical MMORPG (yes, there are still MMORPG out there that are text based and 2d).  It's free to join and there are loads of people playing at pretty much any time of day or night.  In fact, Runescape.com claims that there are over 130 million accounts created.  Doubtless, many of these accounts are created by the same person in order to be a supply farm or credit farm for the user's main account, but that's still a lot of accounts.  There are plenty of players to quest with and with whom you can interact.  Many of the older MMORPGs suffer from lack of players.  You will not experience this with Runescape.

Runescape is played using your web browser.  It claims that there is no installation necessary.  This was actually my lone complaint with the game.  Well, strike that.  I have another complaint later.  But back to the browser based game.  In my opinion, browser based games are nice for ebaumsworld and other "breaktime" sites with flash games to kill a few minutes.  Grapically intense and involved games just don't seem to jive well for me when they are browser only.  I like the idea of having the general maps and terrain already loaded into my computer.  It seems, to me anyway, that the games run better when I've installed them.  Then the net connection only needs to worry about the generated beasts, and all the other players roaming about.  In my time with Runescape, I noticed a lot of lag.  This did get on my nerves about as much as playing Second Life.  That is probably my #2 reason for quitting the Runescape scene.

The gameplay in Runescape is marvelous.  I enjoy having some say in what my character can do.  I like having the freedom to be able to accomplish a lot of different feats and not to be dependant on certain guilds to do things for me all the time.  The tutorials introduce you well enough into the skills you can develop.  That part is fine.  Character movement is fairly fluid, lag aside.   You can get where you want to go and it doesn't look too clunky.  I mean, what do you expect for a browser based FREE online MMORPG?

Graphics?  The graphics in Runescape left something to be desired.  I admit that I was not looking for World of Warcraft polish and style, but I am looking for quality.  That's what makes freeloaders like me want to stay.  The lack of visual appeal is my #3 reason for leaving Runescape.  It doesn't look bad.  There aren't stick figures or anything.  Oh, while I'm thinking about it, there is a great free RPG online with stick figures and I've been playing it for at least 3 years.  Sometime you need to check out kingdomofloathing.com.  You'll like it.  Back to our regularly scheduled review.  The graphics just aren't that sharp.  I think the developers might be able to polish the game up a bit by loading more detailed character models in an installed game, rather than rendering on the fly via browsers.  

What was the number one reason for leaving Runescape?  Was it the lack of adventures?  Nope, plenty of those.  Was it rampant immorality and wanton violence?  Nope.  This fantasy game doesn't have carjacking and prostitution.  You're fighting mythical beasts for pete's sake.  The reason I left this game was the constant begging for upgrading my account.  Listen, if there's one thing I can't stand about free stuff, it's free stuff that asks for money.  I've no problems with ad supported games and websites.  Advertising makes the world go around.  No, it's the fact that a site brags on being totally free, and then nags you to upgrade "for a small fee" in order to "take full advantage of all the game's features".  There are so many games like this out there that I almost don't play.  But all the other factors plus the money hounding just wore my resistance to the limit.  I quit and tried somewhere else to get my fantasy gaming fix.  

How would I rate Runescape?  I give it three 20-sided die out of five (3/5).  It's not that bad, but it's not that good.  Don't hesitate to try it, just don't expect too much.   

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 15th, 2008 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Catholic Game Nerd Review, MMORPG Reviews, catholic video game reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.