Shadowbane Review (no fat)

Game Description

High quality, little fees – every gamer’s dream. The people at Arena Net have managed to put together a game that combines many attractive sides of RPGs (both MMOs and regular RPGs) and put it all in a pretty package. Shadowbane offers great PvP and PvE combat, while also testing your tactical skills and competitive spirit.

However, there is very little to relate to at the start of the game. And to add to the confusion, this doesn’t change throughout the game. Although you get a pretty good picture of the Dark Ages, you don’t know what you’re supposed to do. There are no run of the mill goals like “conquer the world”, “avenge your father”, “get on the throne of …” no nothing. Not even a “talk to … and he’ll help you get started” letter in your inventory. In Shadowbane you have to build your path to a future you have to carve with your own bare…err…mouse and keyboard.

Shadowbane Gameplay

In the beginning, you choose between 10 races, 4 basic classes and a bunch of professions. You also get to customize the appearance of your character, but nothing fancy, just basic stuff (i.e. hair color, style). A notable downside is the freedom of choice. In the start of the game you get a number of points that you can to alter your statistics or on skill runes. The problem is that there are too many options and without a little research, it’s quite easy to end up with a worthless character.

Although it will take some time and dedication before you’ve leveled enough to start your own guild, you’ll certainly find this to be a rewarding choice. You can found your own city, recruit other people, and crush hoards of monsters with the help of your guild members.

In fact, level 20+ players are not allowed to call computer controlled cities as home, they move wander from place to place or move in with guilds that have formed their own cities. This aspect gives rise to the most played up part of the game; town sieges. Other guilds can attack your town and pretty much fight an all out war, highlighting the PvP aspect of Shadowbane.

Similarly, the PvP element is not limited to certain areas, there are thieves and thugs that can sneak up to you and steal from you at any point in the game…constant vigilance.

Shadowbane Leveling Grinds

Quick leveling is what makes Shadwbane stand out form its competition. While most MMORPGs stress on repetitive and oft agonizing hours of gameplay to gain levels, Shadowbane lets you progress quickly and steadily. Also, unlike common practice, there are no experience penalties if you fight in groups and clans. In fact the experience gained is almost identical. This promotes party play and makes the tougher monsters a manageable prospect.

Shadowbane - Grave Trouble

While leveling is easier, Shadowbane punishes in game deaths pretty severely. Once dead all your possessions you were carrying are left behind at your grave. A lot of the time you travel all the way to your grave to get your stuff only to find that looters have already claimed your stash.

Shadowbane Controls

Somewhat resembling Diablo’s control scheme, Shadowbane has a mouse-driven 3rd person view and a clumsy 1st person view attempt. Gamers will most likely have a hard time adjusting to not using the standard WASD keys as there isn’t even a possibility to set these keys as alternative navigation control. You should also know that obstacles will cause plenty of problems as your character will stop every time it will encounter one (instead of going around). This will certainly lead to a LOT of clicking around and make travel and combat a real hassle (especially since there’s no run toggle).

Shadowbane Interface

Aside from the standard Red Points (Health) and Blue Points (Mana), you also get Yellow Points (Stamina) – again similar to Diablo. Once the stamina is depleted, your character will walk slower. The annoying part is that, if you’re in a combat, if you run out of stamina your character will refuse to attack, even with the auto-attack activated. The interface is responsible for adding to the gameplay and, if you take some time and actually read the manual, you’ll get to customize it to your liking.

Shadowbane Hick ups

If there is one problem constantly nagging MMOs it’s the lag suffered in Online gameplay. While there are those who have conquered the problem to some extent, Shadowbane is certainly not a part of that group. The game suffers very badly once the servers get busy…becoming as close to unplayable as you’d dare suggest.

Shadowbane Graphics

Shadowbane is a 3D game with an average graphic display. You have days and nights, shadows and even some weather effects, but nothing spectacular. The time has certainly taken its toll and compared to its competition, Shadowbane could certainly use a face lifting.

Shadowbane Sound

Unfortunately, the sound isn’t as great as some would expect. With quiet forests, no footstep sounds and so on, the developers have paid no attention to any sound effects at all. The music is dull and geared towards making you feel like you actually are in the Dark Ages…only if it would change once in a while.

Shadowbane Summing up

Following patterns from early online RPGs and MMOs (Diablo to be more specific), Shadowbane has failed to impress gamers, it feels as if you were playing Diablo again, the only thing Shadowbane offers that Diablo didn’t is the variety of characters. Play this game long enough and you just might start to enjoy it…if building fortresses and mass execution of monsters is the only thing needed to get you addicted.

Shadowbane Cost

There’s a 14 day trial you may want to check out before you invest anything more than you time on this game.