Graphics: This is a 2.5d game, the world is viewed at an isometric angle giving it the appearance of 3d while all the objects and characters in it are 2d.  The battles are strictly 2d and you never see your own character during them.  The environments are very crisp and colorful, and are seperated into ‘rooms’, you move between sections at specified points on the edge of the area.  The characters are rather small (at least at a resolution of 1280 x 1024) and you can’t see a great amount of detail, but you can tell what you are wearing and certain identifying characteristics of npc’s.  The channels that are the focus of the game are very bright and soft, and contrast nicely with the rest of the world’s sharp edges, giving the impression of impermanence.  They are also clearly divided by color allowing you to see their relative difficulty before encountering them.  The 2d aspect of the game will probably turn some people off, but I think it works rather well for what it is, a game intended for younger people, and doesn’t place a significant load on the system.  There is a load time between each area though, not significant but noticeable.

Graphics Score:  7/10 Mules

Sound: There is background music, battle music, and battle sounds in the game.  Unfortunately, there is no way to turn any of them off, or change their volume, without doing it through your speakers or computer.  The background music itself changes based on where you are in the world and whether you are in a town or not.  The music is soothing and soft, but they all sound fairly similar, consisting of drums and a keyboard (I think).  The background sound at the opening of battles is excellent, but it is soon drowned out by the music which is a shame.  Overall the sound is just okay, but it does get repetitive, and not having any way to turn it down or off seems like a significant oversight to me.  After a half hour or so I just turned off my speakers.

Sound Score:  4/10 Mules

Controls: The mouse is your only method of control here, and you use only the left button.  Like other browser games it is a simple system of menus, tabs, and icons to click on for various effects.  There is no need for complex actions, so there is no need for complex controls or macros.  As simple as it gets and effective because of it.

Controls Score:  10/10 Mules

Depth: This is the area where it will become apparent that the game is targeted at younger players.  It quickly becomes repetitive, and for someone who is a little older and/or gets bored relatively quickly (me for both), this can really be a deal-breaker.  All of the quests that I have found so far are of two types; namely ‘deliver this message’ and ‘collect X of this item’.  Completing either typically involves crossing several channels, or the same one numerous times.  Further lowering the appeal for older players is the fact that the overall goal of making the world a safer place to travel must only become relevant at higher levels, as I never saw anything pertaining to it except a few random remarks from npc’s.  Also, there are no alternative activities besides, I suppose, talking to other players.  You get a quest, go and fight for a bit, then turn the quest in, that’s it.  I’m not counting the crafting of traps as an alternative activity because it is central to your ability to cross channels and therefore central to travel, fighting, and obtaining items.  On a side note, while I approve of requiring players to figure things out for themselves, some key points should be explained outright.  I did not know there were stones in random places you could use to heal yourself, I spent a lot of money buying potions before I found one sentence buried on the website about it.  There was absolutely no references to it in-game.  All of this, plus a pet that serves no purpose other than giving a minor stat boost and being able to enchant other players, leads me to conclude that I will not be on there frequently.  However, as I’m not a part of the intended audience, that doesn’t mean much, children would probably find it fun.

Depth Score:  3/10 Mules

Community: Since I am not a social butterfly I don’t typically pay much attention to what other players are doing in games.  I’ll ignore them if they’re annoying, report them if they break rules and there’s a way to do it, or leave if it’s bad enough and there is no mechanism to deal with it.  None of that was necessary while I was playing Code of Everand, because I only saw two other players and that very briefly.  That’s right, two people in about two weeks.  Not that it really matters, because I couldn’t really have talked with them anyway, the only way to say anything is by selecting from a list of set phrases.  There is no open chat function in-game, to avoid the abuse of it that would surely happen.  If there are any other social aspects then I am unaware of them and haven’t seen enough people to want to go looking for them.  The only way to contact the company is by sending an email, there are no forums or anything of that nature.

Community Score:  2/10 Mules

Value: Not applicable, this game requires no payment for anything.  As I said in the summary, it was made to teach children road safety concepts, not to make money.

