Wizardry Online is a 3D MMORPG from Gamepot. It pits players in another adventure in a turbulent world where humanity is on the brink of destruction by evil forces. Players take the tests, try to be recognized as adventurers, accept jobs, explore dungeons, crawl in the noble ranks and earn great fame and fortune.
Playing this game requires lots of memorizing because the controls, incredibly diversified and interesting, are so complicated that you have to map almost every key on your keyboard and buttons on the mouse on one or two specific functions. Naturally, players could perform all kinds of actions. They not only move the avatars with W, A, S and D keys, adjust the view with arrow keys, jump with Space bar, and unleash skills with numeric keys, they can also greet other players, cry, laugh out loud, make applause, cheer and kneel down like a pious believer or a person with sincere regret.
And the best thing about the controls is not that they are fluid and intuitive, though they do deserve such compliments. It is the flexibility they possess. For example, the F key enables players to utilize any equipment or device they encounter. If they run into a mysterious stand, they could search it to see if any instructive tip can be found; if there is a ladder in sight, they could climb up or down through it; if the gate one needs to get through is closed, they can open it whenever necessary. And some keys function differently when players start battles.
The battles in Wizardry Online start in a unique way. Whenever you encounter a monster, for example, a beetle or a skeleton, you should always draw your weapon and then attack it before it does any harm to you. The rest of the battle is the same as in most 3D RPGs. You launch normal attacks, unleash class-specific skills, or dodge enemy attacks.
Even if you successfully keep your avatar intact through the battles against the sometimes much too active enemies, you are still not safe. You always need to pay close attention to the spikes tainted with blood in the wall, the explosive devices on the ground, and any metal piece that could fall down onto your head. Numerous traps are set inside the dungeons and you can never be too careful to walk around and observe the surroundings wherever you go.
Any severe injury or cumulative damages might lead to death and death takes great toll on players. They lose more than just blood and items in their backpack. Chances are that the more one gets killed, the more possible he or she faces permanent death. Any time one is dead, they have to find the nearest revival spot and try to revive. After an unsuccessful resurgence, the character will be turned into ash and be gone for good.
In some ways, Wizardry Online doesn’t quite stand out. The pictures clearly feature rust and bone just to create a spooky yet ancient atmosphere, and the dungeons sometimes are so dark and you have to narrow your eyes and stare into the darkness to catch what is there dozens of yards away. It is true that such graphics add mystery, thrills, excitement and difficulty to the adventure, but they are not as realistic and detailed as in most MMORPGs. Actually, they constantly remind me of the lousily crafted identical MMORPGs produced in China and South Korea. And somehow the avatar and everything around it glitters unnecessarily. Although that sort of lessens the darkness in the game, it can easily causes dizziness and nauseousness.
There is one more problem with the game – connection. In most cases, if one loses connection to the server, the connect, or to be exact, reconnect function didn’t prove to be of much help. And the only way for a successful connection is to exit the game and then restart it. And of course, that will force players go through the long launching process one more time.
Although some flaws hinder the gaming process, Wizardry Online combines flexible controls and exciting, if not unique, battles, and is a nice touch on reviving a classic 3D MMORPG gameplay.
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