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ArchLord

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6.2 User Score:

Generally unfavorable reviews

Based on 15 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 18 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Codmasters

Developer: NHN Games

Genre(s): Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game

Players: Thousands

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: September 28, 2006

Summary

ArchLord is the creation of NHN Games, one of the biggest Korean MMO developers and publishers. ArchLord delivers a unique competitive premise to MMO gamers: the opportunity to rise to become the game world’s supreme ruler. Every month, one player takes control of the world and with it the opportunity to wreak havoc on their cowering enemies as the player gains control of supreme global Archlord powers. The game's world, Kantra, is fantastically realised with stunning visuals, created using Renderware, and the game features incredibly atmospheric in-game audio recorded by the world famous London Symphony Orchestra. ArchLord also introduces one of the most advanced and complex PVP combat systems ever in any MMO, which utilises sprawling free battle areas and special guild battlefields that enables players to battle in fearsome guild versus guild battles. With an ever-evolving storyline of conquest and betrayal, ArchLord presents an epic adventure in which players band together as they quest for the ancient relics of the Archons. Each relic bestows incredible power on those who possess it and when relics are combined they deliver ultimate mastery over the fundamental forces of creation for there can only be one Archlord! [Codemasters]

Also On The Web: Official Website

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

PC Zone UK

It ends up being a fun MMO romp for casual players and a rich PvP hamster wheel if you're sitting out there with an axe to grind. [Christmas 2006, p.84]

GamingTrend

Given a year or so, Archlord might be a solid title. Right now though? It's not worth the money.

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Jolt Online Gaming UK

Archlord is a case of seen it before, seen it better, and the stuff we haven’t seen is going to end up more frustrating and hassle than it is worth.

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GameZone

The game has some rubberbanding (where you bounce back a dozen yards or so while running) but that does not occur all that often.

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PC Gamer UK

Another fine idea choked by the grind. [Christmas 2006, p.72]

Play.tm

Whether you'll ever get to see much of it is highly questionable, though, given that the time between starting and becoming completely despondent with ArchLord is likely to be minimal.

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Eurogamer

Regardless of it being very hard to picture how its tedious, clumsy mechanics could possibly evolve into something fluid and entertaining, any game that puts you through a good 15 or 20 hours of overwhelming despair to get to even a chance of something worthwhile - which the server-wide near-silence suggests actually isn't, and certainly won't be until if and when there are enough players to populate large-scale tussles - is a failure.

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1UP

Other than the exclusive ArchLord gimmick, we're left with a dated-looking game with limited classes and a lot of grind, and a miniscule chance of something cool at the end if you really throw yourself into it. Not exactly our cup of mead.

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Games Radar (in-house)

The art design is solid, though technologically, the graphics don't impress at all. At press-time, the chat is nightmarish, and the user interface a pale shadow of other MMOs' well thought systems.

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AceGamez

I personally wouldn't recommend ArchLord to anyone; there are much better games out there and much better ways to waste a few hundred hours or so.

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PC Format

Generic online gaming with a single, barely attainable good idea. [Christmas 2006, p.100]

Pelit (Finland)

Quite possibly the worst commercial MMORPG ever. Every aspect of gameplay has been done better in other games and it would take a dreadful amount of tedious grinding to see the few innovative features Archlord has. [Jan 2007]

Computer Games Magazine

Archlord is nothing but a grind, one with very few players. [Mar 2007, p.63]

GameSpot

ArchLord can be summed up with two words: "dull" and "repetitive."

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Gaming Nexus

Don't play this game. Its boring, its repetitive, and all of the elements in it that are supposed to hook you and draw you in have been executed before and far more effectively in other games.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 6.2 (out of 10) based on 18 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Steven C. gave it an8:
Best online-game for codemasters, grafic:9 even better than wow, gamplay7:camera to sensetive.

Nate K. gave it a6:
My score would be a 2 if I had to pay a dime for this, but as far as free MMORPGs are concerned, ArchLord is about as good as it gets. Like Diablo-style bashing for increasingly more powerful loot and abilities? You'll be into this. Want something more substantial? Get ready to pay for it.

Welsh T. gave it a7:
Lots of bashing of this game but if you want a free-to-play MMO then it's more than worth a look.

Stephanie H. gave it a1:
Very buggy from release, and yet still buggy after 6 months of release.

Chirs W. gave it a1:
I give this a one because it actually qualifies as a game, unfortunately you can get better ones in every way free from DL sites the elements it has similair to GW and WoW is its an MMO just imagine everything implemented well by these two games and replace the word "well" with the word "awful" you start to get the idea I really cant see how anyone who has played any other game of the genre could score this with over 5.

Nick B. gave it an8:
My experience with this game comes after is was dropped to $30 and went to free-to-play, so I had no monthly investment to consider. Essentially, Archlord is a fun MMO with elements similar to WoW and GW. It's strength is in ease of play, excellent PvP (better than WoW imo) and the fact that it looks very nice on my mid to lower end system (in fact, I expected it to look and run badly on my system based on the reviews, but not so). The downsides I have seen so far: the controls are slightly awkward at first (but I figured them out), and the character building options are severely limited. You have three races, each race is limited to two or three classes, and each glass is gender-based (i.e. all orc hunters are female). Not sure if this changes and more options open up later....but it's closer to Diablo or Sacred in terms of what your character choices are than WoW or GW. Some observations: despite what others say, there's a system in place to limit PvP kills against low level characters; doesn't ewlminate it, but penalizes those who engage in it. The class dynamics are pretty diverse, but initially the game is very simpole an dstraight forward for the first several levels; later on it gets very detailed. And finally, PvPers will find a lot to enjoy here; later levels and guild battles can get really exciting and involve some real strategy and skill. Overall, I prefer Archlords over EQ2 and DDO, but it's still just a notch below GW and WoW.....although those who just want a change of pace could do worse than to check this out, especially now that it's free.

Mark H. gave it a2:
The initial section of the game is generic grind-em-up, and with higher level players obviously camping the starting city for easy kills. The game didn't hold my attention for longer than a few hours.

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