Electronic Arts is clearly not on the same page. I might have paid $10- $15 (and maybe even $20.00) and thought nothing of it. Forty bucks just seems cruel. Waitaminute, NO online multiplayer? ZERO? The WALMART board game is $15 bucks, folks. FAIL.

From EA:

About Sims 3 World Adventures:

Take your Sims on the adventure of their lives with The SimsTM 3 World Adventures. Guide your Sims to acclaimed fortune—or potential doom. Take your Sims to exotic destinations to hunt for hidden treasures. Uncover new skills, experience new personality traits and garner rewards, if your Sims succeed. Explore ancient tombs in the pyramids of Egypt, master martial arts in the Far East, and discover rich culture and famous landmarks in France. Go online for additional content and $10 worth of free SimPoints. Adventure is on the horizon — what will your Sims discover?

FEATURES
• Accept challenges, find treasures, discover what’s lurking in hidden caves and more.
• Explore famous landmarks in China, Egypt, and France.
• Learn new skills like photography and pursue new opportunities.
• Meet new Sims from exotic locations and share their cultures.
• Customize your Sims homes with new styles & artifacts from their adventures.
• Get $10 worth of free SimPoints for The Sims 3 Store as well as additional online features soon to be announced.

[View with PicLens]

If the videogame industry thought they were immune to the economic downturn just a year ago, they’re certainly not still singing that tune today. Electronic Arts posted net losses of $391 million dollars for their second fiscal quarter this year, compared to last year’s loss of $310 million.

One of the measures the firm is going to take is to let go of 1,500 jobs, or roughly 16% of the workforce to save $100 million dollars a year. Electronic Arts CEO John Riccitiello stated “We are making tough calls to cut cost in targeted areas and investing more in our biggest games and digital businesses.”

The top 5 selling titles for the firm during the quarter were NCAA Football 10, Madden NFL 10, FIFA 10, Need for Speed: SHIFT and The Beatles: Rock Band.

Though the announcement comes a little later than expected, Bioware and EA shocked no one by confirming a limited Collector’s Edition for Mass Effect 2. The Collectors’ Edition of Mass Effect 2 comes in a premium, tin case and includes the full version of the game, a 48-page hardcover “Art of Mass Effect 2” book, Issue 1 of the Mass Effect Redemption comic book, and a bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes and making-of videos. In addition, the Mass Effect 2 Collectors’ Edition will include unique in-game weapons and armor that can only be obtained by purchasing this version.

Releasing alongside the standard edition of the game on both PC and Xbox 360, gamers can expect to play Mass Effect 2 on January 26, 2010 in North America. With the Mass Effect Collector’s Edition being hard to come by and the recently released Dragon Age: Origins Collector’s Edition being only briefly available for pre-order through traditional retail shops; gamers interested in this special may want to jump on their local stores quickly.

This, of course, is what the master tacticians of EA marketing want you to think.

What happens when a free-roaming adventure jumps genres and goes from God of War pummeling to Command and Conquer strategy? If those descriptions are all over the map, that’s actually Brutal Legend in a nutshell. Does Legend’s hybrid mash-up of free-roaming adventure meets driving, meets strategy, equal the sum of its parts? Or, is Brutal Legend all metal angst and hilarious – but squandered – potential?

The Props:
Brutal Legend’s strongest suit is the heavy hand of gaming’s wittiest writer, Tim Schafer. From the evocative character designs to the high-energy score, you don’t have to be a fan of rock or even a long-time fan of video gaming to see that the developers at Double Fine put such an outstanding effort into the presentation, that you’ll probably enjoy experiencing the game no matter how it plays. It’s a gorgeous world that might not be the most technically impressive if, say, Gears of War 2 or Uncharted is your benchmark. Artistically however, Brutal Legend is possibly one of the most visually imaginative games of this generation. I get giddy simply going into the world to look around, and in an age where every game fumbles over the other to topple the last game graphically, Brutal Legend’s artistry has staying power.

