RF Online Review

By Mark Lane Published 9 March, 2006

Run Forthehills Offline.

Version tested: PC

I came out of the portal and rounded the corner. Surrounded by hills, a green valley stretched out in front of me, occasional trees scattered along the descent. A glint of light in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I turned around. In front of me were maybe twenty robots, stood still, holding something like a pneumatic drill. Everything was stationary, the drill unmoving, the mechs near identical. Turning a bit more, I gasped out loud, my heart and stomach sank. On the hillside stood hundreds, hundreds, of Accretian robots, all facing the same way, all holding frozen machinery. So I gave a speech.

Korean MMOs are famous for their grind, and entirely unapologetic. Their reason for being is to allow a player to plough through levels, existing to fight and fighting to exist. Kill twenty of these, then twenty of those, then twenty of the one over there. Levels tick by, abilities slightly alter, drops are picked up, used or sold, skills are tweaked, and the world sits still around you. RF Online, at least in this respect, is different.

Every eight hours, for those level 25 (although more practically level 30), the planet erupts into three hours of global conflict. The robots of Accretia, the Elvish Cora, and the dwarfen Bellato wage angry war, fight to destroy the enemy's Chip. These Chip Wars bring with them rewards for the winning sides. Destroying a Chip gains access to bountiful mines, and financial boosts for the race. Such riches are spent on more and better weapons for the next push, eight hours later. This is massive massively multiplayer conflict.

Except there's a bit of a problem. It's a terrible mess.

'RF Online' Screenshot effeminate

Don't you call me effeminate - look at the size of my big long sword.

  • Me: Why are you all here?
  • Me: You're standing still, doing nothing.
  • Me: I'm here to set you free.
  • Mathar: why?
  • Me: Look what you've become.
  • Me: Do you not want to run?
  • Me: To be free?
  • Hateman: preparing for the war?
  • Me: People, there's a world outside of here.
  • Me: You no longer have to be slaves.
  • Me: This isn't life.
  • Me: What are you fighting for?
  • Me: You have been enslaved.
  • Me: I weep for you all.
  • Cerebrus: wat the f u catting about???!??!?

The first and most significant issue with RF's focus on these clan battles is that nobody in their right mind would want to play long enough to get there. From the opening moment problems tumble over you like a screwed-up waterfall. First negotiate the shoddy log-in screen with its teeth-hurting sanctimonious music, and you're into the character selection screen. Madly translated gibberish might be trying to tell you the nature of the races, or how to change your washing machine to the 40 degree wash. Once you've picked between the tanky robots, magical elves, or mechanical midgets, you're then asked to pick a class. This time, rather than confuse you with Korenglish spluttering, you're protected by its offering absolutely no information whatsoever.

'RF Online' Screenshot miserable

You too could visit exotic locations such as this endless, miserable desert.

There then comes a tutorial that will have you tearing out the hairs on your head, legs, back and bum, as it patronises you with painstaking, unskippable instructions as to how to click on a button with a mouse, but not anything of what on earth you're meant to be doing in the game.

And then you're dumped into the middle of your main base, instructions barked at you by a mysterious stranger (not actually barked though, but scrolled up agonisingly slowly in a window - a window that doesn't word wrap, such that li
nes break off as soon as the edge is re
ached, no concern given for sense), and no guidance whatsoever. Kill so many of these for this slightly obtuse reason.

I wandered away, disappointed that no one seemed able to listen. It was too late for them. With nothing else to do, I aimlessly attacked some local beasts. Attacking was automatic to me, my brain or hands barely involved, only having to concentrate on consuming health potions every four seconds. They cost so little that I buy a hundred at a time, and as no one in this world is able to heal, it's become our norm. Life is to be lost and regained in a perpetual cycle. Everything is perpetual here. War repeats like clockwork, aims never change. No one is free. I amble tiredly toward a cave entrance. But don't I recognise that robot over there?

