Mortal Online 2

 Check out this video from ESO on the coming game Mortal Online 2. This will be one to keep an eye on!

Tom Clancy's The Division

By: Robert Murphy

In the wake of an unknown viral outbreak, New York City has become a desolate wasteland filled with roaming gangs, murderous psychopaths and an all around lack of the basic necessities people need in order to survive. Unbeknownst to the rest of the world however there is a secret organization of individuals who are the last line of defense in the event of such a catastrophe. These average looking men and women are the agents of The Division and they are here to put New York City back together again.

As I said before, danger is lurking around every back alleyway and down every manhole cover on the once "peaceful" streets of NYC. After a brief character customization and introduction into the pandemic that started this whole mess, players are given free rein over the city and help those in need. And boy, are there a lot of people who are in dire need of your help. People wander the streets seeking shelter and aid against the batches of criminals who escaped during the outbreak and the madmen trying to "cleanse" those who may still be infected. The sheer size of everything though is exceptional, NYC feels as grand as it would in real life as you wander the streets and begin to construct a base of operations where people can come for help and you can begin unraveling the mystery behind what happened here. 

The derelict environment doesn't do much more for the main story however. The missions for The Division are top notch in my book and play out like you would expect from a MMORPG. There are the basic missions which amount to fetching this or that and then the heavier missions that go through various locations and increasingly difficult to handle enemies. Sitting down and tackling the games main story missions feels like you're headed off in to battle with you and your friends all assuming different roles. The content itself is okay, there is a standard story that doesn't really wow but rather it feels par for the course for a game like this. The real catch though is the fact that the story isn't completed and will be revealed later as the game expands forward with more missions and gameplay. 

As for player classes, there are three variants to choose from once you begin to level up your character that reflect upon the three types of main missions players will be going on. Once you find your base of operations there are essentials that need to be gathered in order to rebuild what was taken for the city. These essentials boil down to Medical, Tech and Security wings that make up the various areas of your base. As you complete main story missions it will give players points to upgrade these various portions of your base and in turn it unlocks players character tress to follow. The toys and gadgets for each class are fun to try out, Tech having some enjoyable explosives, Medical a looking you to emit healing shock-waves and Security allowing you to create shield walls for your friends. Each class does well to benefit either single player or online play well and can be switched up with relative ease if you would like to try out something different on the fly. 

Speaking of online play, one of the best and the most challenging thing The Division has going for it. Playing missions with your friends or anyone else in the game is quite simple, the various safe points to find around the city are like meeting points for fellow agents. Once you step in to one there could be any number of players reequipping themselves for their next fight and you in turn can join them on this journey. Then, of course, you have the simple method of sending a request to your friends but there is something rather nice about this meeting area that made the experience feel rather engaging. It was like going out to a bar and meeting someone new. The aspect of the game that often ruins this warm sentiment of coming together to meet new people is the addition of the Dark Zone.

Smack dab in the middle of NYC lies this area known as the Dark Zone and it promises many things such as new challenging missions and some legendary loot. The challenge in going into this area for a new adventure is the area is entirely PVP where players can move in droves to take down unsuspecting players. This is often the case too, I cannot account how many times I entered the zone to try my hand at getting some new items and seeing how I stack up, only to be sent packing with my tail between my legs. The Zone is a challenge and there in lies it's fun but at the same time the risk doesn't always outweigh the reward. When you usually die in the game you lose some EXP and maybe a item or two but in the Dark Zone you could lose a whole lot before you earn something good. It's definitely a place for serious level 30 players and above, but as the game has develop a little already to try and compensate for it, I feel the Dark Zone could be a potentially great addition to The Division.

Like most games that play to the vein of online action or an MMORPG format there needs to be plenty of groundwork laid for future updates and missions while having a good amount of intrigue in it's initial release to keep players interested. I believe The Division has this going for it. The many different mission modes to choose from, the Dark Zone PVP area, the feeling of accomplishment that goes into building your base up and just the all around enjoyable gameplay itself had me hooked from the moment I sat down to play the game. Combat is easy to pick up on and the story, while not extremely enthralling, is still a blast to go through by yourself or with a group of friends. The Division takes everything that the Tom Clancy games have done over the years and brought it to the modern age of online play and it feels great.

