Full Review for RuneScape 2 by City of Wonder

Introduction

RuneScape is an MMORPG much like games such as Everquest II or World of Warcraft. RuneScape (formerly known as RuneScape 2 to differentiate it between itself and it's former game now called RuneScape Classic) was released in March 2004, although the original game was released in January 2001. RuneScape is one the top computer games of all time, and it has made JaGex a very profitable company.

Graphics

Originally (in RuneScape Classic) RuneScape's graphics were extremely poor. However, they were coded in Java and the game could run on nearly every computer with an internet connection. The same applied for RuneScape 2's graphics: they could not compare with other online games' graphics, but RuneScape was browser based and far more expansive than many other games at the time. In mid-2008, however, JaGex updated RuneScapes graphics engine. This is called RuneScape HD. It is textured wonderfully and is much more detailed. However, this made it impossible to run on lower-end computers and even creates lag on some higher end ones, so JaGex had another mode dubbed "Standard Detail". This mode has graphics slightly better than the ones before the addition of RuneScape HD, but can run on most computers without lag. Overall, for graphics, I would give RuneScape HD's a 7/10. Not perfect, but not bad. For comparison, I would put World of Warcraft's graphics at a 9/10, which is substantially better.

Sound

RuneScape sound was originally (and still is) terrible. This is, by far, the worst aspect of the game. The sound effects were always terrible, even back when RuneScape was pretty much the only non-text MMORPG in 2001. The sound received and update in February 2008 which made the sound effects better, but still not able to compete with any other game. Most of the music is simply awful, however, I believe most people will find one or two (or more) music tracks that they tolerate if not enjoy, and the addition of the "loop" feature on the music player was a welcome addition for people who liked to listen to one specific track over and over instead of switching whenever you went into a different area. I must say, though, that I don't know any players who purposely keep all of the sound effects on. There are three options: Sound Effects, Ambiance, and Music. I've talked about all but the ambiance. The ambiance is basically this: whenever you're near a tree or a body of water you can hear birds or water falling into the pool of water, ect. This feature is more annoying than interactive, and if you have the sound effects and the music on, you're constantly bombarded with loud noises which doesn't make for a very pleasant experience. Overall, RuneScape's sound is below average at a measly 2/10. This is by far the worst sound quality I have ever heard in an MMORPG.

Gameplay

RuneScape's gameplay is amazing. It can envelop you with it's large amount of skills (24 at the time of this writing) and quests (over 200, also at the time of this writing). The game does have it's fair share of grinding, though. Take the Woodcutting skill, for example. The quickest way to achieve 99 in this skill (the maximum level in any skill is 99) is to chop down willow trees. However, this will take perhaps three hundred hours of gameplay or more! Most players choose to do other things during this time such as browse the RuneScape forums, listen to music, or even read a book.

RuneScape's PvP was very good. It'll never be as good as it was before December 2007, because then most players would say it was the best part of the game and it was one of the few aspects that separated RuneScape from other online games. Back then, players could simply kill one another and take all of their items. However, now, due to events such as Real World Trading (in which one bought items or RuneScape gold with real life money) which was costing JaGex an extreme profit loss due to credit card fraud which was being used to pay the memberships of the bots that "farmed" the items in the game to give to the customers (long sentence, I know) PvP actions may only be done in a select few minigames. This radical change reportedly cost JaGex to lose 60,000 paying customers (however, in May 2007 they announced they had reached 1,000,000 paying subscribers) and several in-game "riots" were held and JaGex received lots of angry comments, causing them to disable their customer support (which still has not returned as of April 2009).

These new minigames allow PvP combat to continue, but with new rules which were never instituted before. In October 2008, JaGex released PvP Worlds where on a select few servers player versus player combat could be achieved in nearly every part of RuneScape's map. Some players, however, feel that the looting system still does not reward enough, and it cannot be denied that the drops were much better when the pre-2007 PvP combat system existed in a place known as the Wilderness.