Musically, it’s a sonic boom in ode to the heavy metal action noise of the 80s . Credit goes to Schafer for demystifying the ‘devil’s music’, ie, those Metallica, Slayer, and Judas Priest songs that black kids like me grew up running and screaming from. Schafer finds humor and humanity in the absurdity and playfulness of it all, utilizing even the most demonic classic rock imagery and creating a compelling world where the greatest fault lies in the game not allowing us to explore it enough.

Jack Black and the cast of voice actors from previous Schafer games do an outstanding job of pulling you into what is essentially an interactive animated movie. There really is a rich world here, with a back story earnestly played about fire gods, fallen demons, and the glory of metal. Brutal Legend’s journey alternates between incredibly funny and deadly serious, with romance, drama, and enough honest-to-goodness reverence for these characters that you’ll often find yourself desperate to get back to the cuts-scenes. It’s an experience that any long-time gamer should play at least once.

The Wack:
Unfortunately, for all of the love and attention to the characters, writing, and art, the actual game play is a mess of excess. Brutal Legend is part driving game, part free-roaming adventure, and about 85% Real Time Strategy game. The designers borrow elements from other franchises with reckless abandon. Access special worlds and abilities via a Guitar Hero mechanic, playing chords in a pseudo rhythm game to unlock power-ups. Drive around GTA style via a free roaming world in The Deuce, your makeshift hotrod, and you’re able to get around the world faster – but the designers put such little thought into giving you reason to explore the world or in diversifying the side-missions (racing quests or quick battle sneak attacks), that anything involving the over world feels like an afterthought.

Truth be told, it probably was.

There is a car, but no hint of a mini-map, thus making it frustratingly easy to get lost during the game’s many race sub games. There’s money for upgrading yourself and your vehicle, but most of it you really don’t need. The over world inhabitants can be passed without incident, unless you’re really just looking for something to do to break up the missions.

It’s a shame because the lack of mission variety gives very little reason to explore a world BEGGING to be explored. No secret caves or villages or lands beyond the sea. The over world that you play in the demo, and the one that the marketing campaigns show over and again, is one that you’ll barely ever see unless you make an effort to. Unfortunately, you’ll spend the bulk of your time engaged in the game’s most frustrating and dominant mechanic: The RTS-heavy Stage Battles.

There’s a strong concept here. Had the game been a solid combat game alone, or perhaps a strong exploration heavy adventure, there’d be a whole lot less complaint. It’s when Brutal Legend introduces a complete strategy game, with resource gathering, sub units, and special attacks, that your heart will soar at how cool this game could be, then sink when you realize how horribly the RTS has been implemented.

Like Kingdom Under Fire before it, Brutal Legend gets daring in allowing gamers to control troops from a sky-high vantage point, or down and dirty at ground level, fighting action-game style with your rag-tag rock band. There’s resource management (collecting fans) and base-building (your concert stage), and even troop management (members of your band) – all analogously re-branded in Brutal Legend’s clever mythology. Not only is this strategy-heavy game play the bulk of the 6+ hour campaign, but it’s the whole of the multiplayer component. Frankly, if you want longevity from Brutal Legends, you’d better grow to love the multiplayer. More, you’d better be willing to spend a lot of time learning the intricacies of a very awkward RTS combat system.

Good luck with that.

Brutal Legend promises the moon with three well-rounded factions (the mobile humans, the powerful demons, and the swarming goth undead), but totally misses the boat with terribly clumsy controls during battles.

Good luck trying to effectively isolate troops or in attempting actual strategic placements and attacks. Troops don’t consistently respond to commands, will attack broad areas without the option to do otherwise, and seem only good for doing the ONE thing Schafer has publically gone on record saying should be employed: The one-on-one double team attacks.

Standing next to any troop type and pressing Y allows you to engage in a powerful special attack unique to that troop. Standing with one character might kick off a powerful sword strike. Tapping Y near a vehicle, and you can man the gun’s turrets. Stand near a group of your head-banging brute soldier class, and kick off a powerful ‘mosh pit’ where you lead the whole troop into pummeling a single adversary.

