Dungeons & Dragons Online

These are open areas that reward you for exploration, killing an increasing number of different enemies, taking part in rare encounters, collecting items and various other tasks. According to Turbine they exist as an alternative to the dungeon crawl: places that you can spend 15 minutes in and get some real progress through the 80-odd ranks (sub-levels, effectively) that make up the game. Like most of DDO's content, they're instanced - these areas are purely for you or your group. In reality, they become addictive little meta-games that sap your time even when you assure yourself you'll only spend 15 minutes playing them, a time-sink addiction more in line with Diablo II than other MMOs.

Furthermore, Turbine has added the Solo option to most of the world's dungeons. On release, DDO was mostly scaled to be dealt with by a groups of up to six, with added difficulty levels for the more cerebral and dedicated players. The new Solo quests are as you'd expect; enjoyable, but lacking the meat and challenge of grouping up and taking on the Normal and Hard modes. However, Turbine's triage for the solitary gamer is more extensive, with the introduction in the last two modules of Hirelings. Much like Diablo II, these AI-driven players can fill out your group in return for in-game money, and can play most of the game's roles - yes, including healer or tank.

This means that the usual pitfall of any MMO - soloing as a support class - is mitigated for anyone who can afford to take on their hirelings. They operate relatively intelligently, and can be controlled much like a pet in WOW using the hirelings bar that appears when you summon them; and while they're not quite as dependably adaptable as a human counterpart, they can fill out a group as much or as little as necessary. It's a nice addition to a game that still plays best when surrounded by other players (even if they are a bunch of ones and zeros).

This is only amplified when you enter the later content, as some of it is rather brutal. The Plane of Battle, brought in with the Module 9 upgrade along with an increased level cap of 20, includes some of the most difficult DDO content yet. Even the wilderness area, Amrath, is a difficult slog, resembling WOW's Blasted Lands mixed with, well, hell. As far as scene-setting goes, it rules the roost; Angels, Daemons and Devils (a rather blurred line to define) are in an eternal war, and you've been drafted to help keep the war un-won and the plane in balance after the Devils take an untimely strategic victory.

Your quests, dungeons and raids all have you fighting for or against one of these factions, culminating in some great story-driven raids laden with deceit and intrigue. The raids are a lot more intricate than DDO used to be too, following the lead of WOW's Onyxia. One particular encounter against a Pit Fiend Jailor and its Devil master is fast-paced and exciting like nothing DDO did before.

One thing that must affect any verdict on the current state of Dungeons & Dragons Online is the free-to-play version Eberron Unlimited, recently released in the US. It isn't officially available on Codemasters Online's European servers yet, and it's unconfirmed for release here. [However, UK-based players have reported that they're able to access it direct from Turbine's US servers - Ed.]