Anarchy Online: Lost Eden review

Still shaping a bold new future, Anarchy Online, one of the first massively multi-player online role playing games (MMORPGs), has released the fourth in a series of expansions: Lost Eden.

Since it was first released in 2001, Anarchy Online has weathered the introduction of prettier, flashier MMORPGs and maintained a loyal fan base by consistently expanding content and keeping the gameplay and rewards novel and gratifying. Lost Eden promised Anarchy's fans improved graphics, an advanced player vs player system and more interaction with the invading aliens- and what good is a future world without epic alien battles, we ask you?

For a game set in the future, the graphics, which have always shown Anarchy's age, are still clunky and out-of-date (that, folks, is what we call "irony"). Movement within the world is clumsy and not intuitive- as a new player, you may find yourself running into walls while the camera swings wildly about, or doing the hokey pokey around dead critters in an attempt to select them and loot their corpses. While we personally have nothing against the hokey pokey, frustration levels can certainly rise as we spend jerky, uncontrollable moments attempting to walk from point A to point B without feeling like we should be wearing heels and looking for a dance partner.