Clearly, this is how Schafer wants the game to be played to begin with. Again, not a bad mechanic in an action game, but considering that the strategy almost always devolves into finding a troop type, flooding the map, and special Y attacking your foes to death, the complicated and wasted real time strategy elements stay consistent with the rest of the game’s wasted potential. Considering that the RTS element really is the bulk of the game, you’d better learn to love it or hate it if you want any long-term value.

So Basically…
Despite all of the venom, I enjoyed playing Brutal Legend. The cut-scenes and the beautiful-but-underdeveloped world make it a prime suspect for future DLC. More, although the RTS element doesn’t even come into the top tier of the genre on the console, it’s playable. The diversity of the different classes is fantastic, and the ability to play real-live opponents online might make this a title worth revisiting with some DLC tweaking.

Brutal Legend could’ve used more development and a lot more over world missions, but it’s tough for me to dissuade anyone from buying the game. It really is that charming. Brutal Legend’s reach far surpasses what it actually accomplishes, but for my 60 bucks, I’d rather shoot for ambition than cliché’d perfection.

In this tough economy, Brutal Legend is worth a rental. Depending on what Electronic Arts announces regarding future plans for the game, I’d argue that Brutal Legend is a beautiful failure, but a trip well worth taking…even if there are stumbles along the way. Rock on.

Let’s just be honest, the Need for Speed franchise has gotten a bit stale as of late. The series was beginning to feel like Madden, it seemed like you were getting one of the previous games from the series with a few new features and content. Typically that came in the form of new models of sports cars and some shiny new graphical techniques. Need for Speed: Shift has broken that mold and created a new foundation that EA will most likely build upon until there is no room to build anymore. The huge change in gameplay? Realism.

Though part of the fun of my previous favorite NFS game, Need For Speed: Most Wanted was the ridiculously over the top driving action, Need for Speed: Shift contains at least as much action if not, more. True, the action may not be the same as in that previous title, but in more of a SPEED TV’s GT kind of way. Gone are the driving off of platforms only to fall 50 feet and land your car full speed to evade police and make shortcuts. Cars don’t fly in Need for Speed: Shift, though you most likely will see a few wrecks that would make someone who gets shot out of a canon for a living cringe.

Also, gone are the ridiculous power slides and full 360 turns while maintaining top speed. Apparently in the new NFS universe the laws of physics apply somewhat. Need for Speed: Shift is the first game I have played that conveys the feeling of weight transfer in a vehicle. This is achieved by the camera movements in the cockpit view and the blurred screen that shortly follows to simulate disorientation. These subtle camera movements are impressive as they simulate the driver moving in the seat from side to side or the lunge forward as the weight transfers from the rear suspension to the front during a head on collision. No other game does this on the level Need for Speed: Shift does right now. Just having that cockpit immersion, while seemingly ridiculous or distracting at times, is note worthy.

Though the game can be played from tradition hood views and behind the car views, you really are missing out if you don’t experience the cockpit view. While race games have modeled the outside of vehicles for many years now the individual interiors of cars is something that began with current gen systems. Need for Speed: Shift models every car interior from the drivers seat to the dash board, and passenger seat all the way down to stereo and gauges, all of which work by the way. In some vehicles you may even find yourself using these dashboard gauges instead Heads Up Display. For the racing vets you’ll probably just rely on the sound of the motor but it’s still cool to see.

The motors sound incredible, with the sound being great, period. Well maybe not the music but who really expects that anyway. From the tires squealing to the suspension bottoming out, this game is aurally immersive. More impressive than the individual sounds are the way the whole cacophony of them come together to create a sense of violence and struggle between maintaining speed and control. All this sucks you that much deeper into the experience and exhilaration of being a race car driver.

Need for Speed: Shift is a bit loose as far as handling goes and does allow a somewhat arcade driving style to work with all the assists on, but its understandable that the developer had a desire to make the game more accessible. If anything this allows a player to grow with Need for Speed: Shift and perhaps begin cutting the assists back as they progress through the game. There’s plenty of time to improve as well.

