Atlantica is single-handedly one of the most enjoyable F2P MMO experiences I have had, ever. This is all that I feel compelled to say about this game and I would sleep quite soundly leaving the review here and going to bed. Of course that would leave a great deal of you throwing things at me (yet again) so allow me to be a bit more informative.

13 hours ago I first signed into Atlantica. As with many MMO's that are released these days I felt nothing - I expected so very little so that I could not be disappointed. Atlantica has changed the way I look at F2P games.
Before now I had assumed that all F2P MMO's were simple, flimsy excuses for games designed to rob foolish children of their pocket money - eg. Shaiya.
I'm well aware that I'm starting to sound slightly fanatical, so I'll explain from the beginning...



After creating my character I stepped into the "dreamworld", the obligatory tutorial area. I was pleasantly surprised to find the tutorial quite thorough, which is exceedingly helpful as the game is very, very deep.

Brace yourself:

The battles are turn-based. Yup, the same old-school RPG style that most of us gamers grew up on. Each set of turns involves several different factors such as “movement points” and a timer - while all of the action takes place on a 3x3 grid for each side. Then you have to consider the formation of your party, of the enemies party, which enemies need to be stunned/silenced/dead in order to make the battle go smoothly, etc.
Did I mention the game was deep?

Luckily the tutorial doesn’t end with the tutorial zone. The quest chain continues on from the tutorial zone and through into the game proper, constantly showing you how to use abilities and features step-by-step.
Unluckily, however, is that this tutorial chain doesn’t seem to end… after thirteen hours and 20 levels of game played I was still accepting tutorial quests such as “Send a whisper to another player”. I had a nice little chat with Dinoman after he queried why I had randomly sent him a message.
Also having to complete a quest to obtain an item which the player must use in order to learn how to SIT DOWN was just plain silly.

Players must hire mercenaries to form a party similar to that of traditional, single-player RPG fare. To begin with players can only hire two extra mercenaries, but advancing throughout the game allows a final total of nine members per team. Players issue commands to each of their team members within their allotted time, then it switches to the enemy’s turn and so forth. Players can also form parties with other groups of mercenaries, allowing three players to form a 27-man alliance in total.



The developer nDoors possessed enough foresight to include an in-game database for their incredibly intricate game, detailing all of the monster, item, area, quest information that you’ve gathered while playing as well as an enormous amount of data for almost every other aspect of the game. Monster information is gathered by defeating certain numbers of each monster and grants certain bonuses such as reduced damaged or more items from that particular enemy and all of the gathered information (and said bonuses)  can be shared amongst friends, guild or party members too. Not only is this database very useful but also very enjoyable for completionists or collectors looking for something to focus on other tutorial quests.

There is no shortage of things to do either. Though in my short time in the game I only saw a small portion of the areas on offer, the sheer number of things to do is mind boggling. Aside from a mind numbingly huge amount of crafting skills available, there’s also player made guilds that can control towns in a sim-city-esque fashion, an auction-house and a market (both very easy to navigate and use), enchanting/refining weapons, an innovative mentor/disciple system that encourages high level players to pair up with newbies and even being able to change the appearance (and slightly more disturbing: the gender) of your character!

Then there’s PvP. This is almost a game of its own with Duels, Challenges, Free League and Arena types available. From what I could tell (and I may be wrong here), the free league and arena matches become open for registration every few hours each evening. Free League organises players’ parties against each other whilst Arena matches are slightly more organised and can have other players bet on the outcome. Sadly the Arena has a very high level requirement so there were no matches running at during my time though I am greatly looking forward to it.

Overall, Atlantica is an excellent (and perhaps currently the most fun) F2P game, but one that may find itself excluding a few types of gamers with its old-school style. No matter what type of gamer you are, it’s definitely worth a look.


- Solid, expansive gameplay mechanics though slightly linear map design. The battles themselves don’t get repetitive quickly and gamers are offered numerous activities to break any monotony.





-Well detailed character design. Environments are inspired but feel empty and textures tend to get quite blocky up-close. NPC dialogue UI is nicely done.





- Background music is fantastic. Voice acting is cringe-worthy but thankfully there’s very little.






- I didn’t get to experience the full extent of PvP in my time with the game, but something I intend to do when open beta is released. PvP Challenges are particularly interesting, allowing you to put your money where your mouth is.





- Very hit and miss here. Hit: Auto-run function that automatically guides you to your quest objective or town of choice, allowing players to attend to other things. Miss: Stamina… Stamina prevents players from gaining experience or items after 100 battles in a day. The only ways to get stamina back is to use a “Stamina Pill” which can only be gained through the mentor system or through PvP Challenges, neither of which is very solo-player friendly. Personally I think it’s a great idea as it encourages a great sense of community, but I think nDoors will bow to public pressure on this one.


- Atlantica is an outstanding beta F2P and a fantastic game in it’s own right. Even in it’s incomplete form it’s a game to be reckoned with. If you miss the beta then be sure to watch this one closely for the official release. There, now I’m going to bed.

-Tob

*Note that all scores marked as BETA we're either not fully complete at the time of review or unable to be fully experienced in the current release build. Scores shown may not accurately reflect the quality of the final version.