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RYL: Path of the Emperor

EMAIL PRINT pc

8.7 User Score:

Mixed or average reviews

Based on 21 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 100 votes
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Game Info

Publisher: Planetwide Games

Developer: Gamasoft

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

Players: Thousands

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)

Release Date: June 21, 2005

Summary

RYL: Path of the Emperor is a persistent universe or role-playing game (RPG). RYL players start off at Level 1, with minimal skills and abilities, but over time they gain experience points, through achievement, which allows them to advance to Level 2, and beyond. As RYL players advance to each level they discover new and stronger skills, which assist them in their ability to try and survive during all encompassing battles against powerful monsters. In the game, players can choose from 20 character classes and assume the role of a Warrior, Cleric, Mage, and Assassin and then explore the many exotic locations within boundless miles of terrain and virtual real estate. In RYL: Path of the Emperor players meet other players in a diverse real time environment where thousands of players simultaneously compete and take part in specific quests and missions, fight monsters and other players, battle in Guild vs. Guild duels, buy, sell and trade virtual merchandise, build fortresses and even raise their own virtual Dragon. Lastly, RYL players have the chance to receive the ultimate gaming reward; to become the actual Emperor of RYL, Rule over the Land and win $1,000,000. [Planetwide Games]

Also On The Web: GameSpot Hands-On 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...

G4 TV

The excessive amount of painful level grinding required to get anywhere in this game will bore most gamers to tears.

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GamerFeed

Anyone looking for something a little different from the average MMO, and most especially anyone holding onto that last thread before reinstalling "Diablo II" should do themselves the favor of checking out RYL. It has its share of graphical and server issues, but it includes the most important element of the game formula: fun.

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GameZone

Risk Your Life may be right for you, but if you have a low frustration threshold you might want to look elsewhere. The initial learning curve is steep.

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Inside Gamer Online

Still, amidst the suffering production values and a myriad of major design blunders, RYL is fun to play, thanks to the cool real-time combat and a healthy supply of gold, weapons, armor, and spells.

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Gamers' Temple

Risk Your Life: PotE can be entertaining and thrilling, but it’ll take some work to make it that way.

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1UP

If the worldwide aspect of RYL has you intrigued, check it out. Or, if you like hack-n-slash gameplay with no end in sight, this could well be your game.

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PC Gameworld

A good game for PvP play, but thoroughly underwhelming in all other areas. Not a game worthy of monthly fees.

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GamingTrend

With all of the options out there now, however, it really is a matter of too little, too late.

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Game Chronicles

It’s really not that I did not like the game; it’s just that there was nothing to it that really made it stand out to me. Nothing that made it unique from all the other fantasy-based MMO’s out there, nothing that made me want to play it any more than any other.

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Cheat Code Central

Other than the novelty of the prize money it doesn't offer anything new to the genre.

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GameSpot

The problem with RYL: Path of the Emperor is that it represents a throwback in the current market, offering mostly lackluster visuals, a staid player-versus-environment game, and a standard sort of guild-versus-guild, player-versus-player system.

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Worth Playing

A lackluster MMO that only does average in most cases, and poorly in most others.

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Game Over Online

There is very little to do in the game, and it’s the sort of game where I wonder what the developers were thinking when they made it. I mean, why bother making a game that has so little going for it?

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PC Gamer

Those seeking a PvP-based massively multiplayer game may want to wait for "Guild Wars," which will offer PvP straight out of the gate as opposed to 70 levels in. [July 2005, p.61]

Computer Games Magazine

Individual combats are fast-paced but extremely repetitive, resulting in a truly brutal leveling grind. [Sept 2005, p.70]

GameSpy

Try Guild Wars if you want guild-versus-guild content, or "Everquest II" or "World of Warcraft" for a quest-driven MMORPG. Unless you're absolutely after that million-dollar prize, RYL is an easy pass.

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My Gamer

The ability to play as a non-human Ak’Kan is interesting, but other MMOs have already gone there, and those games don’t lock you into playing just that race for any other character that you make on that server- the developers really need to figure out a way to let me make different raced characters in my other character slots and not make it an all-or-nothing affair.

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Computer Gaming World

Next time, use the million-dollar PVP cash prize to improve gameplay. [Oct 2005, p.78]

Game Revolution

Just playing RYL for a week made me want to die. If the game had emotes, my character would have been weeping constantly.

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Detroit Free Press

Online world games should be many things... They should not subject you to hours upon hours of tediously repeating the same tasks with no hope for reward in proportion to that pain. Which is why I say to online world gamers everywhere: Stay away from "Ryl."

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Gaming Age

A boring game with uninspired gameplay, mediocre graphics, stupid controls, and a community that resembles a junior high homeroom. Congratulations R.Y.L.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this game is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 100 User Votes

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

Kirk S. gave it a2:
Pretty much sucks. Read teh bottom three reveiws and you get a true idea og what the game is about. No million dollar prize that was canceled after the first three weeks.

Kyle B. gave it a10:
I love this game im always playing it 24 seven from the moment i get home from school to the time i go to sleep and on weekends im on from the moment that i wake up to the end of the weekend.

Thiago O. gave it a10:
I totally disagree with what has been said by those websites. RYL is indeed one of the hardest games to master but once you do it you will never leave it. I had to stop playing this game because I cant afford paying the monthly fee, so Im playing GuildWars now but everyday I wish I had those few dollars to pay for this game. I've played Risk Your Life for almost 6 months, everyday, and you feel so free while playing this game, the wars are so real, the controls are so easy, you wont ever fall asleep while playing. The graphics may not be so good as GuildWars, it may not be so well built as WoW, but its the best on what it has to offer. And you're reading this from someone who cant afford playing it anymore.

Marc Doyle, Editor
Because of a suspected manipulation of our voting process with respect to this game, the text of the user reviews entered prior to August 20, 2005 have been removed, but the scores associated with those suspicious reviews have not been factored out of the user rating (above). When considering whether to play/purchase this game, please take this voting anomaly in mind and do not count on that particular user tally. [10/12/05 - Incidentally, since I removed those possibly bogus user reviews, not a SINGLE review has been entered. Coincidence??]

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RYL: Path of the Emperor

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What The Critics Said

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