Dark Age of Camelot Review

Final Score: 3/5

Replay Value: 

Role-Play: 

Visuals: 

Presentation: 

Solo Play: 

Learning Curve: 

Community: 

Content: 

Customization: 

Player vs. Player: 

Dark Age of Camelot is beginning to show it's age. While some features certainly were somewhat avant garde in it's heyday, these features have since become staples of the MMO market. My immediate impression is that the graphics have been upgraded at least once in the game's history, the animations however, have not, and thusly suffer greatly for it. I find though that I am often too picky when it comes to animations, so perhaps my perspective is tainted.

Some parts of the game remind me heavily of Lord of the Rings Online and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, I say "remind me" because chronologically, I played LOTRO and Vanguard first, though Dark Age of Camelot is their predecessor, and likely, LOTRO and Vanguard more truthfully remind me of DAoC. The similarities I see are good ones, for instance, the horse rides in between towns concept was improved upon in LOTRO, with better animations and more fluid travel from zone to zone. And the look and feel of characters I think heavily inspired some of the artists who worked on Vanguard, as well as the armor pieces.

Combat in DAoC is standard fare, with a minor twist thrown in. Some combat moves require opening attacks, this is very similar to the "chain" attacks in Vanguard. You can quickly access different fighting styles if you prefer, within five levels you advance past your starting class into your "advanced" class... this seemed to happen rather fast, while it was nice to be able to earn a new class so soon, it also seemed a bit premature, almost as if it were handed to you, simply for investing a few hours of playtime, I guess it hardly felt like an achievement that had been rightfully earned.

Customizability in the game was better than I had anticipated, being given sliders was nice, although relatively pointless, since they did not do much once inside the game world. And despite our best efforts, Tralmek and I ended up picking the same hairstyle... which was quite embarrassing, being the same race and same starting class. Cloth and Leather Dyes and Enamel are an interesting concept for customizing equipment, this is a feature that I truly wish more games would adopt (Tabula Rasa accomplishes this rather well).

Probably aside from out-dated animations, my two biggest gripes are the fact that the trial client that they distribute isn't up-to-date, so you download a two gigabyte client, Only to (after a lengthy install) be forced to download 500 megabytes of updates, this in itself would not have been intolerable if the transfer speed had averaged over 50 kb/sec. And to top it all off, the updater crashed twice during the update process, requiring two full scans before resuming. My other gripe is the fact that they ask you for credit card information before allowing you entrance into a free trial account, thus (I assume) trying to trap you into accidentally letting them bill your credit card, even if this is not their intended practice, it certainly feels like it.

Overall, Dark Age of Camelot would most likely have been an amazing game when it was released, but due to it's age, and lack of upgrades, it's starting to decline, though I get the impression that PvP'ers could potentially get much fun out of their particular brand of factional warfare, that is, if there were people fighting on the battlefields. I would suggest this game only as a history lesson for MMO enthusiasts, people who'd like an appreciation for what has come before, I'm thankful for what DAoC brought to the MMO party, but I fear that it may be time to stick a fork in her. I will certainly keep playing for the remainder of my trial period, and have fun, but my subscription will not renew.