Developer: Verant Interactive
Publisher: Sony
ESRB rating: Teen
Requires: P200, 64MB RAM, 600MB HD, 28.8k+ modem, Direct 3d or Glide compliant 3d card. 8MB Ram.
Reccomended: PII 266, 128MB Ram.
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Yep, it's back, despite anyone's expectations Everquest is still going strong. For those who have been living in an underground cave for the last six months, EverQuest invites you to travel to a mystical world to complete stages. Once you have reached a certain point you win. It is an online game so whilst running through the stages you will come across real people who you might have to engage in battles with. However you're not forced to pass stages, you can simply hang out across the vitrual world and watch the sun set or pick on some newbie players if you feel like it, it was like a real world and people liked it.

The newest addition to the Everquest world is an expansion pack called 'Ruins of Kunark'. Like other expansion packs it adds a new island to the all ready full world complete with its own new class of lizard like men called Iskar. This really shows what Verant can do if given the time (and of course the money), all cities are beatifully rendered and look tons better then the others on Norrath, the new Iskar models have very nice textures and each class of Iskar have their own newbie quest so it would be easier for you to get into the whole thing.

However you can't have a game without downfalls, the hardware requirements have been pitched up because of all the visual upgrades like lizard skin and the town's visual structure all though they are still very acceptable for today's standards. The real bad thing so far is the massive patch which downlloads when you first log on, it takes an hour on a 56.6k modem! Right now all the newbie zones are overcrowded with everyone trying out the expansion pack at once but it will soon get better so one must be patient.

You can now reach level 60 instead of 50 and after level 51 spell casters will get a handfull of cool new spells and fighters get new skills to customize their fighting abilities.

This is really something special and really shows off what Verant can do. Most EQ fans probably all ready have the expansion pack simply because it's what they crave but if you have ever thought of visiting Norrath then do so now before it becomes almost impossible to conquer.

92%
Highs: great graphic enhancements
and a great new city to explore, very
nicely done.
Lows: need to download large patch,
overcrowded on the newbie-levels but
this will ease off.
Verdict: Verant have done this very
nicely and if they keep this up expect
a big future for the EverQuest universe.