Good:

- Addictive gameplay from the missions to gun play

- Immersive environment, apocalyptic NYC is beautiful if not scary 

- Seamless multiplayer enjoyment for your friends and potential ones

- Fun progression system that can easily be switched up

Bad:

- Dark Zone is a challenge with not a lot of reward to it

- The main story of a huge viral outbreak is okay it just doesn't excite

Scully Rating: 8.7 out of 10

Overlord

Robert Murphy


Going back to the first time that I had watched Sword Art Online I found that an anime about being trapped in a game was quite an interesting one since I have always been an avid game lover and the concept of virtual reality becoming actually reality quite excites me. Other shows have popped up and followed the same kind of logic and so one would think that the idea would become stagnant but Overlord takes a new approach to the story. 

Momonga was a member of an extremely prestigious guild from the MMORPG Yggdrasil and even though he was simply in charge of the guilds finances he was still a max level spell caster. Now the game is unfortunately going to see it's final day as the servers are being shut down and Momonga logs in for the final moments of the game but his fellow guild members have long since abandoned the game and all that they have earned after countless hours of playing. Something unprecedented happens once the clock strikes midnight and the game was suppose to shut down though, Yggdrasil was still online or at least in some fashion it was. All of the player made servants in the guild hall have been made real and Momonga has been transferred to entirely new world with new people and places but it is still a world where he retains all of his magical skills and power which makes him practically a God among it's inhabitants. 

Momonga or Ainz Ooal Gown is a character who takes over powered status and does it the right way. Normally you wouldn't like a character who can do anything and has no chink in his armor, it's boring, but in this case there are two reasons why it works. On the surface Ainz appears to be this menacing skeleton creature (Undead character class) who knows high level magic and has knowledge beyond that of anyone else in the world. Underneath the surface though there is a stressed out human character that freaks out when his second in command Albedo does things like confess her undying love for him. There are moments of inner monologue for his character throughout the story and while he remains calm and calculating in most of the crucial situations but he has quite a few moments of pure embarrassment with his female subordinates and remnants left from the days when the world was just a game.

His intelligence and raw power is the other key component to his appeal. Since the moment Momonga found himself trapped in this strange new world he calculated every move he made, testing what abilities he can still perform and setting out to explore the world in the hopes of concurring it for himself. Yes, Ainz is a bad guy and I often forgot this fact since he refrains from doing too many things that would be considered "evil" but everything he does is ultimately for his own gain. Anyone who is foolish enough to attack him learns quickly about his strength as casting 8th tier magic is nothing to him where the humans of this world cannot go past the 3rd tier. This leads to him outclassing just about everyone you see Ainz come across and while this world normally be dull the show shows off his power in a variety of different ways to make stellar action scenes and explore Yggdrasil's game mechanics.

The fights are often short but they are nonetheless a treat to behold while you're watching Overlord. Yggdrasil was a game unlike any other MMORPG that is out on the market today or at least to my knowledge it is, the players can create their own weapons using items, create their own home bases (Nazarick is the main base for the show and Ainz) and even create their own servants and most of these player created NPC's are our main cast members along with Ainz. This should give you some idea as to the magnitude of the fights that take place across the show, Ainz has God level magic at his disposal as well as former in-game items, weapons and all the power of Nazarick/his former companions, he isn't afraid to use it either. His subordinates are just as powerful too which made the final fight between Ainz and a turned Nazarick member, Shalltear, quite an interesting one to watch.

Outside of Ainz and the members of Nazarick though there is some work to be done. Overlord clearly has a rich world to be explored and near the end of the series the story began to unravel quite a bit of information about the people who live here. Ainz does his best to learn all he can but there are moments where we were strung along for very little reward such as Ainz's first quest to a nearby city where he joins an adventure guild. The characters he meets were interesting at first but are all thrown away later on and this happens more than once, you are introduced to a new character who seems important but is dropped before you get to know them. Later seasons may prove to pull the overall story together more coherently but for the time being it is a show all about the glorious Ainz Ooal Gown.

Overlord proves that you can still do something new with the trapped in a game style anime with what is presented here. With a more coherent overall story then things would have gone exceptionally well as I watched the series but it was still wonderful meeting Ainz and seeing the power he commands. His subordinates at Nazarick are just as exceptional to watch and it is hard to believe that these characters were technically all designed by video game players, now brought to life. 

