Dark bluish-black bat wings
stretch wide, then thrust down quickly, propelling the nephilim into the air.
Up, up until the giant python’s attacks are only hitting air. The Nephilim
pauses – knowing that the time aloft is short – then reaches back in his mind
for arcane knowledge. A ball of light gathers between his palms and then he
flings it at the python.
Shadowbane: The Rise of
Chaos is the expansion to Ubisoft and Wolfpack Studio’s massively multiplayer
online role-playing title for the PC. The expansion adds a new race, two new
classes, two new disciplines, a new land mass and several new mobs. However,
when you look at the overall scope of the game, this seems rather little, and
aside from the new environment and mobs, the player-focused features seem an
amalgam of what was already in place.
The new features also
include three new zones – Bastion, Battlegrounds and Chaos Gate, and an extra
character slot.
The nephilim is a
demonic-looking flying race. The game already had a flying race in the
eagle-like aracoix. Although the nephilim look more like humans, the flying and
capabilities between the two races in terms of aerial combat are similar.
The new classes are the
Doomsayer and Sentinel. Both are mage-class warriors, with the doomsayer capable
of debuffing enemies, while the sentinel is a resilient race, which is
particularly effective against magic-class mobs and demons.
For those who do not know
about Shadowbane, this MMP has a newbie island and safeholds. Outside of those,
the world is open for player-versus-player combat. Some of that dueling can be
honorable (challenge and accepted), and some can be of the back-stabbing variety
(oh, let’s go hunt together – STAB – you’re dead! Haha). Fortunately, Shadowbane
has a way to record who kills you and since all players spawn at their tree of
life, or other artifact, you will know where to find anyone who has wronged you.
The game does not feature
many quests. You can undertake missions to kill certain mobs and thus gain
certain powers, but there is no quest journal and nothing is set in stone. Death
will cost you some experience points, and your inventory can be looted in the
PvP areas, but little else.
The game’s interface is a
little messy, and the expansion changes nothing about that.
In fact, other than the new
features and some lore, Rise of Chaos does not change the base game at all. The
graphical quality is unchanged, the sound is unchanged and the player interface
is constant.
Rise of Chaos is a soft
attempt to insert new features into a game that has a low server population,
even at peak playing times. The unfortunate aspect is that the new zones don’t
cater to the new player, but rather are for the experienced adventurer. That
certainly won’t draw in new players.
Think of Shadowbane as a
Diablo meets EQ meets Ultima Online in a PvP-heavy world. It does an adequate
job of entertaining, has solid challenges, but has some problems that Ubisoft
needs to fix (in terms of servers) before its big title of the year, The Matrix
Online, launches. Rise of Chaos does not fix the problems Shadowbane has, and
the challenges it presents are not for newer players.
This game is rated for
Teens.
Gameplay: 6
This is a game that is
riddled with intermittent lag issues. You will be moving along and suddenly
freeze and remain so for several seconds. This can be frustrating, especially
during a battle when either you or your group is under attack. You lock up and
wait, and then get the message of everything that occurred during the time you
were unable to participate in the game.
Graphics: 6.8
The graphical style of
Shadowbane was antiquated when the game released. This was a title that came out
in the same period as Asheron’s Call 2, and while the latter set a new bar for
MMP graphical elements, Shadowbane was working off the old EverQuest formula,
though – admittedly – Shadowbane is a shade better than EQ. Rise of Chaos does
not improve the graphical quality of the game.
Sound: 6.8
Nothing new here, and the
sound is still solid, but average.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The mobs for each level are
hard, and the new mobs are very tough. For the newcomer to the game, you won’t
see them until you have been in-game a while. The lowest level which can
consider attacking some of these (Draatch and Eyrene) is level 30 characters.
But don’t go alone – that is a death wish. The level range on those two is
30-45/50. A level 30 is just fodder for the mobs.
Concept: 6.8
The new race is
cool, but doesn’t add much to the game in terms of unique abilities. The same
goes for the classes and disciplines. The expansion fails to address some of the
recurring problems with this title, which include the interface and lag.
Multiplayer: 7
This game has some very
helpful individuals, others who will give advice that proves inaccurate, low
server populations and people that like to PvP. This is a PvP game and while
Rise of Chaos encourages grouping for the new mobs, watch your back. Outside of
the newbie island, and safeholds (cities), this is a total PvP world.
Overall: 6.8
Rise of Chaos does not
address core problems with the game, nor is it likely to attract legions of new
fans. It does offer some new regions to explore and new challenges. This is not
an expansion for those who like to solo, so the multiplayer aspect is high. Rise
of Chaos seems like a bit of a retread on a few of the expansion elements, but
does, marginally, expand the game.