Working in teams creates disadvantage. Only the last person to hit something gains credit for the kill, meaning that rather than killing twenty of something, now you have to kill at least twenty multiplied by the number in your team. More likely double that for accidentally being the person to take a beast down. And none of this is at all fun. The inadequately placed keys can't be remapped, and mouse control is counter-intuitive. Attacking things is tedious and uninvolved, and yet 90 per cent of the game's content. And worst, kills can be stolen by anyone who happens to wander along and deliver a final blow.

'RF Online' Screenshot slavery

The sorry sight of slavery.

Draw breath... Locations are barren, and while impressively large and occasionally pretty, a horrendous trawl to traverse, hindered by dreadful maps that must be bought for ridiculous prices. Screen furniture cannot be resized, the chat window three lines high whenever you're not typing into it, and hence obscured with the incessant in-game notices. And the translation, as mentioned, is farcical. Pant, pant, pant.

Begrudgingly, it must be admitted that at the least, RF Online is functional. Should you wish to, as apparently so many do, you can enter this grind. It's stable, and while what it offers is so tedious, and so careless, it all works. It never stops rewarding you with levels, new armour and weapons, even if it's a little slow to give new skills. The sell is the PvP on such a massive scale. The reward for standing still on a hillside with an unanimated mining drill is the rush of a huge, crazed fight with hundreds of other players, in a team effort to destroy the enemy Chips. The catch is that fighting is a mindless chore, even when compared to the admittedly mundane tendencies of the MMO. Common sense has gone into balancing the economy, with increasingly burdening taxes levied upon races that grow disproportionately rich. But the all-permeating ennui induced saps any hope of sustained joy. Having the mental strength to put up with reaching level 30 is a remarkable feat, but perhaps not an enviable one. Bothering to play on after this probably means coma.

There's no notion of second life, no roleplay (characters look almost identical, the Accretia especially, with their identikit armour), and no community. There are teams and guilds, but there's no atmosphere to accompany them. RF Online is like playing an endless game of slow-motion whack-a-rat, without the entertainment of the fairground surroundings.

It was Hateman. The man who had tried to justify the actions of the legion drones. He was stood alone, surrounded by the endlessly reborn docile victims of a thousand robot swords, morbidly hitting at something every now and then. But mostly trudging back and forth with no apparent purpose. Had he heard? Had I freed him? Or was he, like me, now trapped in this world without a purpose?

4 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Mark.

About Mark Lane

Read more articles from Mark by visiting the Mark Lane archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (27) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Stickman #1 6 years ago

    There you go people! That's not a 6!

  • AtomicBanana #2 6 years ago

    It's barely even a game :p

  • TripSkyway #3 6 years ago

    Heh glad you had to play this and not me, sounds pretty nasty. A good read though.

  • tenma #4 6 years ago

    "Korean MMOs are famous for their grind, and entirely unapologetic __________?.

  • Shinji #5 6 years ago

    Have to say, my experience of RF has been far, far more positive than this - both in beta and in the final game. I guess an MMO is a much more subjective experience than any other style of game; RFO is certain an unapologetic grind in terms of how it plays, but it's also got really excellent PVP, a great rewards structure, a surprisingly decent community (in my experience, anyway) and nice artwork throughout.

    It's no World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XI, but it's a solid six or seven out of ten in my book. YMMV, in other words!

  • [TR] #6 6 years ago

    "Korean MMOs are [famous for their grind, and] entirely unapologetic."
    :)

  • DNM #7 6 years ago

    The review reads like someone that doesn't like MMOGs tbh.

  • L0cky #8 6 years ago

    "A glint of light in the corner of my caught my attention"

    explain that one then! :p

    Otherwise good review of what sounds like a chore to play. Hopefully you get something good next to make up for it.

  • thegamesthething #9 6 years ago

    @ DNM - this is EG dude - Star Wars games on consoles go to someone who doesnt like Star Wars or consoles, MMOs go someone who doesnt like MMOs, and everything else goes to Tom, who doesnt like anything :)
    Edited by 2 at 09/03/06 @ 13:16

  • smelly #10 6 years ago

    4/10?!?!?!?!?!?

    THEY'RE N-GAGE FANBOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • mentat #11 6 years ago

    Monthly sub i assume?