Good:

- Ainz Ooal Gown is a fantastically overpowered monster

- Other Nazarick members like Albedo are great

- Yggdrasil is a world that would be spectacular to be trapped

Bad:

- Characters outside Ainz and Nazarick are interesting but get no screen time

- Story has potential but needs time to bring it together better

Scully Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Log Horizon (Season 2)

By: Robert Murphy

For most people, being transported into their favorite game or show would probably seem like a dream come true, but for the players of Log Horizon it has become a dream that they cannot wake from. Shiro and the other members of this world have now spent over a year in the former MMORPG known as Elder Tale and while things are far less terrifying than the day of the Apocalypse, there are still plenty of problems left to face. I'm sure that the villain in glasses has something up his sleeves though to solve everything as he did before so let's find out what season 2 has waiting for us.

I praised the first season of the show for it's detailed and concise way of telling viewers about the MMORPG angles of Elder Tale that many characters use or referenced throughout the story. All the information comes across in a way that is not only interesting but is explained in terms that even people who have never played an MMO could understand what was going on. This feature continues in the second season of the show but it also gets delved further into as well. As all the players continue to live in the world and make it their own, certain elements of the game start to change or rather become real. Things like "flavor textures" or whether or not an item or weapon is evil begins to mean something. Players in games often pick up items because they look cool or use them because they're super powerful but never have to worry about whether or not it was an evil object or if it did a certain thing. Well, these features become an element that players need to worry about as an evil object or an object that can do something like make you confess your inner most love will affect them. It was an interesting addition to the story that I loved especially in the Valentine's Day episode where a specific fruit made you confess what you desire most in the world. It also furthered the indoctrination of players into the world and what affect adventurers now had on it.

Adventurers or the regular characters of the world are viewed as strange outsiders for their abilities and their free will. Where as People of the Land or the NPC's can only do certain things or only do certain things because it is all that they know or have ever known. We see the adventurers affect things even more this time around though after Shiro and the Round Table have formed a friendship with the nobility of Elder Tale. We see players start to train soldier characters or watch over the important characters in the game like they were real people. This being an interesting point because it's hard to tell that this world that we find ourselves in is actually a game or use to be one because the people in it feel so real and are no longer just faceless quest givers anymore to the adventurers. I started to notice this more and more about halfway through the story when the "kid's arc" started and the younger members of the Log Horizon guild went on their very first quest. The kids all gave it their all to defend a town from certain destruction even though these people are allegedly not real and risked their lives for them. 

The aspect of death was a key part to the story this season as well. Shiro, Naotsuga and members of another guild all join together in the first arc of the story to take on the hardest raid in the game. Not only is this a fantastic part of the story that finally features what a raid looks like and introduces some new interesting characters, it also brings about Shiro's first death. Players have died in this world and come back no problem but it's never happened to one of the main members of the story. It is a great part of the story especially when you see just how death works and how it affects players afterward, don't worry I won't spoil it for you but needless to say you don not come out unscathed. This aspect also proves to push the story along because it let Shiro learn a little bit more about the world that they are all living in now and theorize a way of getting them out. I pointed out in my review of the first season how getting out of Elder Tale didn't come up much and really how the first season mainly served as a setup for the story. Now though we see real progression in the story as Shiro and the members of Log Horizon try and figure out a way home to their lives and their families.

My biggest problem though with the story has to be our resident bad guys. At the end of the first season we saw Shiro being confronted by a mysterious woman named Nureha and she has some obsession with him and his skills. We found out that she is a member of a group named Plant Hwyaden and they aim to cause real trouble for the world. The group is interesting because not only do they have insanely powerful NPC members but one of them is an old friend of the Debauchery Tea Party which is the guild that Shiro, Naotsuga and Nyanta use to belong to but now is for some reason on the bad side of things. These players seem to have a problem with being unwilling held in this world and are out to start conflict and war among the People of the Land. The reason I sound speculative about all this though is because I really never figured out what these characters were all about. This group is randomly introduced and while their character seem interesting and appealing, not a lot is known about them other than them wanting to cause conflict. It's kind of a big bust for the story because you never figure out what their goals are and what these characters are all about. 

As for the rest of the returning character's, they all continue to go on strong for me. Shiro was already a compelling character to begin with and his exploits this time around only further my liking of him. Akatsuki was also another favorite of mine and she actually gets her very own story and look into what sort of person she is and why she acts the way she does. Turns out theres more to this spunky little ninja than meets the eye. I did mention that the younger members of Log Horizon get their own arc once again and to be honest they were weak characters for me in the first season. But, their characters see amazing growth both in terms of them becoming skilled players and them actually growing. Their characters all receive new looks (every character does) and they appear to have grown since the first season. This may be due to the new studio that has taken over or the fact that these characters actually are changing just like the world they're now living in. Regardless, I enjoyed the new look and the new studio (DEEN) that has taken over has done a wonderful job of keeping the style similar to the original while adding their own touches to the show.

