Everquest Trilogy

It’s all about packaging and marketing the product – especially at this time of the year, and especially when you have another expansion pack coming out soon.

On the verge of releasing yet another expansion pack for the MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game), Verant Interactive and Sony Online Entertainment is bouncing out EverQuest: Trilogy. The idea is to lure new players (and players who may have the original and neither or one of the expansions) into the EverQuest realm by combining the first game with the two expansions, The Ruins of Kunark and The Scars of Velious. Look for expansion number three, The Shadows of Luclin, in December.

For those who have never played EverQuest, this is an online game in which you create a character and go venturing through the various lands, each richly rendered in 3D. You can team up with other online players or venture on your own on a wide variety of quests. Other players may attack you, until you get strong enough, and there are any number of monsters just waiting to test your mettle.

The game is graphically very strong, and the controls are easy to grasp. Don’t expect tremendous sound or much sound, simply because this game is focused on graphics and action. You can choose to fight manually, or allow the game to engage the auto combat. You simply target your target, and then hit the ‘A’ button to attack. The drawback to the auto attack is that it almost seems turn-based. In the manual attack, you can use a little strategy in combat, and perhaps increase your odds of winning.

The original EverQuest (termed Classic in this rendition) contains the primary elements of the game and provides players with the original continent upon which to begin their quests. It is rich with a wide variety of characters and trades players can pick from to represent themselves within the game. There also are a vast number of quests. The Ruins of Kunark featured a new continent, new zones including a zone specifically for newcomers, more NPCs (non-playing characters) and more details. The Scars of Velious added an ice-bound realm new mythology and depth to the game play.

The Trilogy offers players all three games, a collectible map of Norrath, two EverQuest figurines, and a strategy guide.

EverQuest is one of the more popular online games with a subscription rate of more than 375,000 players, and servers that will host more than 90,000 users during peak game hours. Players can attack other players, but only after being designated a player-killer. Basically you abandon the world of Order, embrace Chaos, and open yourself up to attack from other player-killers.

The variety of camera angles used in this game makes it intriguing. You can choose the third-person perspective, or experience the world through the eyes of your avatar.

Newcomers may find the game lingo used by other players to be a bit confusing, but just ask. Most players are more than willing to offer tips. If there is a drawback to the game, it lies in server congestion and each time that you log on, you may have to wait while the game searches for patches. But you can view that constant patch update as a sign that this game is well supported.

EverQuest is rated Teen for animated blood and gore, animated violence and suggestive themes.

This game may not appeal to everyone, but if you are up for a challenge, and enjoy fantastic realms, then this package deal will give you everything you may want in a fantasy online game.

For reviews of the individual programs that are part of this package, please check out these GameZone links:

www.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r12068.htm 
www.gamezone.com/gamesell/reviews/r15772.htm 
www.gamezone.com/gamesell/reviews/r13609.htm 

Install: Easy
This game only requires at least 600 megs of hard-drive space.

Gameplay: 8
This game moves very smoothly, and the game boards are quite large. Control elements really don’t take that long to get a handle on.

Graphics: 8
This three-dimensional world may have a few sharp angles, but for the most part it is wonderfully rendered. The animation is excellent.

Sound: 6.5
What is here is merely average for MMORPGs and not even average for RPGs.

Difficulty: 9
This is about slow, patient leveling-up to make your characters strong enough to survive the challenges. And just when you think you are strong enough, another challenge is likely to change that opinion.

Concept: 9
What a nice way to snare all previous titles in the series in anticipation of the upcoming expansion pack.

Multiplayer: 9
This is only way you can play this game, and it has been very well designed.

Overall: 8.5
This package is put together very well, and it is packed with value. EverQuest will be receiving some challenges in the genre of MMORPGs, but it still has to be considered one of the best on the market.