This Month's Free 2 Play Game Review: Runes of Magic

As promised, I have spent some time in Frogster's Runes of Magic.  I had been hesitant to jump into 'Runes of Magic' for one simple reason, I had read a lot of reviews and comments on the game and everybody seemed to have the same impression, that it was attempting to be a WoW clone.  I had even tried out the game a while back (during the summer of 2009) and I just couldn't seem to get into the game.  So I left after playing for a few days.  Now I have returned to Taborea to give it a fair chance.  And I'm glad that I did.  After spending the last 20 or so days running around ingame and doing most all of the missions in the starting area and picking my second class I think it's fair to say that I have been able to actually see what the game has in store for new players.  Click below to see read my impressions of the game!

For me, the hardest part of any game/mmo is the amount of time it takes to download the game client and eagerly await it to finish patching.  This is really one of my only complaints about Runes.  Reason being, the game client download is right around 5GB's in size; and once it has downloaded there is a multitude of patches to be downloaded and installed.  In my case, the game client was downloading at a very slow pace, so I downloaded each patch myself and installed them manually.  This helped, but I feel it could be streamlined a bit more from the developer side.

After downloading the client and setting up my account through the Runes of Magic website I was able to take off and see what Taborea had in store for me.  Upon starting the game you are greeted with the 'Terms of Service' for the game.  No big deal; however, every time you start the game, you have to agree to the terms every time you log in.  Once again, no big deal.

The character generator and naming is pretty standard.  Anybody who has ever played WoW or any other fantasy based MMO will be familiar with this setup.  After setting up your character pick a server to play on and off you go.

The screen to the left is a screen capture of my Mage-Warrior.  I have found that for starting out the game the controls are comparable to other MMO's.  The map is nice and incorporates coordinates for your mouse position which helps to locate some of the mission objectives.  Some of the missions in the starting area can be somewhat confusing.  But with a little patience you'll have no problems getting them accomplished.

The standard keys for the map (M) and skills (K) are pretty much the same as other games.  Once you reach lvl 10 you can venture into Varanas and pick a secondary class.  You can switch between your primary and secondary classes, but you have to be in your house to do so.  You are allowed to get a 'player house' which you can equip with furniture and other decorations.  You can also store items in your house which is pretty cool.

There is a cash shop where you can use real life money to purchase diamonds which can be used to buy things like mounts, potions, etc.  Leveling occurs pretty quick.  However, there is quite a bit of grinding required to level up.  But it happens fairly quickly.  There is also a Day/Night system incorporated in the game as well.  Which is a neat little trick they have in game.

I found myself playing for a couple of hours on end at least once a week.  On top of the regular sessions of playing for half an hour daily.  I did really enjoy my time in Runes.  And I look forward to spending more time there as well.  I would highly recommend this game to anyone on a budget who doesn't want to commit to a monthly subscription fee.  This game is free to download and free play.  And for a free title it's very impressive.

http://us.runesofmagic.com/us/index.html

Next month's Game of The Month: Battlefield Heroes. So back back soon for more on this game.