Rift (2011)

Taking the best aspects of the games that came before it, improving on them and adding its own unique elements has Rift poised to be a long term power in the MMOG community.

What's really been most surprising to me is that the gaming experience as a whole is so fully developed for a startup MMO.

Great class skill customisation options, the rift element, the game play mechanics, all these make RIFT one of the best fantasy MMOs on the market. Play it.

Rift looks fantastic, and is a lot of fun.

If any MMO is capable of beating Blizzard at its own game, it's this one. [May 2011, p.56]

Trion's ad campaigns promised a revolution; Rift itself merely delivers commendable refinement.

Despite the fact that Rift is a well crafted game, with some fresh ideas and a nice class system, its desire to confront World of Warcraft ("We're not in Azeroth anymore") forces a point-to-point comparison where the Trion game doesn't succeed beat the Blizzard champion.

Well I really like this one, I know some may say this is a clone of WoW and War-hammer but I've never played a game so polished and bug free in like years. First is just awesome how I can change from a role to another with just a click. pvp pretty balanced and the group system for the world events is perfect, there's no need to beg for a group in world chat just get to the area and use the public group option its so easy. Yeah I know it can get a bit grindy later on but there's always warfronts and instance adventures that provide a good amount of exp, currencies and materials for crafting. All I can say Rift is a finished work

Rift used to be great for PvE, passable for PvP up to 2.0. The 3rd expansion was a massacre of the game: * world map with no details) * boring boss fights * daily quest: "click 20 times" (no joke) Most of old good players lefts, guilds are scarce.

SEEMS like it really could be fun, but there were certain things that annoyed me, can't put my finger on it exactly, but just didn't "FEEL" right and I think "FEEL" is a big part of any game. I may re-visit this game in the future, but for now I'm done. Don't take my word, haven't really given this game as much effort as other games I've played, but I really couldn't get into this game that much.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This game is nothing more than a WOW clone with some improvements and fine touches here and there, few bugs and a very prompt developer studio when it comes to patches and adding content so far. the graphics are very nice although while running the game using the recommended hardware, FPS starts to drop at medium settings. The Soul engine is a nice addition to RPG, but it does not work very well and it confuses players ranging from newbies to mmo veterans. The crafting is an absolute joke, there is nothing new here, the same professions you can find in any other fantasy mmo and leveling them up is a child's play. The quests add nothing new to the genre, same kill X, gather Y time intensive tasks to keep you more in game. The gear and items are basically the same as in most mmos, I encountered dozens of profession items that have the same icons and names and probably even prices wow has. I have to admit the Rifts are probably the best addition especially because it really makes players group together via the auto grouping feature so at least they are trying to not make it another solo rpg. All in all it is not worth it, either if you want an alternative to wow (and I'm comparing it to wow because Trion marketed this game as a better, more polished alternative to the giant). So in conclusion this looked to me as a game especially made so that Trion can grab a big share of the mmo market and grow some capital. Honestly, you get more atmosphere and involvement from LOTRO (which is free) that this game. On the other hand, I am more curious on their upcoming game Defiance, I hope it will sur class this yet another second hand fantasy mmo.