Adventure Quest Worlds
*note: This is a first look at the current public Gamma version and our rating is subject to change.
Some people now-a-days like their video games like a microwave meal. Quick, easy, and tasty. Well, it may not be very tasty if you try to eat it but Adventure Quest Worlds soars at being quick and easy to pick up and play. Usually a trait common for casual puzzle games, its interesting to see a MMORPG accomplish it. Let me get a few things clear right from the beginning of this article. I love games, I love free games, I like fantasy adventures, and I even like a few quests every now and then. But for my best efforts, I didn’t enjoy this game. Now wait, before you think this is a bad game its not. Adventure Quest is actually a very enjoyable and well made game, just not personally my taste, and I am always careful to review a game fairly even if I personally did not enjoy it. For instance, I hate sports games, but I am always fair when I review them.
Adventure Quest Worlds is a 2d side scrolling persistent online Role Playing game (mmorpg). Adventure Quest was created by Artix Entertainment, the same guys who brought us other flash browser based games Adventure Quest(an older version), Dragon Fable and MechQuest. In Adventure Quest Worlds, players begin by selecting between several classes and setting out to conquer the world or whatever else for countless hours. NPC’s (Non Playable Characters) give you quests that you perform, return and level.
The experience is smooth and well done using a control system thats simplistic and intuitive. I was able to pick up the game and play it right away. Much has to be said for the developers who have created a great experience in a web browser. That means no downloads, no updates, and no spy-ware which is rampant in the free apps community. Kudos to Artix. This is way off topic but Adventure Quest seems more like a natural evolution for older games like Simon’s Quest. Yes, its pretty ridiculous to compare the two, but in that respect you see how modern games have developed cross-genre and in my opinion what they should be striving for.
Adventure Quest as a very pretty game to say the least. Characters and Environments are right out of a fantasy cartoon. The colors are bright and vibrant with strong black lines to maintain a drawn feel. It is kind of strange to see the blacked out legs and hands to reinforce depth in a 2d environment. 2d games have existed for years without needed to re-enforce depth in such a strange way, but its not a big deal just a minor gripe. But, I do have to complain about the similarity of the starting classes. I chose the Warrior class, and the initial town was filled with the same bulky blue armor clad knights all over the place. I understand that MMORPG’s typically start everyone in a class with the exact same outfit, but all that blue armor is a bit jumbled and confusing. After an hour of play, little variation was offered. This is a letdown because such a fast 2d experience with no downloads or updates should be FASTER to offer progression into the world. It should not be hard to have hundreds of outfits when they are all 2d designed. After 5 or 10 minutes, I should have been customizing my heart out.
Now, this brings me to what I dont like about the game, but is more of a genre gripe. 3d mmorpg’s are deeply visceral and interactive, therefore you can afford to force players to grind relentlessly without frequent reward. This does not work well in a 2d browser based game. Expecting people to infinitely stare blankly into an endless void of 2d marionette characters and environments is absurb and unfair. Granted, I would grind 30+ levels in Perfect World: International just for a flying Aerocraft, I am not going to do that here. What is the reward? What is the payoff? In my opinion that is where this game and possible and entire genre of gaming is missing the bigger picture. And this is especially important in online browser-based gaming where it has been proven that internet users have the attention span of literally seconds.
Overall, Adventure Quest Worlds is very well developed and deserves the highest praise in its genre, but we would look to see more content and quicker payoffs from the genre as a whole in the future.
