Champions: Return to Arms

THE BAD:
the only minor flaw in this game is with the ranged weapons there is no sight or aiming help. but apart form that this is complete and utter RPG perfection

SUMMARY:
this game is a must have for any RPG gamers out there. whether your a hardcore RPG veteran like myself or whether your a newcomer to the genre if you see this game on the shelves at your nearest shopping mall.....BUY IT!!! as i said before there is nothing bad about this game except for a single tiny flaw which is rather easy to get over. there isn't really much else to say about this game except that it is comlete and utter perfection ( i know i've said that alot already but it just needs repeating). believe me and try this game. you wont be dissappointed. well anyway, i'm going to go now HAPPY GAMING EVERYONE

THE BAD:
-Poorly developed storyline
-A couple annoying glitches

SUMMARY:
In Return to Arms you are given the decision of the class/race of your character and whether you will be good or evil. You have the choice of being a male or female version of a human barbarian (warrior), wood elf ranger, high elf cleric, erudite (black man or woman) wizard and dark elf shadow knight. There are two new classes which only have the male option which are the Iksar Shaman and the Vah Shir Berserker. Each character has their own special abilities and unique styles of battle and armor.

*possible spoilers*

The storyline is simple and is almost non-existent. If you choose good you work for the beautiful eleven maiden that appeared in the last game and seems to be the mascot of the Everquest franchise, Firiona Vie. As the champion of good, it is your duty to collect all the shards of Innoruk before your opponents resurrect the Prince of Hate. On the evil side you work for Natasla (also appeared in the last game)and help her to collect all the shards to resurrect the Prince of Hate.

Along the way you will encounter many of the same old characters from the last game as well as some items.

Each old class gets three new spells and a set of new style armor. Clerics can now resurrect fallen comrades in multiplayer, Shadow Knights can raise the foes he or she has killed, warriors can resist knockdowns and elements and more.

The graphics of the game are smooth and impressive and the music continues to be decent for a hack and slash fantasy genre.

The game play overall is the same. You kill your foes, gain levels and get new skills and equipment. Though bonus and medal stages have added a little something new and challenging it does not seem to be enough of a change to make the game truly stand out. To some it still seems a lot of the same of CoN.

A whole new set of glitches accompany the game as well such as the infamous mana bonus/health bonus glitch that renders all health/mana bonus add-ons completely worthless. But these are considered small bugs that should not hinder your play too much. Some gamers on the forms have also mentioned occassional and breif freezing as well as screen twitching.

In the end the game is a lot of the same as the last and the bugs still make many gamers unhappy. Though I thoroughly enjoyed this game I would recommend to most that they rent the game before they purchase it. It is good but not as good as one might expect.

THE BAD:
STILL some GLITCHES!

SUMMARY:
Look, if you played Champions of Norrath and loved it and finished all three difficulty levels and still loved it, even with all the glitches and hand ups, then buy this game. It's not perfect and may piss some people, but it is better and anything wrong with it...I Blame SOE play testers. Ok so what's wrong? The main glitch and probably most glaring is the mana "bonus" and Health "bonus" gems, additions, attachments, whatever. They NOT WORK! That makes all the items with said bonus's useless. However, to get around such a glitch, one could use the "regeneration" factor. Increase your Stamina, and intelligence. There is, also, some kind of glitch dealing with the wizard spell "weapon enchantment" or something like that. I'm not concerned about such matters; however, because I don't play wizard types. There are and may be a few more small, irritating, but not game ruining glitches out there, that i didn't mention. You can find more info about such things, on the SnowBlindStudios.com website. Then click on "forums" to see what everybody is griping about. I Love this game and if you don't...TOUGH! Sucks to be you