Below are user reviews of Anarchy Online Special Edition and on the right are links to professionally written reviews.
The summary of review scores shows the distribution of scores given by the professional reviewers for Anarchy Online Special Edition.
Column height indicates the number of reviews with a score within the range shown at the bottom of the column.
Higher scores (columns further towards the right) are better.
User Reviews (1 - 11 of 11)
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FREE AO until jan 2007
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 1 / 2
Date: November 19, 2005
Author: Amazon User
search google for ao downloads and it will come up with a special download that you can use and you can play until 2007. this game is a very fun game but the lag is at times unbareable and on the free download you dont get any perks or full map. i suggest playin this until you want to buy it and get the special edition if you are really into it and hope that they patch it so there is less lag. good game tho.
Takes too much time
1
Rating: 1,
Useful: 6 / 33
Date: September 26, 2002
Author: Amazon User
Well this game is pretty good but i thought the battles were too easy all you do is press the attack button and go get something to eat. another bad thing is the game itself. it takes so much of your spare time you have to choose whether to play the game or do stuff you actually need to do.The only good thing about this game is the enviorment. but its so laggy in most places you cant enjoy the scenery. I on behalf of most people that actually have a social life would hate this game just like me! I HATE THIS GAME!
Long time player
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User
I have played AO off and on since it came out in '01. There are many Sci-fi games available online, but this one has staying power. For paying customers, there is such a wide variety of play areas that you can't really get bored. Some of the Shadowlands areas are enormous and beautiful. A big plus is for people who can't afford an uber computer can still play this game without any issues. The free play has been extended yet again and I believe it will continue to be free (they'll keep extending it). Free players have access to the original content (what we paid for when it started!) plus the Notum Wars expansion. The professions (called classes in other games) are unique with such a variety of customization you could literally become a "jack of all trades, master of none" depending on how you elect to spend your points. I've left AO for other games and ended up returning, missing the Sci fi feel. The character graphics are so-so, which is why I dropped a star from my rating, but the environments are very good and play is great. Raiders will find as much to do as solo players. Tradeskills are interesting and there are roleplayers on each server for those that enjoy taking the game experience a step further. Customer service via the ARK system (Advisors of Rubi Ka) is timely. All in all, I keep coming back to AO and recommend people give it a try. Check out their website at http://www.anarchy-online.com.
A repackaging of the original.. with a few extras
2
Rating: 2,
Useful: 4 / 16
Date: June 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User
Anarchy Online is a Massive Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game (MMORPG) based in the distant future. Gamers play one of three sides (either the corporate Omnis, the undeclared neutrals, or the rebel Clans). The game has PvP, decent graphics, and is auto-combat (you point, click, and the game continues to attack until you tell it otherwise, rather than "twitch" combat like Quake or Unreal Tournament). While not as buggy as the original release version of the game, AO is still very unbalanced game-play wise, has bugs that have yet to be fixed, and has yet to deliver on a number of promises concerning content. Note that this is NOT a "next generation" of Anarchy Online, but simply a repackaging of the original game with a few improvements.
If you're wondering why the description of the actual game is so short, the answer is simple: you can find ALL of that information on the Anarchy Online website or in the other reviews. No, this review is going to focus on what YOU get IF you buy this specific product.
When you buy this product, you are getting a "patched" version of the original release. This will save you a lot of time "downloading" updates from the website, but it isn't necessary. You also get some "free" playtime, a "fiction novel" set in the AO universe, a big map, a "new player" guide to help you get started, a manual in multiple languages, and a disk containing various "trailers" and other information you could download from the website - in short, a lot of promotional material most people will look at once and then never touch again.
I did not enjoy my time in AO, nor did I enjoy the revised game. My advice to people wanting to try Anarchy Online for the first time is to go to the AO website and DOWNLOAD the game, then sign up for the 7 day free trial that Funcom was offering at the time this review was written. If you MUST buy a retail MMORPG, look something like EverQuest (for those into Player vs. computer Enemy [PvE] games) or Dark Age of Camelot (for those into Player vs. Player [PvP] combat). Good luck!
Disapointment
2
Rating: 2,
Useful: 4 / 15
Date: December 02, 2002
Author: Amazon User
The game does not have a unique concept. Interface controls are still poorly layed out. Players viewpoint is though adjustable, keeps shifting ( even in locked down behind the character mode)
Game play itself, in a word, boring.