In conclusion, Log Horizon's second season continues forward with many of the solid features that were brought forth in the first season. It is still very much a show about characters and the world over the story, it just seems like everything that is going on envelopes you so much that you sometimes forget that Shiro and the rest of players are actually trapped in this world and trying to get out. However, this season does see forward motion on the aspect of all of the characters possibly escaping Elder Tale and just how they all became trapped there in the first place. I certainly cannot wait to see what else is around the corner for Log Horizon though and hopefully see each of my favorite characters get to return home, in a couple more seasons that is. 

Good:

- Returning characters are still fantastic

- The story sees some real progression and some interesting plot points such as what happens when a player dies 

- Some new/strong character join in on the story

- Still an overall interesting concept and the world of Elder Tale continues to get bigger and more interesting with each episode

Bad:

- Plant Hwyaden is a group of interesting but lack luster characters that get no back story or information revealed on them

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10

Log Horizon (Season 1)

By: Robert Murphy

Words cannot express how deeply I enjoyed my first MMO/anime experience in Sword Art Online and to my surprise I found myself stumbling across another show much in the same style called Log Horizon that made me love this style of anime even more. The story takes place in the massively successful MMORPG called Elder Tale and in the wake of the upcoming game expansion thousands of players gear up to play it once more along with many new players as well. As soon as players log into the game though they find themselves in their virtual avatar selves, more realistic than ever before and they find it is impossible to exit the game and that they’re now trapped within the virtual world in an event the players call the Apocalypse. Our story follows Shiroe, a veteran player of the game and a brilliant tactician who is quite well known among the players of the game, alongside him are his friend Naotsugu, another veteran player that has known Shiroe through many hours of playing the game and Akatsuki who joins Shiroe early on and befriends him as well as Naotsugu. Together, they all face the new troubles that Elder Tale his for them and how to live and survive in this new reality that they have to be a part of.

Where I find so much love with Log Horizon is with the immersive MMORPG angle to the show, where SAO focused on the action, Log Horizon focuses on the world and how the adventurers must now be a part of it. The characters in the show get to do this though because unlike SAO you don’t die permanently if you’re defeated in battle this time around. No, players respawn at the in game cathedral much like they did before they were trapped here, the adventurers find lives and purpose in Log Horizon and the looming fear of death doesn’t pose any concern, at first. A fantastic part of the story came early on when the adventurers find out that the in game food taste horrible when made using the food crafting system like they’d always done. When they end up finding a way around this, it was a fantastic part to the story because it started making you realize that this show is in it for the long hall. The prospect of escaping their situation doesn’t come up as often as you might think in fact it frankly never does because they just aren’t told what’s happening to them and how they came to be trapped in the game in the first place unlike SOA where they players are told how they can escape and that takes up all the focus. I preferred this method because it leaves much more to be done with Log Horizon’s story and world.

Speaking of the world in Log Horizon, every aspect to it was extremely well done especially the way the show explains how players spells, magic and abilities work. We see such a detailed explanation of everything each player can do without it being boring or dull, we learn what players abilities are and what they can do such as swashbuckling and much much more. Alongside of this though and perhaps the most interesting part of the show is the NPC’s that the adventurers refer to as the People of the Land, these people use to be nameless quest givers that players cared very little about but who are now more alive than ever. It’s a role reversal of sorts for the adventurers who in real life are normal humans with no power but now they’re living in a world where they have supernatural abilities and the NPC’s are the meek ones and they know it. These people have their own rules, their own leaders and now their own lives and the adventurers are the unknown and frightening ones and the interactions that arise between them now are much more complex than they were before.

Log Horizon is also a show that is very much about the massive community of people and players that are around, everyone works together now and uses their skills like they’d never done before. The massive amount of characters and people you come to meet are just another great aspect to be admired about Log Horizon especially when you see them all and how strong they each are as characters. There was not a single character that I hated in the show and the fact that there are just so many that you see throughout the first season of the show is something truly impressive and makes for a rich experience.