  • Furbs #12 6 years ago

    lol @ thegamesthething

  • Psi #13 6 years ago

    do a review of eq2 now it has pvp :p

  • Kostabi #14 6 years ago

    Good job they got those RF Online banners in before the review. ;)

  • PearOfAnguish #15 6 years ago

    There's a whiff of NGJ coming off this review. Smells like week-old roadkill left in the sun.

  • reality_cheque #16 6 years ago

    I'm glad I didn't bother with this now - I hate it when parties don't share XP for the kill. IMO, if you're taking part you should be rewarded.

    I guess i'll stick to my instanced based games (well, when Factions comes out anyway - if I can get my life back from GRAW)

  • Sunrise #17 6 years ago

    That Outfit advert is annoying. Especially when there are two present at the same time :(

  • Shinji #18 6 years ago

    You actually do share kill XP - XP is distributed on a per-hit basis, with a shared pot at the end when you kill something. You basically get a certain XP gain for every hitpoint you knock off a creature.

    I think what the review is referring to is that in "kill 20 of these monsters" style quests, you don't share the kill credit, so everyone in the party needs to kill 20 of them. Which is a pain, but kinda emphasises that those quests aren't really designed for parties.

  • Syneisha #19 6 years ago

    Surprisingly you can make lvl 30 in around 3-4 days solid play, so while you do grind, it is a fairly rewarding and quick experience, compared to making lvl 30 in WoW or FFXI et al.

    Sadly the grind is soulless, the good background story isn't exploited at all, and the quest plots are non existent, just an excuse for more grinding.

    Another problem is potion spamming. You can buy mountains of potions and make yourself invincible as long as you can spam thgem fast enough.

    Overall, it's mindless grinding fun (Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne comes to mind) with the addition of what is some rather inventive PvP. Not the best, but good enough for those bored of what the current crop has to offer.

  • Macross #20 6 years ago

    My feelings of RFO in 9 words:

    "IT SO EASILY COULD HAVE BEEN SO MUCH BETTER!"

  • Lubey #21 6 years ago

    Its typical Korean MMO fare. Theres hundreds of free to play ones out there, so try on of those instead and save your cash. The only thing that RF brings to the table is its quite pretty (pretty enough i think that people are more willingly to forgive its other failings as you look COOL damnit).

    What puts me off is the lack of a healer class. PVP is all about who runs out of potions first, dies. Theres no skill to it.

    The skills themselves are also very boring and spread far apart leaving you to use the same one over and over for many levels.

    Funny thing is, everyone i know is now playing this over WoW, which i also cant stand after more that a year playing it. I guess ive become immune to the "seen it all before" gameplay now.

    Just another disappointing MMO release then.

    Roll on Darkfall.

  • Talha #22 6 years ago

    "There then comes a tutorial that will have you tearing out the hairs on your head, legs, back and bum"

    I always suspected that EG reviewers were babboons....

  • Azazel #23 6 years ago

    I never understood the appeal of this kind of thing really.

    Well I guess there's obviously a big market for it, but I really hope that the kind of thing NCSoft are attempting to do with Guild Wars can be a stake in the heart for this kind of pointless, life-and-money-sucking crap....

  • Macross #24 6 years ago

    Hey i tried guild wars on that pvp weekend and i though it was more tedious then RFO :p

    RFO at least as someone else said you look COOL (and they have some great sounding plans for the game, although i guess they will inevitably make them crap somehow :p)

  • Limbo #25 6 years ago

    I'd like to know if you (the reviewer) have actually played far enough to experience the PvP no one apparently will want to play far enough to experience, and if so, I'd like to see you comment a bit more on its qualities (or lack there of as your opinion seems to be). As it stands now, I feel a bit like you've reviewed only half the game.

  • Mavrik123 #26 4 years ago

    i played this game for a year and in 8 months i maxed my character, this game was never a grind and was a walk in the park and i enjoyed every last moment of it. I walked away feeling i had completed the game.

  • DFawkes #27 4 years ago

    It's free now, so I would try it out, especially since it looks a bit Dynasty Warriors-ish.