Graphics and Sound

Time to Upgrade

Judging by the system requirements alone, one can tell that Dark Age of Camelot packs quite a graphical punch. While we're hesitant to put it up there with Giants or Max Payne, it is competitive with the best shooters out there and way beyond previous-generation MMORPGs like AC and EverQuest. Now, whether DAoC is better looking than Anarchy Online is mostly up to personal preference.

Dark Age has a clearly fantasy-derived style. Hibernia is a lush, green land with plenty of exotic structures appropriate to an elven setting. Albion is green and bright as well, the model of the fantasy medieval scenario - with historic castles and natural forests, but without the grime and mess of the true Dark Ages. Midgard is much darker than the other two lands, rocky and unforgiving - relatively speaking, that is. It is not quite mountainous enough to feel like the real Norway, nor is it dark enough to be quite like the Viking myths. However, it does fit the style of Dark Age completely.

Ooo, stylin

Head chop

Yeah, and yourmother was ugly too

That said, despite the backdrop, some elements typical to a fantasy world are certainly missing. We haven't encountered anything on the scale of the wood elf city of Kelethin from EverQuest. We have not witnessed massive plains such as the Karanas, or wind-swept tundras like those near the Barbarian homelands. The variety of the lands in DAoC isn't as great as in EQ, though it is more 'natural' looking.

DAoC features all the goodies we gamers now expect from anything 3D. Lighting and particle effects, high-res textures, and models with massive polygon counts are the norm. Animation is done very smoothly and has a natural flow, but gets repetitive, especially in combat. Combat animations are quite unnatural, as the character just stands there in his combat stance until he attacks, and it is the same attack move all the time, unless the player executes an ability. Spellcasting effects are splendid and highly imaginative. Spells have unique combinations of colors, lighting, 3D and 2D animations. Some have natural effects, such as lightning. Others are obviously unreal - but all are unique.

A wee lil man with a great big axe!

Not much of a career choice

Now THAT'S a cheesy name

The sounds of battle

Unfortunately, the sound effects and music in Dark Age aren't up to par with the graphics. It's not that the quality is lacking in any fashion, it is simply the repetitiveness of the sound that starts getting abrasive. Every level, one needs to kill hundreds of the same species of monster and after a while, their three or four sound effects get old, as do the ones coming from the characters and weapons.

The music accompanying the game suffers from that same problem - there just isn't enough. The tunes are used repeatedly and while the game switches dynamically to a combat track for fights, that gets old as well.

The effects and music are bearable but after a while they take away from the game almost as much as they add. Be ready to play some CDs or MP3s for variety. The only other real problem with the sound is the effects selection for certain monsters. A tawny lynx shouldn't have a roar like a lion, never mind a tawny lynx cub! It is a small but obvious oversight that we hope gets addressed sometime in the near future.