Posted November 13, 2012
I tried three days long trial as an Illuminati and it was so amazing experience, I purchased the boxed edition for $20. While the beginning of game has almost everything I've missed in MMOs, the later part sadly becomes kinda generic and I don't think I will be subscribing for longer than a month or two.
Positives:
1) NPC - They are very well written and feel real. They tend to use black or cynical humor and refer to pop-culture a lot. Easily the best thing about this game.
2) Cut-scenes - Very well done. It sucked me into the world and I looked forward to progress in the story lines to see and know more.
3) A lot of quests - Main quests, story quests, side quests. Many of them have cut-scenes and a solid plot. Side missions are usually about searching for something or killing something but they can be interesting to follow if you read a journal.
4) Random team-up - The game is designed in the way where it is really easy to join forces with a player you noticed is doing similar quest and finish it together. "Solomon Island" section has a high number of co-operative and friendly players.
5) Lore - There is a big lore. NPCs make minor references about it, you get an detailed encyclopedia, etc.
Negatives:
1) An absence of modern world scenery - I was intrigued by the fact there is a game which isn't about elves and dragon/demon/ whatever Big Bad. But while the world is set in the modern world, you spend a vast majority of time somewhere in Foglands killing zombies.
2) Later in the game, less content - Solomon Island was rich. There were hordes of NPCs ready to overwhelm you with their stories. When I finished the main story and was ready to move in Valley of the Sun God, I was so hyped to see another big world. *bump* What a downer it was to face more quests without cut-scenes, less chatty NPCs and traveling through sort of empty maps.
3) Controls - While keyboard is fully used by the game, it feels clumsy to me. Mouse is useful max for clicking on objects. You can dodge only after certain intervals (10 secs, I think), you fight strictly using shortcuts of attack types. Which could be good but:
4) Your character is heavily dependant on gear - It's perfectly possible that you find yourself like 20 levels away from a start but you are still somewhat squishy or killing something takes ages. What's the problem? You don't have a right gear or you haven't found a good one yet. The game doesn't lead you very well within statistics, so you will read forum's guides sooner or later to realize what you're doing wrong instead of trial and error.
5) Latter, less co-operative - The beginning was full of cheery, chatty players. They were supportive, willing to do co-op quests. Valley of the Sun God feels empty and facts that many people either keep to themselves or directly refuse to co-op and chat serves mainly as a dungeon recruitment in this location don't help.
Positive & negative:
1) Investigation missions - Some quests require searching for clues. Which aren't in the game but on Internet. Sometimes hints are so paranoid, you start wondering what you're actually supposed to search for. Puzzles and stories around them are very innovative and I like them. They have an atmosphere; you really do feel like trying to crack something hard. On the other hand when you are surrounded by enemies which can attack you any time and cancel your progress or a single failure moves you a minute of running away and hints are very ambiguous; you probably don't want to spend a serious time on them while your subscription is ticking.
I don't fancy MMO. They feel empty most of the time and lack an interesting story. TSW has both but after certain time, it stops trying. I got a feeling developers stretch story lines artificially and it lacks a substantial content later in the game.
The Secret World would be awesome as single-player focusing on telling a story with co-op features. As it stands now, I strongly recommend to try Solomon Island arc at least.
Positives:
1) NPC - They are very well written and feel real. They tend to use black or cynical humor and refer to pop-culture a lot. Easily the best thing about this game.
2) Cut-scenes - Very well done. It sucked me into the world and I looked forward to progress in the story lines to see and know more.
3) A lot of quests - Main quests, story quests, side quests. Many of them have cut-scenes and a solid plot. Side missions are usually about searching for something or killing something but they can be interesting to follow if you read a journal.
4) Random team-up - The game is designed in the way where it is really easy to join forces with a player you noticed is doing similar quest and finish it together. "Solomon Island" section has a high number of co-operative and friendly players.
5) Lore - There is a big lore. NPCs make minor references about it, you get an detailed encyclopedia, etc.
Negatives:
1) An absence of modern world scenery - I was intrigued by the fact there is a game which isn't about elves and dragon/demon/ whatever Big Bad. But while the world is set in the modern world, you spend a vast majority of time somewhere in Foglands killing zombies.
2) Later in the game, less content - Solomon Island was rich. There were hordes of NPCs ready to overwhelm you with their stories. When I finished the main story and was ready to move in Valley of the Sun God, I was so hyped to see another big world. *bump* What a downer it was to face more quests without cut-scenes, less chatty NPCs and traveling through sort of empty maps.
3) Controls - While keyboard is fully used by the game, it feels clumsy to me. Mouse is useful max for clicking on objects. You can dodge only after certain intervals (10 secs, I think), you fight strictly using shortcuts of attack types. Which could be good but:
4) Your character is heavily dependant on gear - It's perfectly possible that you find yourself like 20 levels away from a start but you are still somewhat squishy or killing something takes ages. What's the problem? You don't have a right gear or you haven't found a good one yet. The game doesn't lead you very well within statistics, so you will read forum's guides sooner or later to realize what you're doing wrong instead of trial and error.
5) Latter, less co-operative - The beginning was full of cheery, chatty players. They were supportive, willing to do co-op quests. Valley of the Sun God feels empty and facts that many people either keep to themselves or directly refuse to co-op and chat serves mainly as a dungeon recruitment in this location don't help.
Positive & negative:
1) Investigation missions - Some quests require searching for clues. Which aren't in the game but on Internet. Sometimes hints are so paranoid, you start wondering what you're actually supposed to search for. Puzzles and stories around them are very innovative and I like them. They have an atmosphere; you really do feel like trying to crack something hard. On the other hand when you are surrounded by enemies which can attack you any time and cancel your progress or a single failure moves you a minute of running away and hints are very ambiguous; you probably don't want to spend a serious time on them while your subscription is ticking.
I don't fancy MMO. They feel empty most of the time and lack an interesting story. TSW has both but after certain time, it stops trying. I got a feeling developers stretch story lines artificially and it lacks a substantial content later in the game.
The Secret World would be awesome as single-player focusing on telling a story with co-op features. As it stands now, I strongly recommend to try Solomon Island arc at least.
Post edited November 13, 2012 by Mivas
