By Rick Charbs, Onrpg Writer
Lord of the Evil (also known as Lords of Evil) is a web based MMORPG that was released in open beta as of October 4th 2008. There are many interesting promotions for new players during this release! This game is run by servers only based in the US, being one of the only of its kind currently, with most other browser based games being hosted internationally. Lords of Evil runs on flash, and is loaded with simple, yet generic features. For example, you may pick from Human, Orc, or Demon as your race. Aside from this mysterious demon race, the Humans and Orcs are dully original. Lords of Evil also features a nifty guild system and an auto levelling system, which allows your character to continue training while you are away. During this review, I will share my personal experiences playing this game with you, as well as my input on the matter.
This MMO features a storyline/lore that is released in chapters. They are very short for storyline, but if you are interested in the story it can immerse you in the setting and context of this game pretty easily.
General Gameplay
Lords of Evil is fully browser based, all done in flash. It has no real ‘‘graphical’’ view, although the game is very complex. In basic terms, this game is a siege/war MMORPG. You chose from one of the three starting races, and then build up armies of them to destroy other player’s units to rubble. You have the choice to upgrade various parts of your stronghold such as the Lumberyard, the Ironyard, and the Gold Mine. The higher you upgrade your utilities, the more cost efficient and powerful the items that you make of them will be. Not to mention your chances of defeating other players will sky-rocket. You may also build and upgrade a house, which is used to increase your population, a council, which is used to enhance building speed, and barracks, which produces fighting units for your army. There are many other advanced buildings you may build further on in the game, but I will leave those to your own discovery! These options were somewhat difficult to locate due to the unorganized user interface, though there are many, and I mean many, helpful support guides on their official forum.
Lords of Evil also offers an extensive skills selection for your army. Most skills empower your population fighting-wise, so that you can defeat enemy armies much easier, improving overall attributes. Many commands may be used to order your army to attack enemy strongholds with your guild, or simply retreat or guard in battle.
Another aspect of the game is their cash shop. It is completely run in its own currency, called gems. These gems are used to cast magical spells on your castle, making building or gathering troops much faster for different periods of time. The longest amount you can pay for is 20 hours, but even then you have a chance of only obtaining 1-19 hours of enhanced speed; it is generated randomly. Although this may seem convenient, almost every advantage over a player is acquired when purchasing these gems, thus making the game very cash dependant. As previously stated, during this open beta phase there are many promotions to gather some of these gems for free, so go ahead and check it out while you can!
Graphics and Sound
After spending so much time explaining how this game functions, there is not much to say about this game’s graphical and sound capabilities. As far as I know, there is no music or sound in this game what-so-ever. I found this highly disappointing, due to the fact that a browser game usually makes up for its lack of graphics with immersive and relaxing music. The graphics speak for themselves I suppose. Don’t expect any. On the other hand, their interfaces and logos are really well done, despite being a little confusing. Needless to say, there is little to judge on these aspects with this game.
Personal Recommendation
Personally, I have never really been fond of non-graphical browser based games. That does not imply that this game was a horrible experience or anything, but it was just not my style. I could not find anything exceptional enough to keep me playing, though the community is currently loving this game to bits. If this is your style of gaming, and if you wish to play games without having to download anything, try this one out. Again, I would suggest you make the best of their current promotions for new players as they are going to eventually move on to a full release. They need your help to suggest new features, races, skills, and overall ideas. They have various suggestion methods, such as their forums, their support service, or their in game ‘‘complain’’ button I found oh-so-comical.
They could easily improve most aspects of their game, such as their lack of music and sound, customization, rankings, and maybe even adding greater role play value. Since this game is in such an early stage of testing, I cannot judge its future possibilities, because it has great potential; however I just didn’t enjoy this open beta version at all. Even though I enjoyed creating an army and sending it out, most of the other players were out of my league and I had too much trouble figuring out how to play effectively. I was also quite disappointed by their revenue system, as the gems can get costly and other paying players can easily have a great advantage over a non-paying player in every possible aspect. If you have ever enjoyed browser based MMORPGS, I recommend you take a peek at this title, and examine it as much as you can. Give Ray Flame Entertainment as much feedback as possible due to your liking, and hopefully your suggestions will see their way into the game. Plus, for all you undead/demon lovers out there: this demon race is really cool! Happy gaming!
Pros
– Heart warming community
– Clean and crisp graphic art
Cons
– Lack of music/sound
– Large learning curve
– Under populated
– Can be costly