Need for Speed: Shift throws you right into a race to gauge your skill and then even recommends driving assists. From there you start out as usual in a mildly spirited machine and race in the first of several tiers of racing events to lead you to the big leagues so to speak, the NFS World Tour. Races have a nice bit of variety too from ‘run what ya brung’ to drifting events, car rivalries, nemesis challenges, and closed class races. The difficulty of opponents does seem to ramp up as things go along but the AI has a remarkably human feel to it. Opponents make mistakes, crash into each other, and even drive off the track at random moments. It’s nice to actually play a racer where the AI isn’t perfect, where that guy you been chasing and can’t catch may actually mess up.

Need for Speed: Shift is easily the most fun I’ve had playing a racing game in a couple of years. The upgrades and tuning provides that aspect that the tinkerers and car fanatics always enjoy. The races are both unpredictable and frenetic, while feeling more rewarding and skillful than any NFS title has been to date. Whether you’re a fan of the NFS series or Gran Turismo you will be able to appreciate what Need for Speed: Shift does. Big props to Slightly Mad Studios for taking over the game and breathing some new life into the dated franchise.

Bioware and Electronic Arts have announced the ship date for Mass Effect 2. Previously expected to be an early 2010 release, fans may not have known exactly HOW early in 2010 the game was going to hit retail. Today’s announcement points the ship date at January 26, 2010 on both Xbox 360 and PC.

The announcement also carried news that there will be exclusive in-game items made available to those who pre-order the title. Gamestop customers will recieve an armor set with increased run speed and personal shields as well as a weapon, while other retailers will give an armor set that helps with negotiations in dialogue trees.

More info as it breaks.

With that, the launch trailer for Dragon Age: Origins was released today. Dragon Age: Origins releases in North America on November 3 for PC and Xbox 360 with a November 17 release on PS3.

The Collector’s Edition is a premium package available in limited quantities featuring exclusive Dragon Age: Origins collectibles including a unique steel case, a cloth map of the world of Dragon Age, a Making-of documentary DVD, a digital version of the Dragon Age: Origins soundtrack, game trailers, wallpapers, strategy tips and a concept art video, plus three exclusive downloadable items that will provide special advantages to the player.

With The Stone Prisoner download pack, players will have access to Shale, the mighty stone golem who can become one of the most powerful party members in the game, and comes with its own personal back-story and unique quests for the player to discover. The Stone Prisoner will also include new environments, items and hours of additional gameplay, further deepening the epic Dragon Age experience. The Stone Prisoner is available to original purchasers of new copies of Dragon Age: Origins at no additional cost. The Stone Prisoner can also be purchased separately for $15.

In addition, players who purchase a new copy of Dragon Age: Origins (original or Collector’s Edition) will receive a code to download the Blood Dragon Armor, an exclusive set of themed armor that will give the player additional protection in combat. This armor will be available for use in both Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360 and PC).

All gamers who pre-order Dragon Age: Origins will receive the Memory Band, an in-game item that can be equipped to add +1% to all gained Experience Points and which adds one bonus point that players can use to boost their character’s skill set.

Dragon Age: Origins will be released on November 3rd in North America and November 6th in Europe on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PC. The PLAYSTATION®3 version will follow later in November. The Collector’s Edition carries an MSRP of $74.99 (console) and $64.99 (PC) in North America.

IF you’re looking for a fantastic break from Call of Duty: World At War, this is what the doctor ordered. At 1200 Microsoft points and a rapid download, you really can’t beat it for the value. It’s our contender for early game of the summer.

In the meantime, enjoy the trailers:

Available this fall, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online is an authentic golf simulation experience that is dynamically streamed to a web browser and requires no game installation, no disc, and no additional peripherals. This game is easily accessible and available anywhere, via a web browser and an internet connection.

?Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online is for anyone who loves golf and is on-the-go,? said Executive Producer Mike Taramykin. ?Whether you have ten minutes on your PC in the office, or hours on your Mac at home, this is a golf game that makes time for you. With Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online, golf lovers can satisfy their golf fix anytime.?

