We recently finished reviewing the fantasy MMORPG, Craft of Gods.  While the game offers a very open, customizable, and potentially complex skill-based levelling system, it has a number of drawbacks that can overshadow some of the positive aspects of the game.  With a number of graphical, sound, and community issues, most MMO players are likely to be disappointed in this title.

After installing, the first part of the game you'll encounter is the character creation.  The system is very straight-forward, offering a "light" and "dark" side.  We've seen this many times, in most fantasy MMO's.  Within each side is a measly 3 race choices.  Each side has a Human version, and they also have their own "wolf-folk" type of race.  The main difference in the latter being the fur color.  However, these wolf-like people are just that: PEOPLE.  They are not similar to wolves, except in the fact that their skin texture has fur and their face texture sports some white fangs.  There are no physical traits that make them non-human.  It's clearly just a re-wrapped model.  Lastly, the light side has a "giant" humanoid race while the dark side sports some humans textured with a reptilian type of skin.

The actual customization of the characters is also quite limited.  There are a few different skin colors available (some of which were just ugly and over-saturated).  There isn't any facial morphing, and the only choices come in the form of different pre-created face texture options.  There is no palette, only a "click-through" choice for any color options.  The same is true for hair and facial hair.  There are a few different styles, and a small variety of colors.  The hair meshes also have an issue with not making contact with the head of the character completely.  Consequently, the hair "floats" a bit over the head.  Finally there are some "thickness" sliders for the torso and appendages.

Once you've set up your character, you're ready to jump into the tutorial.  However, it isn't really a tutorial, as it doesn't teach you anything about the game, its controls, or how to play it at all actually.  You're just immediately given a quest to "kill 3 wolves", in a very generic fashion.  The conversation window has the appearance of a book, but is rather confusing in its layout and often leaves you "guessing" as to what needs to be clicked on next.  So, you just kill your wolves, get your reward (which you're told nothing about or how to use it), and move on to the next person.

There is also no quest tracker, markers, waypoints, or any other system which would serve to help players locate their next objective or orient themselves in the tutorial.  This changes once you're past the tutorial, but even then the only markers you're given are a large circle in the area where your quest objective "might" be.  I say might because these markers are sometimes incorrectly placed on the map, making it even more difficult to complete your quest.

Back to the process of the tutorial, you're given the quest that explains how you can tame animals in Craft of Gods.  This feature is a nice one, allowing players to gain either pets or mounts from the various creatures that roam the lands.  However, one thing that isn't mentioned immediately is that this feature is NOT fully included in the free-to-play server.  In order to use this ability there, you need to buy premium currency and use it to get scrolls that allow you to tame pets/mounts.  Of course, they have to choose what features to make premium, but I would at least consider removing that quest from the tutorial zone.

Once past the tutorial, you're let loose into the "real world" to start your adventures.  From here, things progress in a very standard fashion.  You obtain quests from NPC's (usually in cities/towns), and you go out to complete their goals.  These goals range from kill x creatures, to gather x items, to take this item to x NPC.  There's not much that breaks the fantasy mold here.  You also have the ability to harvest and craft (once you gain the appropriate skills).

The main thing that does separate Craft of Gods from most MMORPG's is its skill-based advancement system.  Players to have character levels, but your skills are chosen by you from a number of different categories.  From magic to healing to various forms of combat, you can combine skills and abilities in almost any way you choose.  Want to hurl a ball of fire at your enemy, then run in and attack with dual swords?  Well, you can do that if you choose.

The areas of the game vary in appearance from snowy highlands to grassy plains and mountains.  There are also a few dungeons strewn across the continent for players to crawl through.  The enemies and creatures typically hold to normal fantasy fare, though there is the occasional creature that stands out as unusual and sometimes amazingly unique.  Mostly the landscape is "typical".  The design lacks uniqueness or attractive visual features.  Things like ruins or other points of interest are distinctly lacking.

Graphically, the game falls somewhere between the now "outdated" titles like the original Everquest, and more modern visually appealing games like The Lord of the Rings Online.  Craft of Gods suffers from problems like low-resolution textures on many things, and animations that can be jerky or sometimes "skip".  The game simply lacks polish both from a visual appearance and technical standpoint.  Even on the highest settings, these problems are apparent (and several models often appear over-lit to the point of being "whited out").

The soundtrack of the game is very generic, with typical soft background music fitting a fantasy setting.  There is nothing wrong with this, particularly in an independently developed MMO.  It just doesn't serve to help set the game apart from others either.  In terms of sound effects, there is little to be heard here.  The ambient sounds are practically non-existent, as were the unremarkable sounds of combat.  There didn't appear to be any 3D sound, or any other sound feature aside from the basic stereo setup.

The community is also a point of concern, at least for North American players.  A majority of the game's players appear to be from Europe, particularly Russia and Italy.  This can be a real problem for American players, as not only are there few people to interact with, but a majority of PvP combat is going to take place outside typical North American play times.  The actual members of the community seemed to range from the annoyingly immature to actual helpful players.  So, at least for European players, it might be a more acceptable community situation.

Overall the game didn't seem to have evolved much from its state during beta testing, and despite the addition of a new dungeon recently, it still feels like there is a distinct lack of content in comparison to most other MMORPG's.  That lack of overall content along with the unpolished state most features of the game were in didn't provide much of a reason to continue playing.  The game does offer PvP, though nothing out of the ordinary here.  A two-sided back and forth for a few conquest locations is pretty much the only player combat feature.

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