Almost ready to review Neocron 2: Beyond Dome of York, having pre-emptively cancelled my trial account last night before it trips over into a paid experience. However, before I do, thought I ought to post this gem, found on their 'Community Talk (English)' message-board. In my experience, nothing destroys any faith, immersion or enjoyment in an online game than a trawl through it's 'General' forum.
Neocron Forums Community Talk: PCZONE UK Review 24%
There's a lot of trash in there, so here are the two point-scoring posts. First, a copy of June 2005 PC Zone Magazine's review of the soon-to-be re-released Neocron 2:
"Neocron 2: Beyond Dome of York
Paul Presley's eyes are burning with a twisted vision of the future
People will play anything - its official.
No matter how bad the game, how appalling the implementation, how atrocious the development, how buggy the code, how superior the alternatives - some people will happily sit down and sumbit themselves to any old shit, come back for more and pay t'mill owner f'privilege.
Masochists, the lot of them.
There are no two ways about this: Neocron 2 (and i'm still not sure why I fully understand why this is being billed as a sequel since it's essentially the same game that was released in 2002) is almost criminally bad.
When it was first released, this tale of life in the 28th century, a life of mutants, cyberpunks, sex and violence was at least different to anything else out there. We'd certainly never seen a MMOG with an in-game porno district and, with the exception of The Red Light World (see issue 147) we still havent.
Not exactly a badge neocron can wear with pride and now, well it should just hang its head in shame.
Where to start? The interface is a mess. You can't even resize the windows - ironically, the first incarnation's menu system was actually a lot neater. The content is frequently broken, bugged or so hideously under-explained that you almost never have any clue what you should be doing.
The graphics are, for this day and age, a joke, despite supposedly having undergone an enhancement (althought i'd defy anyone to tell the difference beyond the odd texture here and there). The new city area (Dome of York) is to all intents a mere retread of the original city, just with shabbier social values. It doesnt add anything significant to the neocron experience, other than to spread the already thin numbers of people that have bafflingly decided to commit themselves to the game over an even larger area - thus reducing further chances of actually meeting another player.
Social Outcasts
Not that you'd really want to meet another neocron player. Based on the several weeks running around this hell on virtual earth. I can say they are, to a man, the most obnoxious, foul-mouthed,unhelpful, bitter, spiteful,unpleasant and insular MMOG players I've ever had to encounter.
I'd love to put it down to a couple of one-off encounters, but for over two weeks I never once had an enquiry answered in a useful manner or managed to find anyone to team up with, instead being barraged by abuse, taunts and hostility simply for being a newbie. Honestly they are worse than the Young Conservatives.
I wish I could find something redeeming to say, some reason to recommend giving Neocron 2 a try. Unfortunatley I can only sit here and resent the fact it exists. This is because there's a staggeringly good William Gibson-esque, Deus Ex-ish cyberpunk MMOG waiting to happen and while Neocron continues to pollute the genre with its presence, it's unlikely to encourage anyone else to want to give it a try.
Why anyone continues to play this day is a complete mystery.
A mystery wrapped in riddle, surrounded by an enigma, guarded by starved rottweilers with bags of angry wasps strapped to their genitals.
Avoid this like the plague.
24%
+ Nice concept
- Awful implementation
- Badly ageing engine
- Lack of variety
- Buggy as hell
- Extremely unfriendly players
Paul Presly - Online Gaming Editor, PC Zone Magainze"
Ouch! I, (and it seems most of the Neocron Playerbase,) think 24% is perhaps a bit on the harsh side, but that the review is essentially accurate. PC Gamer also recently gave the game 58%. My own review tomorrow, but this scathing appraisal attracted this thoughtful response from Reakktor's Community Rep:
"Let's face it, no amount of finished content or fixed bugs is going to stop a reviewer who's had his arse kicked solid for two weeks from giving us a bad review score. No one ever said this game was for pussies. Look as hard as you like and you won't find an elf anywhere.
N
__________________
Nick "Nidhogg" Milner
Community Liaison
R E A K K T O R . C O M
A Division of 10tacle Studios AG
'Thanks for stopping by.'"
Own goal! Gaming Press 3: Reakktor 0! Look for more professional coverage by this amatuer tomorrow!