Shadowbane
(Ubi-Soft)

Shadowbane is the newest MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) to be released for what some say, is an overcrowded market already. There are lots of MMORPGs, but few are any good. It takes a great deal of talent to produce a successful continuously dynamic RPG. The game has been out for barely a month, so I thought it would be a bit unfair to give it a full review just yet. I would like to thank Stan from The Mac Smith for my review copy.

With the purchase of the game you get free 31 days, but must have a major credit card and buy a further month for $12.99. You have to have a credit card to sign up. This seems to be a good way to keep trolls from making multiple accounts. There are rewards for the multiple month purchase, including discounts and further races to play. If you buy a year subscription, all current races are open to you. If you do not pay this way, you will need play for an allotted time before you can access some of the fancier races (like Minotaur & Centaur). Both of these races are ones that more for experienced players either of this game or MMORPGs in general.

One of the great things about the game is that it was released for Mac and PC simultaneously, on a hybrid CD. This is the first MMORPG of its kind (other than the dire and crude Clan Lord) for the Mac, and kudos to Wolfpack for following Blizzard's lead. I suspect that this fact alone will get the game some following that it might not have had. Of course, the end of this month sees the release of Everquest, the acknowledged leader of the genre. I expect to be able to review that game as well, to compare the two games.

One thing that is for sure is that EQ will be harder for Mac gamers to get into as it is a long established game. There will be a temptation for experienced EQ players to exploit newer Mac-based EQ players. There is none of that in Shadowbane.

In fact, there is a "Dunkirk spirit" in the game, as it goes through its initial teething stages. People, at least on the (0-21 rank islands) are very helpful indeed, and very patient with newbie players. It does help that there is no player killing until players hit 21st level and are booted off to the main island. But there is still looting of players' bodies when they die. I have seen many cases of relative strangers, recovering loot from a body and bringing it back to players after a re-spawn. Twice, I have had other players give me money to help me along my way after server/application crashes or lag got me killed. The game does foster a great deal of camaraderie between players. To encourage co-operation getting into groups with other players significantly helps you gain both experience and gold. It would be nice if a few more people could be in a group that exists currently, but that is a minor quibble. Other games, such as Clan Lord, have tried this but it does seem to work well in Shadowbane.