Log Horizon was such a deeply impressive show for me that took the MMORPG style anime to a whole new level by making it feel just like a real game with thousands of players to see and to love. Each character has real depth to them and use the in game skills they have acquired to make them an essential part of the story in one way or another. Even when the main characters are off doing something crucial at a summit with the People of the Land’s nobles, they’re working hard to improve their craft and make Elder Tale a nice place to live in. In the back of my mind I do wonder if they’re going to bring up how they will all get home but for now the story was just too rich and enjoyable. The first season has just concluded not too long ago and I hope and am eager for the next because there is just so much more that can be done here with Log Horizon.

Good:

- Focuses less on death and is able to enjoy the MMORPG experience

- Rich and ever expanding story

- Strong characters all around and so many to fall in love with

- Tells more about the skills and abilities used by the characters, explaining the mechanics behind things in Elder Tale was something I really enjoyed

Bad:

- I’m racking my brain about this but I really can’t say much negative for the show

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10 

Neverwinter (PC)

Zach Goodier

Neverwinter is a free-to-play, Dungeons & Dragons inspired online MMO.  You can pick between several standard fantasy races, as well as the classes, between rouge, ranger, guardian, sorcerer, cleric, and warrior classes to develop your own character and create parties in this expansive and varied world.  You can, of course, go into PvP, as well.  You find the traditional loot and items that define most fantasy MMO’s, and you can spend money on weapons, companions, mounts, etc that are outside the free content.

This is not all of the races, but this is a look at the list.

Premise:

To begin with, this game is very socially oriented, but you can still go at it alone if you really want to, but you’ll be limited your experience greatly.  I played through about the first 15 levels solo before I seriously formed questing parties, and it makes the game much easier.  Solo can be a challenge, so whether you get your friends to play, or you just party up with random players, it isn’t required, but it does a lot to help make the game fun rather than tedious when you have to fight through waves of enemies.

You'll have access to all sorts of fun tricks for each class, making each feeling different in how they play.

Your character, like in D&D, levels up, acquires new abilities, and gets access to better gear and weapons as you progress.  There is a main questline, as well as optional quests you can take up.  There is also player-created quests, and once you reach a sufficient level, you can create quests of your own to share with the community. 

it all comes together rather beautifully, especially for a freebie.

Story:

In the story, an army of undead, lead by a monstrous queen, has attacked the city of Neverwinter, and you arrive near the end of an epic battle.  Neverwinter is able to repel the attackers… mostly, but some parts of the city lay in ruins, host to orcs, rebels, bandits, undead, and so on.  While not all of these groups are necessarily allied, they all seek to take advantage of the chaos to strike at Neverwinter.  You will help the soldiers of Neverwinter strike back against these foes, and save Neverwinter.

Gameplay:

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that this queen of the damned happens to have an undead dragon under her control.

This is where this game starts to set itself apart from other MMO’s.  This game really is more based on the player’s skill than other MMORPG’s, allowing you to manually dodge most attacks, even demanding you do when enemies wind up for punishing blows.  If you’re fast on the keyboard, you can easily dodge the heaviest attacks, but it also requires a good internet connection, otherwise you won’t be able to even see the attacks coming in time to dodge them.  So you really need to make sure your internet connection is up to par.  Party’s are easy to form, and you still have a lot of the hot-keyed special attacks that you would recognize from the standard MMORPG format.  But like I said, the key difference is less just pressing buttons and letting the character do the work, but it focuses more on player interaction, making you feel more connected to the character and more involved in the combat, if only in a minor way. 

Looks like he might have a bone to pick... (bad pun intended)

Graphics:

Graphics are exceptional considering the fact that this is a free game, and the character animations are also exceptional.  While this won’t blow high end games out of the water, you more than get what you don’t pay for here.  It can look a little cartoon-like at times, but you really can’t complain for a freebie.  Weapons are prone to the same pros/cons, some seeming a little oversized or overdone in some way, but that’s just my personal tastes, which generally prefer realistic designs like you’d find in Skyrim.

Obviously not mind-blowing with its visceral feel, but still pretty solid for a MMO

Overall:

This game is a no-brainer, go try it out, it literally costs you nothing (aside from the electric and internet bills you’re already paying for).  Most free MMORPG’s try to whet your appetite with free access, but horde all the good items for individual fees; this game is really no huge exception.  It should be noted that you can skirt around most of this with the auction system and “astral diamonds” that can be used to buy stuff, but that requires long hours of work just to afford some decent premium/VIP equipment.  So while you don’t HAVE to pay out of pocket, you’ll more than likely wish you had, so the standard free-to-play tradeoff is still more or less in place.  However, this in no way stops this from being a great game to play, and I was more than happy to sink in a few bucks so that I could not only support the crew for their great game, but also so I could get that wolf companion that my ranger was begging for.

