The lost city of Atlantis is still lost - will you be the one to find it?"
Turn based battle – my favourite style of battle, has been on the decline for a few years now. In reality it hasn't really been the popular choice since the days of the SNES, but some games still employed the system and in most cases successfully. Take the juggernaught Final Fantasy Series, who until recently have always used an imaginative turn-based battle system, and thanks to it has retained a loyal fan base for over 20 years. This was up until FFXII (Final Fantasy 12); in FFXII they decided to change the fighting system from turn based to a new kind of action system. For some, this was a refreshing new look at a perhaps dated system, for others like myself this prevented them from playing the game for much more than a few days.
At the time I was devastated, I never expected the FF series to change from turn-based battles, in every addition to the series they changed characters, magic's, worlds, styles and systems, but they never changed the from turn based battles. Why now? Well, eventually I found that a proper turn-based system just wasn't good enough anymore and they wanted something new, and by 'pushing the boundaries' they had discovered this magnificent new system that well, for some turned out to be not all that magnificent.
The reason I dwell on this so is because until Atlantica I had honestly begun to think that good turn-based battle systems had possible been lost forever, and I hope that by chance, another reader that feels the same may come to read this, and finally receive the reward he or she deserves, as I have now. Atlantica Gold is a new, fully 3D, open world persistent MMO, and it's completely turn based – and guess what, it's amazing.
Fellow MMOsite reviewer Aroych recently completed an amazing preview of Atlantica Online Gold (read it here) that covered the characters, classes, and features of the game in more depth. I would urge anyone reading this to read the preview first, as I will be covering different aspects of the game in this review. Now that I've had a chance to have some hands on time with Atlantis, I'm going to be telling you a little more about exactly what to expect when you get in there. This may also be a good time to mention that Atlantis is currently in a Closed Beta Testing Phase, and will be available for free play from the 18th July until the 28th July. Beta Keys can be obtained through various sites with links available from the Atlantica Gold Homepage.
Wake up…you're dreaming.
Aside from the awesome turn-base battle system in Atlantica Online Gold, which I will discuss in more depth later in the review - lovers of the fantasy genre will notice almost immediately that Atlantica Gold actually has a storyline! You are a descendant of the once great Atlantains, a race of proud people that through their hunger and lust for the substance Oriharukon – a rare and powerful material that once gone, sunk their great city Atlantis – lost everything, including their lives. You have been charged with finding and restoring Atlantis, and bringing peace and prosperity to the land. To do so, you must embark on a perilous journey through time and space, from the Pyramids to Beijing, searching for clues to the location of your lost city - I know, it's awesome. You begin the game in the dream world, and learn of your ancestry from the three sisters, who are counting on you to find Atlantis and save them. After a short and easily manageable tutorial you will be sent to the real world with a bunch of bodyguards, and begin your search.