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MMORPGs of 2005 - Part 1 2004 has been a good year for the MMORPG market with the release of extremely anticipated titles like EverQuest 2 and of course World of Warcraft. But it's not over! The upcoming year promises at least as many great games, raising the question of knowing if I have enough time to play them all. To prepare these articles more than a hundred games were reviewed and we found that more than a third of the projects were cancelled before they were even released. The conclusion we draw from that is that 2005 is also going to be a new hecatomb in a market saturated with offers, compared to weak growth of the number of online players. The Matrix Online
Official Site Developer: Monolith Publisher: Sega/Warner Bros Release Date: Spring 2005 Leather suits will be trendy this spring as the online continuation of the Wachowski brothers' trilogy is released; it'll be the first MMORPG created by Monolith which is best known for its FPS like Alien Vs Predator. This game will surely attract a lot of the movies' fans but the big task will be to keep them playing when the initial excitement over bullet time wears off. Guild Wars
Official Site Developer: ArenaNet Publisher: NCsoft Release Date: Q1 2005 Guild Wars is the creation of a team composed of ex-Blizzard devs who were behind Starcraft, Diablo and Battle.net. In fact they brought it a step ahead mixing a powerful character evolution with an efficient instancing quest model, making it less a MMORPG than a CORPG (Competitive Online RPG). Guild Wars is especially original with its subscription model, which is not based on monthly fees but on the sale of expansions, driving the cost down for the player. The enthusiastic crowd present during the worldwide preview events ensures that it will certainly be one of the large successes of 2005. Dark And Light
Official Site Developer: NP Cube Publisher: Farlan Entertainment Release Date: Q2 2005 If a list of features could make a great game, Dark&Light would be the first. NP Cube is promising some really ambitious things like a 40.000km² gameworld without any loading, the possibility to become the king or conquer a town and enough of other goodies to whet your appetite. The question is how many of those features will actually be present at release? Middle Earth Online
Official Site Developer: Turbine Publisher: VU Game Release Date: 2005 Tolkien has made a big comeback with the LoTR trilogy and now Turbine is offering you the opportunity to take part in the great events of the Third Age. Turbine profits from a product which is sure to attract tens of thousands fans - the challenge they face is to satisfy the fans which can be difficult when one knows about the attachment to the details they have. Dungeons & Dragons Online
Official Site Developer: Turbine Publisher: Atari Release Date: Q3-4 2005 People have always been asking for more battles against an evil dragon in a dark dungeon; they're now given the best known incarnation of this fantasy theme: Dungeons & Dragons, a 30 years old pen-and-paper game. The action will take place in the world of Eberron, the latest campaign setting of WoTC. The fact that D&D Online is based on the 3.5 set rules edition will, without a doubt, attract a lot of players who were bewitched by some dozens of RPGs using it, giving D&DO a familiar look and feel. Will Turbine prove itself able to bypass that fact to make D&DO a great game on its own? You'll soon be able to discover if they succeed as Turbine opens up beta signups in the next weeks. City Of Villains
Official Site Developer: Cryptic Studios Publisher: NCsoft Release Date: 2005 City of Heroes was quite a surprise with its mechanics oiled well from the very start, giving the power to create an original super-hero in Paragon city. Cryptic is taking care of the diabolic maniacs among us with City of Villains, the first expansion to the original game, which will feature secret lairs, deadly powers and weapons. By adding criminal organizations led by players, they are giving CoH players memorable confrontation opportunities. We hope that Marvel isn't going to sue them for that, too. Imperator
Official Site Developer: Mythic Publisher: Release Date: Q4 2005 We know litte about the upcoming title of Mythic, creator of DAoC. It takes place in an alternate reality where Rome has survived and is now fighting against some mysterious enemies. Asheron's Call: Throne of Destiny
Official Site Developer: Turbine Publisher: SOE Release Date: Q1-2 2005 Asheron's Call was literally resurrected by the repurchase of its rights by its creator after having known morose times under the reign of Microsoft. Turbine will provide to this 5 year old game an updated graphics engine, a new playable race, new creatures and items, and of course a raise of the level cap to 275. This add-on will probably satisfy the thousands of players who preferred to remain with AC rather than move on to AC2. Asheron's Call 2: Legions
Official Site Developer: Turbine Publisher: SOE Release Date: Q1-2 2005 The fourth product to be shipped by Turbine this year, AC2: Legions will bring a new playable race, the Empyreans, and the new continent Knorr to the game. With many problems at its release, the best that one can say is that the servers are not over-populated and the best we can hope is that it gives a new breath to this game. Dragons of Norrath
Official Site Developer: Verant Publisher: SOE Release Date: Q1 2005 Dragons of Norrath is the ninth extension to the EverQuest saga, which puts you in search of the Nest - the ancestral birthplace of all the dragons. As usual it'll have new creatures, items and a lot of features for the guilds like banks, ads, portal... |
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