Value Score:  NA

Final Score:  4.8 / 10 Mules

http://codeofeverand.co.uk

Graphics: The current graphics in Runescape look much better than they used to.  Earlier this year they made a major overhaul, the graphics are now much smoother and cleaner looking, there is more detail to objects and characters, and animations are much smoother looking due to a process they implemented called tweening.  This game is in 3d, with a 3rd person view, and the camera is movable to any position you desire from ground level to a bird’s eye view.  Each of the areas in the game has it’s own distinct personality, and the graphics reflect this.  Though not cutting edge, they are very polished and obviously had a good amount of time spent on them.  Very rarely are there any noticeable glitches in this area, although I have to mention that during some of the in-game cut-scenes the camera moves either too early or too late, so you might miss some of the action.  It is not usually vital, though.  The effects are also not a major drain on system resources and do not require a high-end computer to enjoy.  I don’t see any reason why anyone with even a basic system wouldn’t be able to enjoy the high detail levels.  However, this is probably the area where I’ve heard the most complaints about the game.  You’ll either love it or think it looks too simple.  See screenshots below.

Graphics Score: 8/10 Mules

Sound: How about 615 loopable songs that change based on where you are in the game world?  You get that, plus the environmental and activity sounds based on what you are doing.  Don’t like the song that’s tied to your location?  No problem, choose another one and loop that instead.  You have to unlock most of the songs by visiting their corresponding locations, some of which you can only reach during quests.  This means that as a free player there is no way to get all the songs, you can only do that as a member.  Because of this, it is quite an accomplishment to have all of them unlocked, and you get a special emote when you do.  As for the songs themselves, they are well composed and fit entirely with whatever area they are representing.  And due to some of the changes that were made during the overhaul they now sound better too.  Some of the songs probably would drive you to distraction if looped for extended periods, but being able to change them at will is a nice ability.  Or, if you just can’t stand it, you have the option to turn off just the music, just the effects, just the environment, or any combination of those.

Sound Score: 9/10 Mules

Controls: There aren’t really any controls to speak of, everything is done with the mouse except the camera, which is moved using the arrow keys.  To use the default action on an object you left click on it; to see a menu of other options for what you can do with that object, you right click on it.  To move you can left click on the ground, if it’s close by, or click in the minimap if further away.  Not complicated, but it doesn’t need to be.  The only complaint I might have is that the default action is always the same; contextual defaults might be better if it could be worked.  For example, if you are going fishing and carry a harpoon it would be better to have the default action as ‘harpoon fishing spot’ and not ‘cage fishing spot’ (since you harpoon tuna/swordfish in the same spots you catch lobsters in a cage).  That could just be me, overall the simple system works fine.

Controls Score: 9/10 Mules

Depth: As a free player you of course get less depth and variety in your activities than as a member.  There are only 19 quests available for non-members, instead of the 160 total for p2p, and Jagex long ago stated that they would no longer introduce new quests for the f2p segment.  Skills also get shorted, with only 12 for f2p as opposed to 21 for members.  Some of the quests have prerequisites in terms of skills or previous quests, leading to an extended storyline within that group, but there is no real overarching mystery or story that could be said to influence everything.  While it may sound like the free game is not worth the time, for some people it could be all they need.  Even with the limited number of areas and quests, it will still take some time to see and complete them all and even longer to master the skills (think months and years to get to level 99 in a skill, even if you do nothing but that).  The quests themselves are quite varied, they’re not all fetch and carry or kill X number of enemies.  Sometimes you have to spy, steal, solve puzzles, play games, or use a particular skill to accomplish your task.  Through the quests you also learn more about the history of the world and the backgrounds of it’s inhabitants.  Overall I have to say that while you may become bored at some point, you are never stuck having to do something boring to move the game along.  You can always go off and do something else and come back to it later if you feel like it.  The mini-games are particularly useful for this, you can go play a game that doesn’t take that long and earn some rewards (items, experience, money, etc).  There are mini-games based on combat, crafting, magic, thieving, and others, so it provides a nice break while still allowing you to advance your character.  In fact, because it doesn’t try to force you along a linear path, because it is so open-ended, it is one of the most enjoyable browser games I’ve played.  It has depth, but it’s not confusingly complex.  Some people, however, may hunger for a more tied-together experience, something that makes each action important in a broader sense.  Runescape doesn’t really do that, and to truly get the most out of it you have to pay to be a member, but that’s as it should be.

