Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach [PC]

The last thing Turbine (and their inspirational partners, Wizards of the Coast) wanted to do was to give the gaming world yet another generic, aimless, newbie-snubbing, player-griefing, stat-grinding MMORPG and stuff it into a vaguely D&D-ish skin. Lead designer Ken Troop likened the experience of MMORPG grief to having a gaggle of jerks barge into a tabletop D&D session, bellowing profanity and scattering the group's dice and figures.

No, the goal was always to give PC gamers a game that truly emulates the imaginative, transporting experience of the classic pen-and-paper RPG, complete with personality-rich locales, carefully balanced party-based adventure/combat, and a meaningful story. Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, takes some promising, heroic strides down that noble, if nerdy, road.

Based on the 3.5 Edition Dungeons & Dragons rules (and set in the Wizards of the Coast campaign fantasy realm of Eberron), Stormreach is rooted in party-based exploration, in the vein of Guild Wars. It also aims to streamline the sometimes alienating experience of the first-time D&Der.

The combat, while taking place in elaborately crafted settings and using a range of unique, fully realized character classes, couldn't be much simpler; at heart, it's hardly more complex or offputting than the click-and-bash mechanics of a Diablo, except that it factors in some timing-based parry/critical-hit aspects... if you care about that kind of thing. If you don't, you needn't sweat it.

Stormreach is all about accessibility, so newcomers needn't fear the dry, sometimes numbing "roll up a character" logjam. The various available character-classes make a difference with their unique skills and spells of course, but they're based on a system akin to charged batteries -- part of the challenge is deciding how and when to use these finite applications, until such time as a rejuvenating shrine can be found in any given area.

The upshot is that a (hopefully) well-balanced party of adventurers will want to strategically mete out their respective special abilities over the course of, say, a dungeon -- rather than blowing their skill-set wads all in one go, as it were.

Players can choose from one of five races (elves, Halflings, humans, dwarves, and a new race exclusive to the Eberron campaign world), further subdivided into the expected, useful "professions" (paladins, rangers, wizards, barbarians, and the like). A well-balanced party needs a barbarian "tank" to be waiting for trouble when the resident rogue opens a tricky door. It needs a cleric or wizard somewhere in the wings, ready to lend healing magic, or to bust out with the wicked magic-missile support fire.

Skill uses and swapping desired spells or weapons are both as simple as the click-based combat itself, and players can have their options displayed iconically along the bottom of the screen (or where they want, as the HUD is customizable). If your volleys of arrows from the rear aren't doing the trick, it might be time to switch to the battle-axe and wade into the fray. With one click, you'll know which enemy you have targeted (a mini-portrait shows up on the HUD, for good measure), and with another, you'll deal the damage (this holds true for spell casting and other abilities as well as just hurting things).