Stuck at the airport waiting for a flight? If you have an internet connection, just open up your computer and fire up Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online! The game is literally just a click away and has high resolution 3D graphics, delivers a feature rich experience and will be regularly updated with new features.

At launch, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online will include several world class championship courses, such as Pebble Beach, TPC Sawgrass and St. Andrews, while additional new courses will be available on a regular basis. In addition, a fully stocked schedule of tournaments and multiple community features, allowing fans to connect and compete with friends, makes Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online a community for all golf fans. This community will help shape the game?s evolution, including features such as new course additions, pro shop items, and even tournament conditions.

Your time is at a premium and Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online is designed to work around your schedule ? suspend play and resume from the exact same point at a later time. Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online will be the most accessible and feature-rich golf video game experience available on any personal computer.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Online will be offered through a multi-tiered subscription in fall of 2009.

Need for Speed SHIFT car roster:

2006 Aston Martin DBR9
2009 Audi R8 LMS
2008 Audi R8
2008 Audi RS 4
2007 Audi S3
2007 Audi TT 3.2 quattro
2006 Audi S4
BMW M3 E36
BMW M3 E46
BMW M3 E92
2008 BMW 135i Coup?
2009 BMW M3 GT2
2007 BMW Z4 M Coup?
2008 Bugatti Veyron 16.4
2006 Dodge Challenger Concept
2008 Dodge Viper SRT10
Falken Tire 2010 Ford Mustang GT
2010 Ford Shelby GT500
2007 Ford Focus ST
2006 Ford GT
2006 Need For Speed Shelby Terlingua
1996 Ford Escort RS Cosworth
2009 Chevrolet Camaro SS
2006 Chevrolet Cobalt SS
2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2006 Honda Civic Si
2000 Honda S2000
2006 Koenigsegg CCX
2008 Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4
2007 Lamborghini Murci?lago LP640
2007 Lamborghini Revent?n
2006 Lotus Elise 111R
2007 Lotus Exige S
2005 Maserati MC12 GT1
2008 Mazda MX-5
2006 Mazda RX-8
1995 Mazda RX-7
1994 McLaren F1
2007 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 Edition
2007 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer EVOLUTION
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer EVOLUTION IX MR-edition
2003 Infiniti G35 (V35)
1997 Nissan 200SX (S14)
2009 Nissan 370Z (Z34)
2006 Nissan 350Z (Z33)
2009 Nissan GT-R SpecV (R35)
2008 Nissan GT-R (R35)
2000 Nissan Silvia (S15) spec.R AERO
1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34)
1972 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R
1992 Nissan 240SX (S13)
2006 Pagani Zonda F
2010 Pagani Zonda R
2008 Porsche 911 GT2
2009 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
2006 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2004 Porsche Carrera GT
2007 Porsche Cayman S
2008 Renault M?gane RS
2007 SEAT Leon CUPRA
2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2007 Lexus LF-A Concept
2008 SCION tC
1986 Toyota Corolla GTS (A86)
2008 Volkswagen Scirocco
2006 Volkswagen Golf GTI

Need for Speed SHIFT track list:

1. Alpental
2. Autopolis International Racing Course
3. Ambush Canyon
4. Brands Hatch
5. Dakota
6. Ebisu Circuit
7. Glendale
8. Hazyview
9. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
10. London
11. Miytomi
12. Nordschleife
13. Road America
14. Rustle Creek
15. Silverstone
16. Circuit de Spa Francorchamps
17. Tokyo
18. Willow Springs

“We’re going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA. “Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be an unforgettable RPG-shooter experience, taking players on a non-stop roller-coaster ride filled with stunning plot twists and no-holds-barred action.”

The title has been announced for an early 2010 release. Interestingly enough, the sequel still hasn’t been announced for PlayStation 3; with only the PC and Xbox 360 being confirmed so far. We’ll have more details as they break.

So here’s the teaser for the greedy. More please.

