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Not enough has been said about the ending to the game, which nearly tops KOTOR2 in terms of how awful it is.

Not only is it a slideshow of badly pixelated graphics...

Not only does it feature "Jim from the mail room" doing audio instead of a voice actor...

But it manages to pull in the DM cliche of all cliches - Rocks fall, everybody dies.

http://www.gamegrene.com/node/714

With good reason, 1UP.com gave the game a 4/10 because you can overuse the kick, dubbing it "The Adventures of Sir Kicksalot Deathboot in the Land of the Conspicuously Placed Spike Racks".

My own opinions were mixed, though I fully agree that the seemingly excellent environmental components are actually quite silly. I mostly panned the game in my review of it at http://www.gamegrene.com/node/691

As a small publisher of RPGs myself, I feel compelled to point out that there's much more out there than WOTC and White Wolf. There are a slew of small publishers putting out great, critically acclaimed material, both in PDF and print format. I draw your attention to the ENnie awards (complete list of 2006 winners can be found right here, which this past year rewarded not only big guys like Paizo Publishing and White Wolf, but smaller pubishers like Green Ronin and Guardians of Order, as well as really little guys like Atomic Sock Monkey Press (for the excellent super-hero game Truth & Justice and Dog Soul Publishing (for their Baba Yaga book, which I penned. Check us out. We may not be as well known as the other guys but we're just as good.

I could have gone more opinion; I felt the material warranted more structure. Sorry it didn't work for you. I would add that Slashdot offers the built-in opinion of the Book Rating (a 7 here), which has its own meaning if you pore through the book review guidelines (5 being average, anything more being positive, 10 being sheer perfection).

I will also add here (before someone else points it out) that this review has also been posted on Gamegrene.com. The last time I had one of my reviews posted on two websites I was accused of plagiarizing myself, and since I don't want to have to sue myself again, I thought I'd clear that up.

I absolutely agree, while often RT doesn't apply to my groups style of play there are some real gems in it. Another nice source is http://www.gamegrene.com/, though they update slowly...
On a related note I'd like to point any worldbuilders out there to http://www.zompist.com/, Mark Rosenfelder's "Virtual Verduria", one of the most complete worlds, especially on language and culture, that I've ever seen.

Found at: http://www.gamegrene.com/node/30

A semi-grapical RPG called Island of Kesmai [...] used characters to draw the map, although a front-end was available that replaced that with real graphics, that is once graphics were available on the machines that could connect.

In other words, not a native graphical MMOG. Legends of Kesmai which followed it was graphical, but that didn't come until later.

http://www.gamegrene.com/

You can find this same review, word for word, on a different site.
http://www.gamegrene.com/node/419/

That's pretty low. If you're going to trash something on multiple sites, at least don't just copy and paste the same thing.

Well, somebody say something about Ultima Online. I've never played it but every time I read an article about the game online, the focus is always on community: guilds, online weddings(?) etc etc. Never any information about "quests" or killing monsters (just the odd complaint about PKers). Maybe it's just skillful PR by Lord British?

Also, for me role playing didn't necessarily mean pretending to be your character. I always thought that was weird. I was more into accurately describing what my character was doing and staying with his motives. I was never into hopping around and saying "hath" and "thou" every other word.

If only there was a way to combine the rules-enforcement aspects of computer play with the flexibity of table-top play! Supposedly some online games, such as Castle Marrach, by the folks over at Skotos, is trying to accomplish this. I have been too busy playing Diablo2 to find out though. =) Oh well.

Here is an interesting looking article on subject of online games on GameGrene.com.

Well, somebody say something about Ultima Online. I've never played it but every time I read an article about the game online, the focus is always on community: guilds, online weddings(?) etc etc. Never any information about "quests" or killing monsters (just the odd complaint about PKers). Maybe it's just skillful PR by Lord British?

Also, for me role playing didn't necessarily mean pretending to be your character. I always thought that was weird. I was more into accurately describing what my character was doing and staying with his motives. I was never into hopping around and saying "hath" and "thou" every other word.

If only there was a way to combine the rules-enforcement aspects of computer play with the flexibity of table-top play! Supposedly some online games, such as Castle Marrach, by the folks over at Skotos, is trying to accomplish this. I have been too busy playing Diablo2 to find out though. =) Oh well.

Here is an interesting looking article on subject of online games on GameGrene.com.

This guy seems to be of the same mind as you. Take a look here

This is also a good laugh.

Check out www.gamegrene.com for a full synopsis and blistering review.

Plus they also have an ongoing series reviewing some of the best fantasy movies of the 1980s.

Good to see a comparison, and how bad this new one is compared to the old classics.