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> Results: Horizons: Empire of Istaria
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It's Istaria, not Ishtar!
The newest entry into the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing genre is Horizons from Artifact Entertainment. The premise of the game is rather unique. An undead scourge is menacing the land of Istaria. In the game 10 years have past since the peoples of Istaria beat back the forces of the Withered Aegis from the capital city of Tazoon. However, the Withered Aegis still control vast amounts of land and numerous cities. Rumors have it that the undead are ready to make another push at the controlling the whole of Istaria. The player's task is to pull together, fight back the Withered Aegis, release the subjugated races, and rebuild the structures and cities. Horizons offers an opportunity to build a strong community where one person can make a difference by rebuilding structures or simply being a leader and pulling the player base together to reach common goals.  Players can be one of eight starting races, including dragons, humans, dwarves, elves, and half-giants. Other playable races will appear later once subjugated cities are retaken. Beginning characters start out on "newbie" islands where they go through tutorials to learn the basics of adventuring and crafting. A player can simultaneously be one adventure class and one crafting class. Each earns their own experience and levels. If you're not happy with your adventuring or crafting profession decision, simply find another profession you'd be more willing to like and switch to it. Skills earned in one profession are not lost by switching to another. So it's very possible to be a jack-of-all-trades in the crafting professions or to multi-class in the adventuring ones. One of the strongest aspects of Horizons is its crafting system. It is vast and deeper than any other of the MMORPG's on the market at this time. With over 20 professions there should be something for everyone. To make a product a crafter has to first have a formula. Formulas are recipes to make a finished product. If you have the proper skills, then you must collect resources that dot the land of Istaria. The hunt and collection of resources is actually really fun, of course, mining copper and tin ore all day is not so fun in real life. Once you have the proper resources it's time to go to a work station to make a product. Work stations vary as much as professions and also dot the land. When making a final product a crafter can use special techniques to add stat and skill bonuses. Techniques can be purchased from non-player characters in the cities, looted of slain monsters, or purchased from other players. Once you've made an item you can deconstruct it to get a few resources back, sell it to pawn brokers for a small profit, or put the item up for sale at the consigners. The consigners are a very nice feature of Horizons and go a long way to making a true player-driven economy. Prices rise and fall based on demand. Crafters undercut each other to make sales. It's all good fun and earning a few silver from sales keeps crafters striving to obtain more levels to make the "next best thing." If you're not into crafting or just need a break from it, adventuring is always available. Plus, the only way to reclaim the land of Istaria is the beat back the undead. Adventuring professions are as varied as the crafting ones. From warriors to magic users, healers to druids and special professions earned later, there is a profession for every personality. Monsters (mobs) are also numerous and varied. The adventurer will find wolves, beetles, zombies, skeletons, golems, wisps, and much more to fight in their journeys across the realm. Quests and tasks are available to earn experience points. The quests in place at this time are ﾑok,' but not as good as Everquest or Dark Ages of Camelot. There is no PvP (Player vs. Player) fighting in Horizons. The goal of the game is to fight off a hideous, murdering enemy, not to kill your fellow countrymen. Players seeking the PvP thrill of other games need to be aware of its notable absence. It appears to me that the absence of PvP in Horizons has helped create a very friendly community that is united in common goals. Of course there are still power levelers and very strong characters, but many of those really help out younger, newer characters quite often. Once you've made a lot of money crafting and adventuring, what are you going to do with it? Of course, you could always spend your hard earned coppers at the consigners for a shiny, new piece of equipment. However, you can also purchase a plot of land and build you own house or commercial building. A player can design their own structure, decide what crafting machines will be there, and pay others a sum of money to build it for you. It is certainly a goal of many players to place their own stake on the land of Horizons. Horizons had a relatively smooth launch since December 9th. As with any MMORPG there are always things that need to be worked on. The graphics are good, but the player animations need some work. Lag around cities is a problem. Also, not all of Horizon's features are working properly at this time. Building or repairing structures appears bugged because viewing what is needed to finish the structure is not always available. Down times can also be sporadic and unpredictable. A few patches have been released and many more are sure to come. Horizons is certainly a work in progress, but it is a good start. The game is a ton of fun and very addicting. A common enemy and goal to rid the land of the undead facilitates a helpful, friendly community. Artifact Entertainment probably released the game to early, but in today's "money crunch" business environment this is becoming all to common. However, the game is very playable (most of the time) and good clean fun. Kid Factor: In the book Killing Monsters by Gerard Jones and Lynn Ponton the authors argue that make believe violence is very healthy and normal for children to participate in. Horizons literally offers hundreds of hours of killing monsters. While the game does involve the killing of make believe creatures, I have found nothing inappropriate for an 8 + year-old. The chat system contains a bad language filter which is nice, but like I've mentioned before the community I've encountered has been nothing but courteous and mature. Horizons is a good choice for your young aspiring knights and princesses. Reviewer Recommended Ages: 8 plus Genre: ESRB Rating: Teen Reviewer: Doug Hanna Producer: Atari Developer: Artifact Entertainment Score: 4 of 5 starts 
In the book Killing Monsters by Gerard Jones and Lynn Ponton the authors argue that make believe violence is very healthy and normal for children to participate in. Horizons literally offers hundreds of hours of killing monsters. While the game does involve the killing of make believe creatures, I have found nothing inappropriate for an 8 + year-old. The chat system contains a bad language filter which is nice, but like I've mentioned before the community I've encountered has been nothing but courteous and mature. Horizons is a good choice for your young aspiring knights and princesses.
Kid Factor by Doug Hanna
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