ArchLord

Enter the world of Chantra, form a guild, lay siege to castles, defeat the defenders, collect the Archons, become the Archlord and rule the land.

This is the premise of Archlord from NHN Games and Codemasters. Players of MMO games have seldom had a chance to influence the game world to any great extent. Being involved in large-scale battles and guild quests is all well and good, but how about controlling the weather or the tax system, how about travelling around on a huge dragon or summoning a contingent of guards for your defence. Now that's real power.

You won't, of course, start the game with the chance of being the Archlord straight away. You start as a lowly member of your chosen race (Human, Orc or Moon Elf) and must work your way through the usual type of level grind by completing quests, gaining stamina, mana, intelligence and other attributes and levelling up your character. After level six, the fun of Player versus Player combat is opened up. Fights can involve players of any levels, but higher levelled characters will gain villain points for attacking lower levelled characters. Too many villain points will earn you rogue levels, imposing stiffer death penalties and denying you access to various services in the game.

As with most fantasy-based MMOs, your path to success will involve joining or starting a guild. Only guilds can lay siege to the three castles that contain Archons, thus only guilds can compete in the monthly battle against the Archlord himself. Success against the current ruler will grant one member of the winning guild the title of Archlord and the power, guards and dragons that come with it.

With over 2,000 quests, hundreds of monster types and the prospect of being able to rule the world, Archlord has plenty to offer the dedicated MMO gamer.