When the term MMORPG comes up, a lot of peoples’ first reactions are “What is that strange word and what does it mean?” Still others will simply say, “Oh, you mean like World of Warcraft?” and then they will probably go into a long diatribe about how they totally have a friend who is addicted to that game and, well, this review is getting off track.

An MMORPG, or Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game, is an entire genre of video game, not just limited to “World of Warcraft.” “Rift” is one of the latest video games released in the MMO genre.

“Rift” takes place in a fantasy world called Telera, which happens to serve as a waypoint for different planes of existence. A powerful villain known as Regulos has opened up portals (called rifts) to these other worlds.

The player chooses to align him or herself with either the Guardians or the Defiants (each with unique races to choose from including such races as dark elves, dwarves and the human-like Eth among others), and then chooses one of four classes: Rogue, Warrior, Cleric or Mage. Both the Defiants and the Guardians are opposed to Regulos, but they are also at odds with each other, adding an extra layer of tension into the game.

The Rogue class plays like a thief, with focus on speed, agility and long-distance weapons. Cleric is a typical healer class, providing spells and support to teammates. The Warrior deals with heavy weapons and armor, and the Mage uses powerful magic spells offensively. Each class gets different “souls” that allow them to level up different concentrations and focus on different aspects of their class.

Regardless of which faction or class the player chooses, he or she is presented with a similar situation at the start of the game: Regulos has unleashed an attack on the land of Telera and all hope is lost. The higher-ups create an Ascended, a resurrected soldier, which the player will play as. It is then the player’s duty to make his or her way to a time machine and teleport back to a time when he or she can actually stop Regulos from ruining everything (the process of getting to the time machine serves as a well-done tutorial).

Overall, the plot and finer details feel pretty neat and at least somewhat fresh. The actual gameplay, though, is unfortunately where “Rift” starts to feel a little old. Combat is little more than clicking an enemy and then using a string of attacks that work well together. There is a neat combo system in play, but it doesn’t really break up the monotony as much as it should.

After the player gets out of the tutorial section (which takes a little longer than it should) the game also loses a lot of momentum. It lets the player roam free and rather than having one main quest line with some side missions available, players are free to pick from dozens of quests immediately, none of which take precedence. This causes a bit of mission overload and actually stifles the player.

Still, like other MMORPGs, “Rift” rewards players for their persistence and it’s pretty easy to get sucked into. For anyone looking for a good MMORPG, but not already playing “World of Warcraft,” “Rift” is a good place to start. For those not sure if MMORPGs are their thing, “Rift” might not be the best introduction, especially when there are plenty of free-to-play MMOs available online.

Stuff From the Shelf is a recurring blog series in which we review the albums and games we’ve been sent to review, but that we haven’t been able to enjoy until now.

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