The Bottom Line: The game looks and sounds great, but that only disguises the little there is to do. It's Everquest, but prettier. If you need an MMORPG, grab it. Otherwise, pass.

True, the elves don't have pointy ears, and your wand periodically needs a new ammo clip, but in the end this game almost duplicates previous(though successful)formulas.

Don't get the wrong idea, in some ways this game definitely pushes the envelope. Fantastic graphics, a stunning world to explore, and what promises to be an interesting, if not original, plot of evil mega-corporations and valiant rebels.

From the get-go, this game seems fresh and remarkably different from its predecessors. A sci-fi assortment of races, from the "Almost human" to the engineered strong-arm provide a nice respite for those tired of elves and dwarves. Still, the races show their ancestry, the average-in-all-respects Joe, thief, magic user, and warrior of yore, albeit with cosmetic enhancement.

A variety of classes are available, from the run of the mill damage dealers to classes more suited to utilizing tradeskills, through which one can indeed advance, a feature lacking in most former MMORPGs that many have clamored for.

Fighters can look forward to more traditional axes and swords, to fancier blades fashioned with electric blades, and even blasters and pistols.

Nano-technology, AO's variant on the magic theme, provides its users with everything from stat advancements, to damage dealing nano-attacks, in the guise of formulas, which are uploaded.

The skill tree has more freedom than in most previous games. Do you want a dashing gunslinger? Or perhaps a bloodthirsty sword fiend, it's up to you.

Gameplay
Once you get out into the world, the mechanical unoriginality of the game begins to show through the lavish scenery. The premise is fairly basic.

Go out, kill things, get xp/money, come back and get better stuff to kill bigger things with.

Missions which create individual dungeons have eliminated the disputes over contested spawns dropping wanted and rare items, as was done in former games. Still, the monotony of "auto-attack" is still the prevalent advancing force in the game, and to what end? Auto-attacking bigger creatures.

Gameplay all but revolves around these missions, in which a player presses auto-attack, waits for the enemy to die, patches himself up, and moves on, until he can grab the quest item/reward, at which point one typically runs back to town in order to buy more ammo, and another mission.

Lag can feature very prominently here, the original release of the game seemed incapable of handling the amount of players on at once. This results in frequent drops, or even spates of minutes in which character and computer swing at one another to no effect. However, Funcom is working diligently, and the bugs and server issues have been diminishing noticeably.

PVP fighting provides a bit more challenge, as you can't decide the strength of your foes ahead of time, as with missions, yet it is still ultimately an auto-attack certificate for who has the biggest gun.

Graphics
The game is gorgeous. Where flat planes and triangles have become the norm, Funcom has created beautiful rolling landscapes, reflective waters, and a variety of interestingly shaped opponents. Mutants and various foreign lifeforms possess an organic appearance, instead of angular polygons. Evil killer robots can look menacingly streamlined, suited to chasing down errant rebels.

The landscapes provide a variety of lovely sights, from the shimmering double suns above a waterfall fed jungle, to the scorching barrenness of the open desert. Storms roll in with a convincing feel, and in the desert sand will blow up and obscure your vision in a red haze..

Even the cities differ, from the brooding sci-fi goth of Omni-1, to the romantic old-world style of West Athen. Truly, the initial investment of 50 dollars can be worthwhile just to see the stunning visuals incorporated into the outdoors.

Still, the graphic splendor has its pitfalls, despite meeting minimum requirements, and then some, more lush environs could easily reduce my computer to a crawl, with framerates not even in excess of 1 per second. Occasionally I would have to kill the program and wait for my stricken memory cache to right itself before I could move.

Sadly, again the missions feature less interest and detail. There are roughly 5 or 6 themes, chosen more or less at random. Mission areas are essentially several squares, dressed in a particular theme, joined together by doors, providing largely nonsense layouts (tunnels that lead no where, etc), and repetitive locals that quickly grow stale.

Sound
Again, gorgeous describes the score provided for this game. The music is enough of a treat that one could almost wish to suspend the action a moment to enjoy.

Sound effects seem to jump out. The sudden bursts of a pulse rifle, to the confused bleepings of a damaged robot, all lend themselves to a science fiction film gone wild.