Godfather II will be available on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on April 7. Stay tuned to PopCultureShock for more.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.– Electronic Arts Inc. and Double Fine Productions, Inc. today announced that they have signed an exclusive publishing agreement that will bring the highly-anticipated rock-adventure Br?tal Legend? to gamers, headbangers, roadies and rockers worldwide next Fall. The latest creation from gaming icon Tim Schafer and the award-winning team at Double Fine, Br?tal Legend is a 3rd person Action/Adventure game starring Jack Black in the role of roadie Eddie Riggs, who sets on an epic quest to build an army of rockers with only a broad axe, a big block V8 and his faithful guitar in hand.

Br?tal Legend will be available for the Xbox 360? video game system and PLAYSTATION?3 computer entertainment system Fall 2009.

In the videogame industry, we have many genres and themes that have gone far beyond being overdone. One of those themes is that of shooting zombies. As hard as it may be to believe, Valve and EA have put out a zombie title that is innovative and fresh both in delivery and gameplay.

Left 4 Dead is a first person shooter that places gamers in the role of one of four ’survivors’ of the zombie apocalypse. Simply put, your only objective is to survive long enough to get to a rescue location. The setting takes place across four scenarios that are setup as self contained ‘movies.’ Where things take a slight turn off the beaten path is the fact that instead of fighting alone, Left 4 Dead is completely co-op based.

Whether you’re fighting alongside three good friends on Xbox Live or with the formidable A.I. at your side, in Left 4 Dead you’re never alone. Just having a co-op function isn’t anything special in a game, but what Valve has done is to place the co-op dynamic at the heart of the gameplay experience. There are many situations that happen in game that will require someone else to lend a hand to get you out of a jam. While other co-op games will build this in by creating different classes that have weaknesses that depend on other classes’ strengths, Left 4 Dead takes a different route.

In Left 4 Dead, you can and will be easily surprised by zombie ambushes placing your life in danger and you at the mercy of your teammates. You could be walking out of a building that you just cleared as you make your way to the next safe-house, when all of a sudden you’re pulled off your feet, being hurled backwards at an alarming rate. As soon as you notice the elongated tongue of a ‘Smoker’ zombie pulling you up the side of the building, you realize that you’re completely immobile and helpless. Your only recourse is to shout through the mic to your teammates and let them know where you are so that someone can shoot him before you become an ex survivor.

You may be asking yourself how the zombie ambushes can be a surprise after you’ve played through a movie. This brings up perhaps the biggest part of Left 4 Dead, the Director A.I. Essentially, what Valve has done is to create a set of A.I. routines that examine how each of the four survivors are playing, their level of skill, positioning and other conditions. It uses this information to change all aspects of the game from the enemy placements, ambush spots, pacing, music, item and weapon placements and more. It may not sound like much reading it, but when you’re playing the same levels for the tenth time, yet you’re still on edge and shouting to your teammates to keep your tactics tight and help you out, it’ll all sink in of just what they’ve achieved here.

When you get used to being a survivor, you could flip the script and take the role of one of the special zombies as you try to ambush and kill the survivors making their way through the level. I did find this mode, Versus, to be less rewarding. Essentially, you’re playing in a multiplayer group where one side plays as zombies while the other side plays as survivors. The problem here is the balancing. The player zombies die with only two or three shots. That wouldn’t be so bad on its own, but combine this with the long ‘cooldown’ timers on the special abilities of the zombies and the problem starts to take shape. The special abilities inherent to each of the four special zombie classes are what seperate them from the standard horde fodder. Take away a Smoker’s ability to grab enemies and disable them with his tongue or Boomers being able to vomit on players, attracting hordes of zombies to bumrush your location and you’re pretty much defenseless. This is what happens when you miss with one of the special attacks and have to wait on average of 45 seconds to be able to do the ability again. First problem with this is that your location is exposed and you’ll get killed by just two or three shots from even a standard pistol. If this is the way the A.I. played the character, that would be alright as well, but they don’t have those limitations. It was probably a decision made for balancing issues, but it just doesn’t seem to be refined enough. Its a nice diversion, but I found myself disinterested with this mode very quickly.

