There’s a hell of a lot of depth to those classes, too. Our Hunter Ranger can shift quickly around or enter stealth, while other more melee-orientated types can raise a shield to defend themselves or sprint into a fight head on. It’s a shame there’s no way to test out the classes before you make the ultimate choice of who to play as, though. Once you’ve made your choice you’re stuck with it… unless you pay for a few more than the starting two character slots, that is…
The biggest problem, and one we suspect might dissipate slightly over time, is that Neverwinter is a technical slophouse. The visual design might be fairly striking, especially in some of the later instanced zones, which feel wider and more adventure-some, but it’s hard to appreciate when lag is such an invasive issue. You’ll often find you avatar warping across areas as said lag spikes up. Frame rates, especially in populated areas, can drop low enough to practically allow for a cuppa. This is especially infuriating during combat, or, more criminally, during a dungeon run, as you could easily end up falling due to your inability to heal in the wake of the spike, or booted from a group/area regardless of how close you are to the end.
Speaking of grouping up, Neverwinter allows for the fluid joining of parties of up to five for PvP, dungeon runs and Skirmishes. The latter of these offer a great little distraction for each area, in which you can team up fairly quickly to tackle waves of enemies. Unfortunately Neverwinter can’t quite solve the long standing problem of communication in MMORPGs on consoles. Voice chat is an option, but it was only ever when we were adventuring with existing pals that we found it turned on for most people. Turns out most epic fantasy RPG players aren’t necessarily the most social bunch, and the game could definitely do more to push people towards interacting with each other. Still, no trolling, though.
A mixed satchel, then, Neverwinter might be the only traditional MMO on your Xbox One, and a particularly generous one to boot. But technical issues, the lack of malleable social interactions and some frustrating free-to-play nonsense notch its blade somewhat. It’ll be especially interesting to see if it’s as enticing a prospect once The Elder Scrolls Online finally arrives.
Supply Gamesradar
Neverwinter Xbox One review - App Review 4u
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