Silicon Fusion >> Reviews >> Dark Age of Camelot: Catacombs

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Review:

20th April 2005:
Dark Age of Camelot: Catacombs
Mythic climb to new depths as they dig away at the foundations of the world to reveal what waits beneath.
Posted by Chris Snook - PC - UK and Europe

It has been over three years since Mythic Entertainment brought to the world an MMPOG placed firmly in the mythos of year gone by. Now with the latest expansion, Dark Age of Camelot: Catacombs they deliver what is possibly the best upgrade of any Massive Multiplayer Game out there.

Mythic have looked at the whole experience and have shaken to loosen the bits which no longer work and have performed a very slick rebuild from the underground up. There are so many problem areas that existed, some caused by prior expansions, that have been addressed and corrected or improved. All the while adding in new elements that will appeal to those who have been playing in the world for a while now.

DAOC is set sixty years after the death of Arthur at the hands of Morgana and blends in legends and mythologies of three competing lands with new content to create a unique conflict between three warring powers, all vying to be the best there is. Each of the three realms, Albion (Arthur's Kingdom), Hibernia (Celtic Land of Fae Legend) and Midgard (Followers of the Norse Gods) have their own, unique feel and look to them. With weather appropriate to each, it rains in each realm but downpours in Albion. Midgard has a savage, snow-capped beauty to it and Hibernia is the land of the twee and the elves of Tolkien would feel right at home. This conflict is confined mostly to the frontier lands, so allowing those who adventure deep with in their lands to be safe from the worry of an enemy killing them as they try to gain experience.

Catacombs is the fifth expansion, the third offered as a retail add-on and like previous expansions it comes in two flavours, one which is aimed at those who own the game already and one which contains all the previous expansions aimed at the player who is picking it up for the very first time and activates all the expansions for you in one block. The packaging for just the expansion is a simple black and red affair, elegant but striking. It comes on four CD's and takes a fair while to load, you then need to activate the expansion online, which can take a while to take effect. As a bonus a copy of the current base game (the original DAOC + the Shrouded Isles expansion) is included, useful to pass onto friends or to create a second account, for those who find that ten characters per the two English servers is not enough.

Amongst the new stuff added are five new classes, one for Albion and two each for Hibernia and Midgard. Taskmaster dungeons (private missions to complete), instance wings of existing dungeons to allow for private dungeon clearing without interference. A more focused series of quests for the very new player, with decent starting equipment and a quick guide to the surrounding areas. Then there are the whole new areas that have been introduced, the titular Catacomb areas. Each tailored to the realm it belongs to, each showing off the new lighting effects and the eerie menace of the places of the dead and the not quite so dead. However unlike previous expansions they are not the be all and end all and add to everything as opposed to creating a flavour of the month syndrome, yes the items that can be gained are nifty but they are not always the correct one for a particular character and class.

Characters can now be customised more fully, not to the insane depths some other titles allow you to do so but enough that running into identical characters is highly unlikely. The rest of the creation process has also been streamlined and retains the character points system to allow for different types of character no matter the class.

There has been a number of graphical overhauls, colours are more vibrant, lighting has been smoothed out and made more realistic. Shadows too are more fluid and dynamic, above all there have been a number of code upgrade which have considerably reduced framerate loss and glitches, whilst retaining clarity and crispness. Animations are better and flow more freely and there are now visual clues towards events, such as crossing area boundaries or completion of a quest. All this is at a price though and a mid-range GFX card is a must, though it runs perfectly well on a lesser card with most of the spangles turned off, again credit to the code optimisation. Some may see a similarity to WoW in some of the touches and draw inaccurate parallels, one is a new game that looked at what was out there and based themselves on the best there was, whilst DAOC has evolved to a similar point - because it is expected.

Sound wise again it has been looked at with a fine edged adze. The audios have been honed and tweaked, damage sounds are now more varied, weapons deliver more satisfying clunks, clinks and thuds as you parry, block or rip into the target you are facing. Music has been subtly re-rendered and is more unobtrusive but still adds to the ambience of the world. There is no speech or ambient sounds and this is still an area where it is lacking, maybe in another patch?

Due to the very nature of Catacombs, even the new additions are of a size that is considerable and the instances form their own decent sized dungeons. The underground areas add five or so new zones to explore, geared to all levels. It is now possible to spend all your time underground until you reach the highest levels, much like that you can now spend all your time fighting realm opponents. Four hundred new quests and mini-quests have been added to be explored along with a host of tasks and trades to be completed and learnt. Again all have been considered and all add to the overall richness of what is happening.

Despite all the care there are still problems. Horse routes in the housing zones can resemble the Gordian knot, often it may actually be quicker to grab a Piper and gain a speed boost and cross country to your house. There is also an intermittent crash to the character screen on a number of occasions when trying to access an instance, which then loads when you re-log the character in to the game, grating more than fatal. There are still scenery holes, where you can get trapped and stuck in the scenery but these are known and should be closed in a future patch. Indeed the response from the Customer Service reps was timely if a little standard when a genuine problem was reported.

Mythic, and to a lesser extent in Europe, GOA have done a fine job of catering to the loyal players who have stuck through the latest crop of games to spring up whilst providing a solid, three year backed title for the new gamer to explore without being left behind by the experienced players. With the unique method of Player verses Player, the massed action by realm as opposed to a personal level coupled in with the latest things form a palpable bond. That there is a story threaded through the game, explored and discovered by undertaking key quests and missions is again a plus, it is not all about levelling but exploring and discovery. Dark Age of Camelot: Catacombs may just be the mature alternative to World of Warcraft for the gamer who enjoys a more mythological feel to gaming.

Chris Snook

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Review Summary:

Cleverly re-envisioned game with boosted accessibility for new players to the genre and the game itself, whilst managing to provide a satisfying experience for those who have stuck things through the latest onslaught of rivals. The theme may not appeal to all but the updated graphics sounds and the revamped task and quest system, combined with the unique mass PvP system in use will give many a reason to have a look.

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