Game review: Realm of the Mad God

Realm of the Mad God is an fast-paced action game and self-described MMO (presumably Massively Multiplayer Online game). Realm of the Mad God is by Wild Shadow Studios. The player's objective is to slaughter the infinite hordes of Oryx in an attempt to 'call out' the game's end boss and then slay them.

Summary of analysis
Underdeveloped new player experience, gameplay experience lacking in depth and of debatable entertainment value, keyboard and mouse controls and bulky interface, basic and effective graphics, barely adequate music and sound.

Tutorial/New player experience
The game's tutorial elements are outlined with the writing on the wall floor of the tutorial level. While learning to play the game seems easy, cautiously remind yourself that it's intended to be an MMO and that the tutorial level is a pale representation of the rest of the game. After completing the basic lessons, a new player is dropped into an open game world with at least hundreds of players, pointed to a random 'quest creature' and forced to rush to meet objectives before someone else randomly gets it first. But refrain from worrying, there will always be another random objective to chase after should one fail to reach it in time.

Gameplay experience
If you've come to grind in an anarchic collective, kudos on your choice of game. If you've come for anything else... expect disappointment and confusion. Though there may appear to be an economic system in the game, the game currency is only there for non-essential items or account upgrades (in other words, don't bother picking something up unless your character can and will use it).
The game has a guest account system, meaning that a player doesn't need to go to the trouble of registering for an account if they just want to try the game out, the game also seems to randomly assign a character class to guest account players and the rest are unlockable through gameplay.


Interface & Controls
The game's interface takes up about a third of the screen but is probably going to be ignored more than half of the time playing the game. There's also a few menu screens but little reason to reference those outside of learning the hotkeys or changing controls or options. The game's control scheme utilizes both mouse and keyboard controls.
There's also a chat system, though I'd be hesitant to call that a good feature.

Graphics
The game utilizes sprite graphics which can become confusing in highly player-populated areas but will have a very low system demand.

Music & Sound
To the designer's credit, they skimped on background music making the game's file size manageable for flash, so bring your own unless you can stand a tedius grind on the ears to go with like gameplay. The sound effects are okay, much better than the music.

Commentary
Having played a lot of MMOs, Realm of the Mad God appears to be more an attempt at satirizing the genre rather than a legitimate attempt at good game design. While I'll give them points for the attempt of launching an MMO in flash, it's painful to watch the way the game 'works'. There's overabundant player clutter, an overly complicated inventory and class systems, I'd say it's easy to get lost, but the game lacks direction and appears to be ninety-seven percent grind. While there is a replay value, it's more grinding in a barely different character class trying to unlock yet more grind.