Depth Score: 8/10 Mules

Community: This game is easy to get started, easy to play, and doesn’t make huge demands on your time, so you’ll find a large and diverse group of players.  Kids to adults, everyone seems to find something good here, so there are many different attitudes as well.  To help manage all this you can add people to a friend or ignore list, turn off public and/or private chat, and form a clan-chat channel to keep in touch with a group.  If you see someone breaking one of the rules (not just being a jerk), there is a report violation button within the game to input their name and offense.  You can sometimes find Jagex staff wandering around, they have a gold crown by their names to identify them and have almost god-like power.  More common are player-moderators, people who have usually been playing for a while and found to be trustworthy and honest in their violation reports.  They have more limited powers, but are volunteers and receive no special benefit for what they do.  One recent addition that I heartily approve of is the Grand Exchange, an auction-house setup so you don’t have to spend as much time standing around shouting that  you have something for sale.  As with any game, free or not, you will still find bots, cheaters, beggars, and gold sellers.  This is more true for the f2p worlds since there’s less of a loss if they are banned.  Also like anything else, you will find people who are just rude and/or like to cause problems and be argumentative.  This is where the ignore list comes in handy, and, if they are being abusive, the report button.  There are, of course, helpful people willing to answer questions and aid you without being condescending and insulting.  These people are more common thankfully.  I like the option to turn off all public chat as well since it seems most of the conversations involve people calling others noobs or rambling about stuff they don’t like.  As I said in the rating explanation, social aspects are not that important to me, so I appreciate the tools I can use to ignore everyone and just play the game.

Community Score:  10/10 Mules

Value: As I mentioned in the depth category, there are many advantages to becoming a member.  With 9 more skills, 141 more quests, around 4 times the land area to explore, and all of the mini-games to take part in, for a price of $5.95 a month it is actually worth it.  I appreciate that there’s a company out there that understands putting out a quality product at a reasonable price will get you more members, and so make more money, than putting out the bare minimum and charging as much as you can.  I have been a member, off and on, so even though I have had to cancel my subscription when things have been tight (I’m not a rich person and games are a luxury), I realize that I will usually go back eventually.

Value Score: 10/10 Mules

Final Score:  8.7 / 10 Mules

http://www.runescape.com

Graphics (weight: 2) – Graphics are, of course, the visual aspects of the game.  I’m not overly concerned with whether or not it uses the latest 3d tricks.  Whether it’s 2d, 3d, or text-based, what is important is that the images, video, etc are consistent and add to the theme or mood of the game.  There should be as few artifacts, instances of tearing, or other glitches of a graphical nature as possible when running at reasonable resolutions and detail levels.

Sound (weight: 2) – A good soundtrack can make a game exceptional, adding just the right amount of suspense or action at the right moment.  This category will deal with the background music, ambient sounds, interface sounds, etc. and whether or not they are consistent, fit well with the general theme, and will not slowly drive a person to insanity if heard for extended periods.

Controls (weight: 1) – You can’t very well play a game if you can’t get it to do what you want, when you want.  Here I will explain whether the controls are explained properly, if they are relatively intuitive and easy to get used to, and whether or not they are configurable to meet your specific needs.

Depth (weight: 3) – This will be the bulk of the review.  Does the game offer new and exciting challenges at suitable intervals?  Is there an underlying storyline that can tie most of your actions together?  Is it a simple hack-and-slash, totally focused on going out and killing things repeatedly?  There should be a variety of objectives throughout the game, ones that cover all aspects and not just combat.  What do you do if you get tired of running around killing things?  Does the game have activities for a more skill-oriented player, some kind of crafting system perhaps?  The little details that may not be the intended main focus of the game, but add to its replayability and enjoyability factors will also be included here.

Community (weight: 1) – This is where most people will disagree with me about the games.  Since I have only given it a weight of 1, this category is less important to me.  It deals with the interactions between players.  Chat functions, emotes, a party system if applicable, and the general attitudes of it’s core players.  I spend very little time, if any, making friends in games, but this would also include getting in-game help for questions and the GM system used, again if applicable.

Value (weight: 1) – Many of these games are free because they have advertisements or they offer special bonuses and rewards to players willing to pay real money for them.  Here I will try to determine whether paying for these enhancements would be worth it or not.

So there you have it, the main rating system categories.  I plan to use some images to graphically represent the scores, but that may take some time to get together, until then it will be numeric.

I am sure that there are other sites and whatnot that do this, but since I find myself diving into these games with little or no knowledge about them beforehand, I thought anyone who does want to learn about them a little first could use some of my observations.  So, the first review will be coming soon, by tomorrow at least if not later tonight.