Red Cliff is another MMO released by Perfect World Entertainment. If you don't recognize this name, they're the ones responsible for Perfect World, Q-World, Ether Saga, and Jade Dynasty/Celestial Destroyer/Zhu Xian Online. Like all of their previous games, Red Cliff is just another repackaging of another one of their game with different character models and enemies. If you've played them before, its kind of the same as any of the others on the list (except for maybe Ether Saga, I haven't played that one). There are some minor differences, but nothing significant. To me, the best I can characterize this is an updated version of Zhu Xian Online.

The epic Red Cliff movie of 2008 and 2009 has only made this game look worse as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjIV_suXuCw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZsMDgRhWsg

Story:

The game is based on the Romance of the Three Kingdoms era specifically the Battle of Red Cliffs (Chi Bi) where the small alliance of Sun Quan and Liu Bei managed to defeat Cao Cao's far superior navy thanks to some luck. However, considering what is possible in the game, it is not based on part of the time line at all. Can someone say cheap name cash in?

Graphics:

The graphics have only barely improved since Zhu Xian Online. The character models are the same, but this time the clothes have changed. The selection of looks are still severely limited and many of them are hard to differentiate. There is only a small selection of character looks upon creation and they look very similar to one another. Enemies also recycle the same look fairly often. Within the first 10 levels of the game you already start to see some monster types being recycled.

Gameplay:

Character creation is simple. Pick a name, your look, and 1 weapon. Later you can choose a 2nd weapon once you obtain a subclass but not all the weapons are available yet. You can also pick a home town, but there's not much difference between them. I guess its suppose to be easier to join one of the 3 big armies if you designate your home in their area but not much else than that.

The controls was not something I was use to. Right click is used to interact with all NPCs and enemies. Left click is only for moving and targetting. You also have to manually face your opponent otherwise you can't attack. If you are new to MMOs, this might work, but I found it really annoying to deal with.

There are key differences between each of the weapons and they for the most part play like different classes. The Saber weapon (clearly not a saber though) is the standard warrior weapon. Its big and slow but has attack buffs and high damage. The War Fan is the healer weapon. It has quite a few support skills and healing abilities. Even though they are different, the range classes have a significant advantage early on being able to pick off most enemies without taking a hit. The stats shown for each weapon more or less show your stat growth with that class.

Experience is used for many things in game. This is something simple, yet at the same time a crucial problem. It does not look like you need much to level up, but monsters give pathetic experience. Most of your experience will come from questing. There is a good amount of quests early on, but it slowly dwindles and the rewards do not increase proportionately to your level. Experience is used for leveling up, ranking up your classes (to unlock new skills), and learning new skills. The combination of these 3 can quickly drain all the experience you have built up.

Unlike most other MMOs, leveling up only increases stats and HP. MP and Vigor are fixed. MP is used for skills and regenerates fairly quickly. Vigor is generated from using skills and is required to use some of the stronger skills. When you are not in combat, it drains away fairly quickly. The good part about this system is that it puts most of the classes on a more even playing field and increases the strategy involved by effectively preventing spamming. However, classes that don't need to spam skills (melee classes) will still have the advantage in nearly any situation.

Crafting is back and it operates in the same way as other games. Either learn the recipe from the NPC or an item book, then gather the mats and use it in your inventory. Wait for the bars to fill up. The only thing that is different this time, is that some items have a chance of being rare. The rare items will come with bonus stats and tends to look different than the normal version of the item. The average item has something like a 1/10 chance of being rare. If there's a chance for it, it will be stated in the production rate of the item when you select it. Repeatedly crafting will eventually get your skill level up so you can learn higher level crafts.

Guilds:

The grouping is by far the best function available. The first is an alliance which is basically your traditional guild. You just get together with other players and you form a group and that will become an alliance. There are suppose to be some alliance only quests at higher levels but generally you will get bored before you get that far. The next step up from the alliance is an army. An army is basically several alliances combined. There are benefits to partying with members of your alliance or army rather than random players as well.

The largest scale one is that of the Nation. When you join Wu, Shu, or Wei you automatically become part of that nation. The other 2 will be registerd as hostile and occasionally there will be an all out war between the nations.

Overall:

If you've played any of their other games, you know what to expect. There isn't enough new things here that are worth it. It still looks like it will become an item mall dominated game in the long run. If you like the games that are produced by the Perfect World people, then this is the game for you. Otherwise you will need to hold your breath until something else comes along.

Final Score:

6/10 - Nothing new worth mentioning. Repackaging of another game.

EDIT: P.S. check out this AWESOME "sword" AresPL is talking about

http://redcliff.cubizone.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4&Itemid=6