Both the co-dependance built in from the co-op along with the suspenseful pacing and atmosphere inherent from a well done zombie flick combine to make quite the online experience. Anyone dismissing Left 4 Dead as just another zombie game would be doing themselves a serious disservice. Left 4 Dead is a title that close friends will be playing together often for quite sometime to come. Valve’s experiment was a success and we can’t wait to see what else is in store.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is a decent sized MMORPG with a lot of possibilities for fans in all categories. Whether it’s grinding solo quests, dungeon camping with friends, taking on opposing keeps in raids across four tiers, or just looking for some good old fashioned pvp, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has something to offer.

Like many MMORPGs of its ilk, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is comprised of two factions. The Realm of Order and The Realm of Destruction each have three distinct races to choose from, whether it be mighty Dwarves on the Order side or feminine Dark Elves on the Destruction side, the choice is yours. Other races include Empire (human) and High Elf on the side of Order, leaving Greenskins (orcs and goblins) and Chaos (human) on the Destruction side.

Once you’ve chosen your race, you’ll have the option to select a career type. The standard types of careers are present here ranging from tank, melee DPS, ranged DPS, or the healer type. Like any other MMORPG, each career has a wide array of skills that allow for customization of different play styles for each, with mastery skill trees to further enhance a different style of play. These mastery skill trees will differ for each individual career type respectively. You can either stick to one mastery, or you have the option to mix it up and pick and choose between the three trees. The amount of points to put in however is limited so some thought and revision will be necessary in specializing your own build.

The world of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has three distinct campaigns of war, all active at the same time. Your selection of a race will place your starting point in the world on one of the three campaigns. Each campaign has its own wide area of exploration which is broken down into four tiers. You are not limited to participating in the campaign in which you start in, however. For example if you start as a Dwarf and currently play in the campaign against the Greenskins, you have the option to travel to other campaign areas as well. This gives your character more of a choice when debating where to do personal quests and raids. Certain quests do, however, require that you travel to different areas in different campaigns which isn’t all that bad.

Getting out and exploring in the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning world isn’t without its advantages. Players will receive experience points just the same and will be able to obtain items and equipment unique to the quests available in those campaigns.

Player vs. player or realm vs. realm content on Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is above par with some room for improvement. It may seem a bit slow when you first start however it does pick up when you have some experience on the books. Each tier has a set number of instanced realm vs. realm battles called scenarios that players can participate in. These battles sometimes have objectives such as ‘capture the flag’ or ‘first to 500 points’ to keep it more than just mindless killing on both factions. As with area tiers, scenarios have a level range which limits and balances the battle. This feature eliminates higher level people from “noob bashing” or “noob farming,” which can be a pain when having to deal with a player thats 20 levels higher than you.

Area tiers 2 – 4 offer keeps and battlefield objectives, often called skirmishes, which give players another way for realm vs. realm combat. Keeps can be found in open realm vs. realm areas on the corresponding tiers. Players have the option to defend keeps they already own, or raid an the keep of an opposing faction. Players that reach tier 4 can participate in city raids. City raids, in a nut shell, are when your faction goes to claim total dominance in the corresponding campaign, by taking over the major city belonging to the other faction. Looting and plundering someone else’s city, what more can you ask for?

Public quests are pretty cool. These are essentially quests that people can all participate in and contribute to even if they aren’t grouped together. Once you walk into the boundaries of one of these areas, you’ll be told what needs to be done to clear the current objective. The progress towards clearing this objective will take into account what everyone else is doing as well. These public quests are easy to get into, they all have phases that you wouldn’t be able to complete alone, yet you don’t need to wait to join a group just to jump in and start playing.

Speaking of groups, one of the main features that sets Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning apart from the competition is open groups. Open groups allow you to see all the groups in your area, see what they’re doing, see how far they are from you and join them. Regardless of if they’re doing PvE, public quests, RvR or raiding, you’ll be able to see where the action is and jump in with the click of a button.

With the first several weeks of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning up and active, it continues to hold a decent amount of audience attraction and enjoyment. While hardcore World of Warcraft players may or may not find enough different here to warrant abandoning all the years of work they’ve done there, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is definitely worth a look.