All the same, RuneScape's PvE combat is very luck-based. All drops are based on luck, and fighting a monster requires no input from the player other than simply right clicking on the monster and selecting "attack". A high-level player with 99 in all of the combat skills (Attack - for accuracy, Strength - higher damage, Defence - ability to dodge hits, Magic - the ability to cast spells, Ranged - the ability to use a bow or crossbow to fire arrows or bolts, Hitpoints - how much health the creature has, and Summoning - the ability to summon certain creatures) can still hit "0s" on a low level monster such as a level 2 cow. Drops are also calculated on luck. The abyssal demon, requiring 85 Slayer (a skill allowing players to slay other monsters) to kill, may drop the Abyssal whip, a very high-in-demand item, one the the first kill or it may take hundreds, even thousands, of kills to achieve this drop. Many players despise this type of looting system.

The game's economy is fueled by players gathering items and selling them to players who wish to advance their skills and receive a skill cape and a unique emote. Originally, selling items required going to a crowded server and typing out what you were trying to sell. However, with the release of the Grand Exchange, players simply put their items up for sale at a price (that is somewhat regulated between a 5% margin of value to both the minimum and the maximum price) which speeds up trading by a huge factor.

Lastability

RuneScape is a very long game. It has many quests and skills that are all extremely differentiated between others. In the free-to-play part of the game there is at least 1000 hours of gameplay to get all of the free skills to 99 and complete the few free quests. On the members version there is at least another 2000 hours of gameplay as there are more than one hundred other quests to complete and story lines to solve, many items to obtain, and many skills to advance. I believe the game doesn't get stale until players reach at least level 100, at which time there isn't as much to do. There are still many minigames to play and many quests to do, but they sometimes feel like repeats of older quests that were completed when players were lower levels. The game is still one of the longest-lasting games out there. However, due to the fact that players can only have one character on an account (the terms account and characters can be used interchangeably on RuneScape, unlike World of Warcraft), raising levels can be a pain and trading items to one of your other characters is strictly forbidden and can result in a permanent ban for both characters involved. Therefore, having a high level account is also a risk because if it's banned there is generally no way to get it back and it takes months, maybe even years, to achieve gain a high level in many skills and a high combat level as well. Overall, I give RuneScape a 10/10 in this category: one of the longest, best games on the online market today.

Overall

Overall, RuneScape is a solid game through-and-through. It doesn't offer as many quests as World of Warcraft, but the quests it does have have story instead of just "go kill 10 centaur". RuneScape does not have as much user interface things as other games have. RuneScape has no addons, but there are many quest walkthroughs available on sites such as Rune HQ or the RuneScape Wiki. RuneScape is one of the most successful online games and for it's programming it is the best. It has come the farthest, too: originally it was just two brothers and a friend in a basement working on a computer game. However, now JaGex employs over 400 people that work on FunOrb and RuneScape, and soon, MechScape.

RuneScape sound is terrible. Honestly, it's one of the worst I've heard in my life and some of it makes me want to jam and icepick repeatedly into my ears rather than listen to it. I can't help it: it's just that bad. 2/10 for sound quality.

RuneScape graphics were originally as awful as the sound, then they became better and more realistic for Java. Now, of course, they are wonderful and polished and textured wonderfully (this is mostly evident in the full-screen mode), but it's still not quite up to par with, say, WoW. But better than MapleStory which is simply 2D. Therefore, a 7/10 for graphics.

RuneScape's gameplay is quite enveloping and interesting. The story of the quests, the depth of the skills, even the PvP is alright! The PvE still needs a lot of work. In fact, all of the combat could use a revamp, but the skills and quests are great: the best I've seen in an MMORPG, and it's what makes RuneScape great and different from other games. 9/10!

RuneScape's "lastability" is quite amazing, too. The game is long, but not very difficult until one reaches the higher levels. One issue I have is that level 92 is the halfway mark in experience in skills. It takes 13 million experience to achieve a skill level of 99, and at 92 players only have 6.5 million. Quite baffling! However, the game doesn't seem stale or even very repetitive for the most part until this point, so I give it a 10/10.

And here we are at the very end of the review. If you read it all, good job. If not, oh well. Overall RuneScape is one of the best games on the PC console, and I give it an 8/10. If you want to play it, though, one tip: keep the sound off and listen to your favorite music. The RuneScape music is just plain awful.

Final Score: 72%