Developed by Verant Interactive Distributed by Sony ESRB Rating: Teen System Requirements: Pentium 200 Windows 95/98/2000 64Mb RAM 2x CD-ROM 16-bit Sound Card Direct3D or Glide compliant accelerator card with 8Mb RAM 28.8Kbps or faster Internet Connection 600Mb free hard drive space Recommended System Requirements (reviewer's opinion): Pentium II 300 128Mb RAM good, fast 3D accelerator card Da Introduction: More than a year ago Sony distributed a little game called EverQuest. Verant Interactive and 989 Studios developed it. It was online only, and it cost $9.89US to play every month. At the time massive multiplayer online roleplaying games (MMORPG's) were in their infancy. Ultima Online pretty much owned the market and lots of people were still a little weary about paying a monthly fee to continue playing a game after spending $50 just to take it home. Times obviously change however, and EverQuest is now boasting more than 200,000 active monthly subscribers, and more than 70% of these subscribers haven't cancelled their accounts yet…they're still playing. Although the land of Norrath has had some modifications over the last year, including new zones (locations), monsters, items, etc., the game engine has remained primarily the same. All the additions to the world were single zones. The Ruins of Kunark has opened up 20 new zones on an entirely new continent. This increases the potential land exploration by more than 30%. Some of the new areas are larger than anyone in EverQuest has ever seen before. With this newly discovered territory, there are thousands of new items, tons of new creatures, and even a new race of playable lizard creatures called the Iksar. It's a whole new world. Da Graphics: With the Ruins of Kunark expansion, Verant has upped the bar for system requirements significantly. The textures are larger and, in some cases, more detailed. There are more polygons and the land is now alive with animation. Previously, the only animation in the world was the occasional flag waving in the wind. Now the trees and shrubs sway to and fro adding another layer of realism to the environment. Forested areas seem more dense to the point that if you look up at nearly any point in the Warsilk Woods, all you see is a canopy of swaying trees. Even the paths now seem carved out of the earth, rather than just warn patches on the grass. It's truly awe-inspiring in some cases. Littered throughout the land of Kunark are ruined statues, temples and toppled towers telling scraps of a yet untold stories about the magic-torn wastes of the Kunark continent. It's an entirely new layer of intrigue dropped on the world of Norrath for the pleasure of the thousands of players. Verant did an excellent job of putting together the right look and feel of the new land. Da Sound: At first it would seem that Verant has fallen short on the sounds. There is no music in the new world, and there are no new sound effects. Apparently, all the new sounds haven't been implemented yet, so rather than postpone the release of the highly anticipated expansion for what really amounts to a "cosmetic effect," they left some default sounds in place. It's a little bit daunting fighting a scorpion and hearing it lash out, grunt and die like a human. Giant leeches don't even make a sound when you fight them (are they supposed to?). Fans of EverQuest can only wait until the next patch to see if Verant makes good on their promise to implement the new sounds for this expansion. Da Gameplay: The gameplay hasn't really changed with the expansion. Realistically, the core of the game has remained the same with a few minor additions. With Ruins of Kunark, they have raised the maximum character level to 60. Each of the 51+ levels are what players call "hell levels." This refers to the fact that the amount of experience you must gain in order to gain a level is considerably harder than any of the levels pre-expansion. This is as it should be due to the fact that each of the 51+ levels comes with a distinct perk. Each of the casting classes receives one or more new spells each level. These spells are, in most cases, much more powerful than anyone has seen before. The downside to this, however, is that most of these spells must be found in the game either by a quest or by finding it as loot off of a fallen foe. Once found however, the caster gets to revel in their newfound power. Verant had to limit some spells to prevent casters bestowing their awesome effects on fellow adventurers under the level of 39. This is to prevent characters in their 50's from bestowing "buffs" of incredible power on low-level friends, making them nearly invincible for their level. Each of the non-casting classes gets a newly introduced perk called a discipline. Each one is radically different but amounts to the same. The goal is to give the character a brief moment of unparalleled melee ability. Once expended, it can take more than an hour of playing time before you are able to execute another discipline. For example, warriors, the pure damage-dealers, have a small