...
LAGGGGG when your around other players, is so fearsome its sickening. Graphic models and terrain have collision and rendering problems. Also if you are just sick of the EQ zoning don't even think of Anarchy. You will see landscape and mobs beyond the zone line. hit the zone and pop up in an area nothing looks like what you seen through the zone barriers.
I'm addicted
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 6 / 8
Date: June 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User
I never played AO when it first came out. I hear that it was really buggy and turned a lot of people off. Well, I have been playing for a month now and haven't really run into any nasty bugs. There's still an odd thing or two happening every once in awhile, but you get that will all kinds of online games of this cailbur. I'll have to say that the few bugs that remain or pop up are well worth dealing with because of the enterainment value and sheer beauty of Rubi-Ka itself. I play a solitus Doctor and it's great! If you're ever on Rubi-Ka 1 and need a hand, just send me, Linaa, a tell.
Not for the Impatient
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 6 / 7
Date: September 24, 2002
Author: Amazon User
This is a game that has a very complicated control system, inicially it is a lot like learning how to fly a plane, but once you get it you actually begin to understand a lot more. If you are not pacient enough to learn the controls this game is not for you. One of the features of the game is that there is not much help ofered in the help stations around the game world, but that is not necesarily a downfall. After all this is a mass multiplayer game and relies on the interaction among gamers for it to be successfull.
Because this game relies on cooperation among players i actually found the gaming experience much more pleasant than in other mass multiplayer games. there are also numerous features in the game that make hacking and stealing of items very difficult so there have been no known attemts to try this, and if there have been attempts to hack Funcom has been vigilant in banning those accounts that have tried this. of course there are some buggs in the gameplay, but they actually make the game more entertaining, most of the buggs that cause crashes have been eliminated since the original version was released. FunCom also provides extencive information on how to fix some of the buggs associated with your hardware not callibrating to their software.
If you're not sure if you will like the game go to their website and download the 7 day free trial and deside for yourself.
really cool game
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 8 / 11
Date: July 29, 2002
Author: Amazon User
I can't speak for earlier versions but the newest build of Anarchy On-line rocks. I opted to download it from the game's site (592 megs). Took more than 30 hours with my 56k modem but it was worth it! This game is awesome! Top notch graphics and fully textured game worlds (cities, dungeons, "backyards", etc). You start out by picking your race. I chose Opifex. There are four different ones each with unique skills. Then you choose height, weight, type of face etc. You also must chose what profession you wish to follow (I'm an enforcer) and what side to be on. You can join Omni-Tek (a super large corporation), be neutral, or join the clans. I'm part of the clans. ;) You start out in the "backyard" of one of the major cities. Here you can get an apartment and use the training grounds to build your skills. You are not allowed into the main city until you reach level 2 or acquire 1000 credits. The whole game is set far into the future with cool technology. Getting from city to city is easy using the grid (sorta like a matter/energy transporter). But you need speical skills to use it. You are given points to use to increase things such as agility or strength, and all are fully customizable. Overall a great game and I've only just begun!
This is a TOTALLY different game from the one they launched
4
Rating: 4,
Useful: 7 / 7
Date: June 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User
i was there at launch, and i would agree with most others that the game was a embarrassment to itself, but that was then. funcom has a work ethic, something other companies could learn from, and they turned a sure loser into a winner, everything i could think of being broken is atleast tolerable now. Lag is always a issue with online gaming, but it isnt anymore laggy than Eq, or Uo when passing through a major traffic spot. I guess if anything could be wrong with the game at this point, it would be the monotony, or the economics, the same things that tend to plague other online games as well. One more thing though, i would reccommend this game to any older , or more mature gamers, there seems to be a more balanced playfield here of mature gamers, and alot less grief players.
Surprisingly, the game has become quite good
5
Rating: 5,
Useful: 11 / 13
Date: June 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User
We all know about the horrible launch. The bugs. The nerfs. The un-nerfs. The crashes.
But in the time since it's release, Anarchy Online has become a good MMPORG. I was one of the original beta testers for this game and quite about 5 months after it was launch. I recently decided to check it out again and have been really enjoying it. If only it could have originally shipped in this state . . .
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