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Minions of Mirth (Prairie Games)
To begin, Minions of Mirth bends the mould without breaking it by allowing players to play the game offline, as well as online! You can't take your online characters offline and neither can you take your offline characters online. But, at least you now have the choice of starting the game offline and playing through the full game without online hassles such as bad lag, server down time, or connection issues. Even better is the ability to still chat with people that are playing MoM online while you're playing the offline adventure. This feature is great if you're waiting for friends to log on, or if you just have a question about the game, or you're having trouble with a particular quest and need to ask for help.
MoM is set in a Fantasy realm where players have a robust choice of character classes, sub-classes, skills, magic spells and abilities. As a player, you are given the initial choice of whether you want your character to follow the path of light or darkness leading to even more choices and possibilities in gameplay. A single character will start by choosing one primary class which can reach an amazing level of 100. That's not all, each character can have secondary and tertiary character classes as well which can also be leveled up to 100 as long as these sub classes don't exceed your primary class level. It's not uncommon, for example, to see a character who is a Warrior/Cleric/Shaman. The variety of character classes and the choices that are given to the players are simply awesome. What's more, you're also allowed to create and delete characters both online and offline at will, and at no extra cost! Incredibly, I might add, the world of Mirth comes with a one-time purchase fee. That's right, you pay once for the game and then you can come happily or go as you please without having to pay ever again! It's free for life after buying the game and at just under $30 US, the price is extremely reasonable for such a deep Role Playing experience and large amount of gameplay
The game world is vast and the locations are many. Travelling the entire world is no small feat and will require plenty of leg work until you have magic or magical abilities that will allow you to travel faster. Some examples include: enhancing your characters speed with a spell, turning yourself into a dragon and flying to your destination, or even warping you and your party right to the next town without lifting a foot. Don't want to get up close and dirty with the enemy? Call on a pet to do the fighting for you or keep them at bay by using a bow or long distance spells. Need new weapons and armor? Go craft some for yourself. Become good enough at creating equipment and you can sell your wares to other players at high prices. There are few limits and you'll find a lot of features that are available in the big name MMORPG's and those listed are just a few of the things you can accomplish in between quests and world exploration.
Fighting enemies can be difficult at times but you always have the ability to assess the opponents strength before getting too close and confronting them in combat. But get too close to an enemy who is stronger than you, and they will chase and hunt you down relentlessly until you find cover either in town or across a new territory. Walk away victorious in battle and you'll earn yourself some loot such as new weapons, armor, or items that can be sold, traded, or saved at the bank.
Controlling your character and moving around Mirth is done easily with the mouse and keyboard. Utilizing character skills and abilities, creating macros, and memorizing hot-keys is a little more daunting. It takes some time to get used to the finer details, but this is a necessary evil given the sheer size of the game and the things you can do in it.
Building your character(s) can take a tremendous amount of time and effort and a little trial and error. Role Playing fans will know what to expect and novice players who are interested in the genre will find themselves rewarded if they stick through the initial quests and levelling up period. The learning curve might take an hour or so for gamers of average ability, but there is always a handy encyclopedia available in-game containing everything you need to and want to know about the game world and its features. Alas, dying can be frustrating but luckily you aren't penalized very much until you reach the higher levels where you'll become experienced enough to know which dangers to avoid. Once you've become accustomed to the game and it's little nuances, you will log out of Mirth only to notice that hours have gone by. Like any engaging MMORPG, it can be addictive.
Not only are players given plenty of tools and help along the way but the entire Minions of Mirth community are, for the most part, willing to help all newcomers and fellow gamers alike. The community of gamers is fairly strong and the developers encourage MoM players to participate in adding new content to the game world. To generalize, this means no one is left out and the game contains something for everyone.
There aren't many downsides to MoM if you're interested in purchasing this game. Most games have a few small wrinkles and Mirth is no exception. Load times can seem a little slow on occasion, but they are manageable and actually comparable to any other existing MMORPG. Each time you enter a new territory, the game needs to load the graphics and other objects for that area - this is nothing new. Fortunately, your character can camp anywhere in the fantasy world when you leave your game; and when you return, your character will resume his or her quest from that very area.
The graphics in MoM are not state-of-the-art but they are nice, nonetheless. Characters, enemies, objects and environments might appear a little crude or slightly dated in comparison to games such as Guild Wars or World of Warcraft,, but they still have a unique look and charm about them. Just like those other games, players will encounter man and beast through Mirth and some of them are spectacular in nature even if they aren't extremely detailed. Note when you encounter an enemy that takes up the entire screen or is just too big to fit the screen. My first encounter with just such an enemy caught me off guard and literally made me say "Wow!", before it stepped on my character and pummelled me into little pieces. So, as dated as the graphics may appear, or as crude as they might be, they do not in any way hurt the gameplay or its great sense of atmosphere.
The music in Minions of Mirth adds to the game's atmosphere and setting because it is at times both relaxing and haunting. The sound fx, however, are somewhat problematic in that when playing online there are occasions where the sound fx are out of sync with the characters' actions. This is only a miner gripe about the game though as I have noticed the same problem in other mainstream MMORPG's.
Because of it's incredible depth and the amount of gameplay that comes with it, I can easily recommend Minions of Mirth to any gamer. You won't find another indie RPG of its kind that can provide the same depth of gameplay for a one-time fee. MoM is a great buy that won't leave you feeling guilty each month when your credit card bill arrives. If you're new to this genre of game and are reluctant to purchase, download the trial. Although it only allows you to build your character up to level 20, it gives you the freedom to explore the vast world of Mirth and its great features. Games of this size certainly aren't for everyone, but if you've had the slightest interest in trying an MMORPG then this is definitely the way to go - no risks but above average gameplay.
Presentation
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A
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Gameplay
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B
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Graphics
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B
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Sound
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B
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Innovation
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A
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Overall Score: B+
Minions of Mirth (or MoM ) is probably the first fully realized 3D indie MMORPG (a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). Minions does a few things differently than other Online RPG's such as the popular EverQuest series, World of Warcraft, and Guild Wars.
August 31, 2007
