GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs | SportsGamer MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Games

Playstation Reviews
PS3 | PS2 | PS One | PSP

Xbox Reviews
Xbox 360 | Xbox

Nintendo Reviews
Wii | DS | GBA | Cube | N64


PC | N-Gage | Dreamcast

How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Games In Our Forums

 

Upcoming & Recent Releases

sort by name sort by score

xx 4 Elements
xx 7 Wonders: Treasures of Seven
xx Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile
xx Age of Booty
xx Aion: The Tower of Eternity
xx Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Make the Grade
50 Art of Murder: FBI Confidential
xx BattleForge
51 Beijing 2008
77 Bejeweled Twist
86 Bionic Commando Rearmed
71 Birth of America II: Wars in America 1750-1815
xx Bolt
xx Brain Training for Dummies
81 Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
xx Building & Co: You Are The Architect!
69 Bully: Scholarship Edition
xx Burnout Paradise
88 Call of Duty: World at War
xx CellZenith
32 Code of Honor 2: Conspiracy Island
81 Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
xx Commander: Napoleon at War
84 Crysis Warhead
xx Damnation
56 Dark Horizon
86 Dead Space
xx Deadliest Catch: Alaskan Storm
xx Deer Hunter Tournament
xx Disciples III: Renaissance
xx Dr. Lynch: Grave Secrets
65 Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon
xx Duke Nukem Forever
xx Dynasty Warriors 6
xx EA Sports GameShow
59 Euro Truck Simulator
xx Europa Universalis: Rome - Vae Victis
61 Everlight: Magic & Power
xx Exodus from the Earth
xx FaitH
92 Fallout 3
86 Far Cry 2
xx Fate: Undiscovered Realms
77 FIFA Manager 09
80 FIFA Soccer 09
86 Football Manager 2009
xx futureU: The Prep Game for SAT
xx Galactic Civilizations II: Endless Universe
xx Grand Theft Auto IV
xx Gravitron 2
82 GTR Evolution
50 Guild 2: Venice, The
xx Guitar Hero: Aerosmith
xx Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft, The
xx Hei$t
xx Hell's Kitchen
xx High School Musical 3: Senior Year Dance!
67 Hinterland
xx Hunting Unlimited 2009
xx Igor The Game
xx Imperium Romanum: Emperor Expansion
82 King's Bounty: The Legend
xx Laxius Force
88 Left 4 Dead
xx Legendary
79 LEGO Batman
72 Line Rider 2: Unbound
xx Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria, The
xx Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
70 Mercenaries 2: World in Flames
xx MindHabits
xx Moto GP 08
74 Mount & Blade
77 Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest
60 Murder in the Abbey
69 MySims
xx Mythos
85 Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy
xx NBA 2K9
62 Need for Speed Undercover
73 NHL 09
71 Nikopol: Secrets of the Immortals
66 Nostradamus: The Last Prophecy
xx Operation Mania
xx Orb and the Oracle, The
59 Outcry
81 Peggle Nights
80 Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness - Episode 2
70 Penumbra: Requiem
xx Perimeter 2: New Earth
xx Pipe Mania
xx Poker For Dummies
xx Price is Right, The
xx Prince of Persia
xx Prison Tycoon 4: SuperMax
xx Project Aftermath
83 Pure
70 Quantum of Solace
73 Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches
70 Romance of The Three Kingdoms XI
xx Runes of Magic
75 S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
76 Sacred 2: Fallen Angel
82 Saints Row 2
xx SAS: Secure Tomorrow
xx SCORE International Baja 1000
41 Shattered Suns
xx Shaun White Snowboarding
83 Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization
xx Silent Hill: Homecoming
xx Silverfall: Earth Awakening
75 Sims 2 Apartment Life, The
68 Sinking Island
60 Space Siege
59 Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
84 Spore
xx StarCraft II
xx Still Life 2
xx Storm of War: Battle of Britain
73 Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner
81 Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 2: Strong Badia the Free
81 Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands
82 Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Episode 4: Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective
71 Summer Athletics
xx Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
xx Sword of the Stars: A Murder of Crows
xx Talisman
xx Tomb Raider Underworld
xx Twilight War: After the Fall
xx Vampyre Story, A
86 Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
64 Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Battle March
xx Wartime Command: Battle for Europe 1939-1945
85 Witcher: Enhanced Edition, The
90 World of Goo
92 World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
71 WorldShift
74 X3: Terran Conflict

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed games.



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums
ArchLord pc Game Reviews
ArchLord
Critic Score
Metascore: 42 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
5.6 out of 10
based on 15 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 15 votes
Read user comments
Rate this game

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]

PUBLISHER: Codmasters
DEVELOPER: NHN Games
GENRE(S): Massively-Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game
PLAYERS: Thousands
ESRB RATING: T (Teen)
RELEASE DATE: September 28, 2006

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...

76
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]
62
GamingTrend
Given a year or so, Archlord might be a solid title. Right now though? It's not worth the money.
Read Full Review
60
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.
Read Full Review
60
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.
Read Full Review
46
PC Gamer UK
Another fine idea choked by the grind. [Christmas 2006, p.72]
46
Ferrago
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.
Read Full Review
40
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.
Read Full Review
40
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.
Read Full Review
40
Games Radar
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.
Read Full Review
40
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.
Read Full Review
40
PC Format
Generic online gaming with a single, barely attainable good idea. [Christmas 2006, p.100]
33
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]
30
Computer Games Magazine
Archlord is nothing but a grind, one with very few players. [Mar 2007, p.63]
27
GameSpot
ArchLord can be summed up with two words: "dull" and "repetitive."
Read Full Review
26
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.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now! The average user rating for this game is 5.6 (out of 10) based on 15 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.

Read more user comments...

Discuss this game in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: MLB | Spore | iPhone 3G | Paris Hilton | Antivirus Software | GPS | Recipes | Shwayze | NFL

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2008 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use