Today marks the official review of Trion Worlds' Rift. MMORPG.com Lead Writer Bill Murphy takes on one of the year's most keenly anticipated titles. Does Rift live up to the expectations of its fans? Find out in Bill's review.

Let’s face it. Rift is a very well made game from top to bottom. From rookie development studio and publisher Trion Worlds, Rift is a flagship title that has launched with perfect timing to draw gamers’ attention. It is both highly polished, and technologically innovative. It may not stray far from tradition in terms of gameplay, but what it strives to do it does exceedingly well. In an age where many gamers have grown impatient with unfinished products, Rift is a very welcome addition to the stable of MMORPGs.

Read more of Bill Murphy's Rift: The MMORPG.com Review.

"That said, Rift is not without flaws.  In a lot of aspects, its systems have become dated.  Combat, questing, and crafting all function superbly, but are bland due to the simple fact that they have been done this way before."

8.7? Really? No offense, but shouldn't something that is pretty much a copy in almost every way have a little more of a hill to climb?  That's like giving "Skyline" two thumbs up because it looked good, even though it was a regurgitated Independance Day / War of the Worlds / any other alien invasion movie...

Originally posted by onehunerdper

"That said, Rift is not without flaws.  In a lot of aspects, its systems have become dated.  Combat, questing, and crafting all function superbly, but are bland due to the simple fact that they have been done this way before."

8.7? Really? No offense, but shouldn't something that is pretty much a copy in almost every way have a little more of a hill to climb?  That's like giving "Skyline" two thumbs up because it looked good, even though it was a regurgitated Independance Day / War of the Worlds / any other alien invasion movie...

Rift is a solid game so in my opinion it is not over rated.

Aw, this comes with perfect timeing as Rifts servers just went down for 50mins for another patch.. Im lovin rift and how much Trion is patching+updateing this game.. 1 month after launch and were already into a world event + on the way to a brand new raid instance.. Awsomeness!

Originally posted by Timukas

Originally posted by onehunerdper

"That said, Rift is not without flaws.  In a lot of aspects, its systems have become dated.  Combat, questing, and crafting all function superbly, but are bland due to the simple fact that they have been done this way before."

8.7? Really? No offense, but shouldn't something that is pretty much a copy in almost every way have a little more of a hill to climb?  That's like giving "Skyline" two thumbs up because it looked good, even though it was a regurgitated Independance Day / War of the Worlds / any other alien invasion movie...

Rift is a solid game so in my opinion it is not over rated.

 

Neither is Skyline...

Played Rift in the last 2 Betas but decided not to sub. Review seems spot on from what I saw. Oddly enough, the only reason I din't sub is because I didn't like the artwork/graphics. In your article, you mention that the graphics look better now then in Beta, may warrant a second look.

While some may question the "8.7" rating, I can easily see why you gave it your rating. Compared to what's out there 8.7 is reasonable. The question is, if any of the upcoming hyped realeases deliver, will we have our first 10?

Originally posted by Zeroxin

Originally posted by Timukas

Originally posted by onehunerdper

"That said, Rift is not without flaws.  In a lot of aspects, its systems have become dated.  Combat, questing, and crafting all function superbly, but are bland due to the simple fact that they have been done this way before."

8.7? Really? No offense, but shouldn't something that is pretty much a copy in almost every way have a little more of a hill to climb?  That's like giving "Skyline" two thumbs up because it looked good, even though it was a regurgitated Independance Day / War of the Worlds / any other alien invasion movie...

Rift is a solid game so in my opinion it is not over rated.

 

Neither is Skyline...

 

This thought process reminds me of the reason Microsoft Windows has been around for so long.  I guess eventually more people will grow tired of the same old outdated software and call for something new, but in the end it's just a cycle.

It is kinda funny though, some people complained about Apple releasing the iPhone 3Gs, claiming it was just a way for them to make another pile of cash while offering very little improvment, but that's the environment we've created.  As long as it's "solid" we'll pay for the same thing over and over again.

