Intro-What happens when you mix makers off Baulder’s Gate: Dark Alliance and Baulder’s Gate: Dark Alliance 2 with Sony Online Entertainment? You are bound to get an amazing online action RPG. Well that is exactly what Champions of Norrath delivers.
Plot-“Kelethin, the treetop city of the Faydwer wood elves, is under siege! An army of goblins and orcs have cornered the peaceful elves, forcing them to seek help from the outside or face being driven from their cherished home. Your auspicious arrival in Kelethin during its darkest hour gives the wood elf king himself, Liethkorias, the glimmer of hope he has been seeking. He pleads you for assistance in turning back the assault, even as the flaming shot from the invader’s catapults rain fire all around. The harried elves have little to offer you in the way of supplies, but their situation is desperate, and your chance for adventure and glory and adventure is great! Can you make the difference and turn the tide of the battle? What lurks behind this brutal and uncharacteristically well-organized campaign against the wood elves of Faydwer?”- Champions of Norrath, manual.
Features-Champions of Norrath provides a good amount of features. First off is the ability to play this action-RPG online. Also, in the one-player quest you can pick up many, many weapons. Like for instance, when you play the early levels, you pick up stuff that has crappy stats like, “Worn Padded Gloves” which would give you a 5 in defense which is almost the same as wearing nothing there.
Graphics-The graphics to Champions of Norrath are phenomenal. During play, you control the camera distance from overhead, far or close up. When you are overhead you see the most of the map but the graphics are not that great. When you move to far away you see less but more detail on characters and the environment around you. But when you put the camera into close view…now this is the Champions of Norrath graphics we are talking about! The detail on the characters is incredible. You can see specific features on their faces and bodies that really get you excited to see.
Gameplay-When you first pick up Champions of Norrath you are thinking, “Oh this is just another hack n slash RPG, it will last me 2 days…” This however, is not the case. In Champions of Norrath you cannot just simply hack your way through your enemies, you must strategize. For instance, you walk up to a room in a cave and an orc runs out at you. So of coarse you fight it and kill it, but then many other orcs come running and force you to run too. The enemy will chase you a while and finally stop, then you run back and fight them one-on-one, one-on-two, one-on-three, depending on the case. Also in gameplay, you can press R2 to use potions even in battle (if you have any potions) and you can use L2 to use mana vials in battle (if you have any) I think this is better than most styles you have in a typical RPG.
Sound-The sound in this game is also something that should have sophisticated gamers jumping for joy. The music is great but even more important in this game, is the sound effects, like the slash of a sword or the piercing noise of an arrow or actually getting hit. The sounds are a great lead over many other action/RPG games that try to achieve this.
In Conclusion-Champions of Norrath is an amazing game in different aspects. One, in the increasing popularity of the action/RPG genre, there are many games that simply focus their minds on one aspect, the RPG system. The system for Champions of Norrath is so simple and refreshing because it is original! Lots of games make it complicated but in Champions of Norrath the game is gain experience from fighting, the bigger kill, the more exp! How simple, how delightful. This game is unique in various aspects such as in most RPG’s, you have a bag to carry tour items in. You can hold almost unlimited supplies in that little bag! In this game you have a weight limit so only necessary items should be kept. In conclusion Champions of Norrath is a must have for any action/RPG lover that is willing to face fun times and frustrating times, if you can handle it, this game is for you.