Good:

-FREE!!!

-Respectable graphics and animation for what you DON’T pay for.

-More involved combat than many MMORPG’s.

-Players have access to most premium content without having to pay for premium subscriptions.

Bad:

-You’ll still wish you had just payed for the premium gear rather than having to invest hours into earning the required items.

-Some very minor elements of the cartoon-ish look can turn away fans of games like Skyrim that focused on more realistic aesthetics.

Scully Rating: 9 out of 10

Sword Art Online

By: Robert Murphy

It is 2022 and the world of virtual reality and gaming has finally come to a level that all gamers dream about, players can enter amazing worlds and completely immerse themselves into using various rigs such as Nerve Gear. Players from all across the world are excited for one new game in particular that is being release that is called Sword Art Online which is a massively large MMORPG (Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) much like World of Warcraft, where players create and control their own unique characters and explore the world of Aincrad. But things take a turn for the worse as it is quickly discovered that players cannot leave the game, they are trapped in this virtual world by its creator who will only release all the players once the final stage is cleared on level 100. To make matters worse for the players it is revealed that not only are they trapped but if a players dies in the game, they die for real.

Our story follows along one particular brilliant player by the name of Kirito, who has eagerly await the games release like many others but he truly sets to the task of beating the game and making it out alive. Kirito is dead set on being a solo player from the get go, he is shy and timid in the game much like he is in the real world but as the game and the show progresses we see him break out of his shell and interact with the various players of Sword Art Online. The main person who breaks Kirito out of his isolation is Asuna, a female player who gets introduced early on and a person I immediately fell in love with alongside Kirito. The great thing about the show is that even though the players are trapped in a virtual world, the experiences and feelings that are shared throughout the game are very much real and that is ever clear with the relationship between Kirito and Asuna. The two fall in love during the game and it wasn’t one of those BS love stories either, the two were clear with their feelings for one another and they made it happen and that’s why I love the twos characters. And don’t worry folks, as I’m sure some of you may have thought of “well what if Asuna turns out to be a guy playing a girl” this gets debunked at the beginning of the show and all characters are who they are in real life thanks to the Nerve Gear.

Now outside the touching narrative and social interaction, Sword Art Online, comes with an enjoyable amount of action to it. Outside of the generic enemies you’d find in an MMORPG, there are some stellar boss fights that feature greatly designed fight sequences that completely make you feel like you’re watching real game play. Alongside this there are the absolutely beautifully designed worlds that as a gamer make me jealous that they aren’t real and that I won’t have them for nine years but I can wait for them. The environments both on the front lines of battle and off are breathe taking, between the places the players can live and bosses lairs and more, the world is massive and all around what you’d want a video game world to be like.

Now the show isn’t without its problems, for starters the show moves very fast paced and almost feels a little rushed like there is something being left out and the show is based off of a manga and things often times get cut out, so that very well may be the case. My other problem with the show is the sort of second half of the story which feels like an unfortunate turn for such a great show, the second arc is far less action heavy and less of an adrenaline fueled affair. What makes my spine tingle is how dumbed down Asuna becomes, she becomes less of an all-around butt kicking female character and more of a damsel in distress waiting for Kirito to save her. Even the “bad guy” in the second arc isn’t at all that intimidating of a character, he’s more of the slimy and gutless character who is all around creepy to even look at.

These problems aside, Sword Art Online, gave me a thrill that an anime hasn’t in quite some time and introduces a lead as well as a great group of supporting characters throughout the shows span. Asuna and Kirito are easily one of my new favorite anime couples, they knew they loved one another and went for it and proceeded to collectively kick virtual butt together. The video game worlds featured in the story are incredibly well designed, like something you’d see in a commercial for a game and could only dream that it would like that when you started playing. In the end I just wish the show had more episodes but what can you do, I suppose if I want more action to read up on I can check out the manga and continue to re-enjoy the awesome parts of the show over again which aren’t too hard to find.

Good:

-Amazing characters

-Asuna and Kirito are an insanely awesome anime couple

-The world you’re watching literally does feel like you’re watching a video game unfold

-Beautifully designed worlds, characters and action

Bad:

-The story gets a little rushed at times

-The second arc of the story isn’t as nerve racking and is where you may lose touch with the show

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10