I will say that RIFT looks way better than WOW, I still don't see how there are people that will defend the visuals of WOW, it's ridiculous.

Agree with the review: Rift isn't new or entirely unique but it is fun, polished, and well supported. Thumbs up to Trion

Sounds pretty fair and balanced. It IS a very high score but there are a lot of redeeming aspects to Rift I guess. I can't judge whether its lack of more novelty would have merited a lower score.

I do consider it a "few months in" review and score though, in which longevity can't be measured yet. I also enjoyed games like WAR and AoC for around three months until the fun was suddenly over. After that period it is all about depth of content.

So I'm real curious to see how Rift's retention rates will pan out after a three month period. If it stays stable they have done an amazing job in my book.

Lol, I'm wondering what score GW2 will get then.

The game is polished and fun for a while, but I do not think it deserves an 8.7 by any means. The game does not do enough that is new and exciting to merit that score.

I played the game for two weeks after release and have already burnt out. It feels far too much like WoW... a game which curiously is rated far lower on this site despite having massively more content and features.

Just got done finishing the review and it's pretty spot on.. Would've been nice to see some comments on the end game raids since i'am only lv 25 myself and looking forward to getting info on those.. But still, very good review and very informative :)

Originally posted by hitsuji182

Lol, I'm wondering what score GW2 will get then.

Not to forget SW:ToR, I think that's an 11.5 for each.

Glad to see the 'buy it!' stamp is absent from this review (regardless of the score). 

'Second opinion' = very nice idea.

Much better review format guys.

Originally posted by Bob_Blawblaw

Glad to see the 'buy it!' stamp is absent from this review (regardless of the score). 

'Second opinion' = very nice idea.

Much better review format guys.

 

Agreed

Originally posted by Bob_Blawblaw

Glad to see the 'buy it!' stamp is absent from this review (regardless of the score). 

'Second opinion' = very nice idea.

Much better review format guys.

 

I really like the way this was done. A column for the good points,a column for the bad, and a column summing it all up. The additiononal mini-review from Suzie was a bonus.

Too many times I read a review wishing to have more information than just a writers summing up-however interesting it might be.

Not so many MMOs are released that there needs to be such a rush on it.

I hope that when Tera, Star Wars,etc. come out that you will continue to use the same in-depth format.

Why even bother have a scale from 1-10 if the games you rate are always 7 or better.  Personally I feel Rift is a good game if someone has never experienced an MMORPG before, with that said, Rift has quite a few short comings that I think many veteran players will agree either gives the game to much of a "been there - done that" feel or completely misses the boat.    In my opinion, based on my experience with the game, I see it only rating a 6.5 at best.  

Originally posted by Teala

Why even bother have a scale from 1-10 if the games you rate are always 7 or better.  Personally I feel Rift is a good game if someone has never experienced an MMORPG before, with that said, Rift has quite a few short comings that I think many veteran players will agree either gives the game to much of a "been there - done that" feel or completely misses the boat.    In my opinion, based on my experience with the game, I see it only rating a 6.5 at best.  

Completely agree

Originally posted by Anubisan

The game is polished and fun for a while, but I do not think it deserves an 8.7 by any means. The game does not do enough that is new and exciting to merit that score.

I played the game for two weeks after release and have already burnt out. It feels far too much like WoW... a game which curiously is rated far lower on this site despite having massively more content and features.

 

 New isnt really what the majority of mmo players want. This has been proven over and over again with games that try something new.

I love Rift and I agree with the score. The game is a marriage of many games into one. For some that is a bad thing. For me that is the reason I love the game. For those wanting something new and different you will be let down and probably will allow yourself to not like the game because of that. For others we finally have a game that combines the things we liked in other games without the things in those other games we didnt like. (WAR- no pve)  (eq2- walk ten feet zone walk ten feet zone) (wow- cartoon graphics-never took itself serious-no sense of danger)   I would like to see the crafting expanded. Not the biggest fan of the crafting. But anyways....day off and a world event is happening! off to Telara!