chance to do a "critical hit" every time they connect with their weapon. This hit does significantly more damage than normal. For a brief moment of time, every time they connect with their weapon, each strike will be a "critical strike" allowing the warrior to inflict massive amounts of damage over a few rounds of combat. This can be a real life-saver if your group is jumped by a creature while magic reserves are low. One of the more famous new gameplay aspects of the Kunark expansion is the introduction of an entirely new race for players, the reptilian Iksar. As an Iksar, you can assume the role of a warrior, shaman, shadow knight, necromancer, or monk. Iksar also have a long list of innate advantages. They have infravision, a distinct advantage for monks due to the fact that the class was previously limited to humans, and humans do not have night vision They have the same natural regeneration rate as trolls which is twice as fast as any other race on Norrath. Also, they are extremely adept at swimming, giving them a very high starting skill as well as the ability to hold their breath longer underwater. There are also two other blessings the Iksar possess that have been balanced out with an equal curse. The Iksar get an innate armor class (AC) bonus because of their scaled skin. As they go up levels, their AC will also naturally rise. This is to compensate for their curse; they can't wear platemail of any kind. This is a huge bonus to the monk and necromancer classes since they can't wear plate due to their class restrictions. Iksar monks and necromancers will have a higher AC compared to other races of the same class and level. However, warriors and shadow knights, very commonly associated and in dire need of platemail for the high AC, have to work very hard to find plate alternatives for their Iksar characters to wear. The other blessing is that the city of Cabilis, the Iksar city on the Kunark continent, is one of the few cities in Norrath that has nearly everything your character will need. In most cases, other characters who start on other continents may find that they have to travel to find certain items such as types of gems, food, armor, etc.. Cabilis seems to have it all, as well as several locations just beyond the city walls that are some of the best hunting grounds on Norrath for bringing up a lower-mid level character. So far, no other race has set foot in the city of Cabilis and lived for more than a few seconds before being dispatched by the guards. The Iksar have it all to themselves. The downside to this excellent homeland is the fact that you really can't leave it. There are only 3 ways off the Island of Kunark. There is a port run by the high elves, Firiona Vie, with a huge, majestic ship that takes you to the continent of Faydwer (this is the port for the good races of Norrath to arrive on the continent). There is The Overthere, another port for the evil races of Norrath with an ocean transport to the main continent, Antonica. The final way to leave Kunark is to find an Iksar sympathizing character with the ability to teleport off the Island. Only wizards and druids have the ability to teleport in EverQuest and neither of these classes are available to the Iksar. The complication arises when you realize that the Iksar are not welcome at either of the ports and are, in fact, killed on sight by the guards. Even with a teleport off of Kunark, Iksar are not welcome in any of the established societies outside their little world, so travel simply doesn't seem to be favorable. Da Conclusion: In my mind, the entire purpose for an expansion is to infuse new interest in a game and to entice players to sink their teeth deeper into what they're already gnawing on. The Ruins of Kunark does exactly that. It adds to a game that already has so many so hopelessly addicted. There are a few points that smudge its release, however. Verant was unable to deliver copies of the expansion to all those that pre-ordered it. This caused some bad blood, but each of those late arrivals (my copy included) was well compensated by a free month of game time and a refund of all shipping charges. The fact that some creatures sound like humans, and mosquitoes make footstep sounds as they fly by, was poked at as sub-standard workmanship, but Verant replied that they didn't want to hold up production for final cosmetic touches. These kinds of problems were explained, and managed well. Some problems still exist such as non-functional new quests and the fact that several of the new higher level spells are not "dropping" off of slain creatures often enough. All these points however are minor gripes in the grand scheme of the Ruins of Kunark expansion. In an MMORPG as popular and as ever-changing as EverQuest there will always be tweaks, bugs and complaints from the player base, but Verant has done an excellent job of achieving the goals they should be aiming for in an expansion. Graphics: 9/10 Sound: 7/10 Gameplay: 9/10 Tilt: 9/10 Overall: 8.5/10 Reviewed by GameBoyz contributer Nickolas "Colossus" Burger.