Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning Re-review

Eurogamer decided to give Mythic’s Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning another shot, and ended up with a slightly lower review score (7/10) than they did the first time (8/10).

Such a shame, then, that the game’s sense of place and atmosphere doesn’t extend beyond some impressive vistas. Players are never more than templates, and the hugely welcome addition of four extra classes since launch hasn’t reduced the dread sense of seeing the same faces again and again and again. Oh, hey, it’s Dwarf With A Shield again, and there goes Chaos Bloke With The Funny Arm. Again.

When you don’t feel as though you’re in the shoes of anyone in particular, this in turn affects the ultimate purpose, the endless realm-versus-realm conflict that WAR is built upon. There isn’t much sense of fighting for anything but better statistics, and so people will continue to drift away. If the crowds were to dwindle any further, so would the score below, however strong the design, or consistent the updates.

WAR might well have the best PvP structures any fantasy MMO has to offer, but without more meaning and without more bodies, it can only fade. Only war isn’t enough after all.