Written by: Drewcifer

I’ve played my fair share of MMO’s. From Guild Wars to World of Warcraft and even some lesser titles like Runescape and Everquest. Rift has blown me away with its exciting quests (compare to World of Warcraft’s dull cartoon style and quests wholly consisting of item gathering/grinding) and its overall beauty. Rift takes you on a crazy, constantly changing quest through the world of Telara, a world torn by “Rifts.” Rifts are planar tears in reality that spawn all sorts of bad guys from Fire Demons to mutated Plant Trolls, which you can team up with your buddies to defeat. Completing Rifts can yield some sweet items and a neat sense of accomplishment (I mean, you are helping to save the world and all).

I’ll first dive in by mentioning that I first got a glimpse into the Beta during the “Guardians of the Vigil” event. The “Guardians” are the “Good Guys” (compare to Alliance on WoW). Tasked with sealing the rifts that threaten to destroy the world, as an “Ascended” you are thrown into the world–after being dead quite some time–to once again fight for the citizens of Telara. The introduction zone for the game starts you in an area known as “Mathosia” terrorized by the evil king Aedraxis. Once this quest is completed, you gain access to the full world of Telara.

The beginning quest line for the Guardians is very fun and inclusive of a lot of development for your new character. The beta had a lot to show off with its beginning character customization system. It blew every other MMO I’ve ever played out of the water with the different combinations. You can choose from four classes (Warrior, Rogue, Mage, Cleric) and there are six different “souls” to choose from. You can even re-spec later on in the game. Overall the character system is A+ work.

The second Beta event that I took part in had the option to choose either The Guardians or “The Defiant.” The Defiant are much more suited to my tastes. This faction has less of the “Lawful Good” attitude and much more of a “Chaotic Evil” or “Chaotic Neutral” (excuse my D&D references) one. The introduction area for these guys is a bit less user friendly but not enough to make it distasteful. Lots of ass-kicking and background story in this as well, which makes for a fun way to set up your character while getting the background story on Telara.

At this time there’s no official release date for the game. In fact, the only information there is on a release date is that they are trying for a release in 2011. Rift has the capability to completely steal the fire from Bioware’s upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic. Trion Worlds is a new company and Rift is its first release. Look out Blizzard, because with the way this game is looking I expect we’ll all be seeing a lot more of Trion for years to come. I can easily say I’m very impressed with this game.

Rating 9.5 out of 10.