Empire of Sports Review: Classic but challenging

By Mohammed Afzal (MageMoa), Onrpg writer

Empire of Sports is a casual sporting MMOG created by the French company: F4.

The game is a mix of casual play and hardcore gaming which also allows you to challenge players from all over the world! Do you want to score? Do you want to smash or would you like to run like the wind? Empire of Sports gives you the opportunity to play sports with others without coming out of your chair!

Starting the game

When entering the game, you will be able to create your own character. The customization of the game is very limited. You will only be able to choose between a few different hairstyles, three hair colors and some faces. The traits aren’t of any use either. If you make your character smaller, you won’t be faster and if you make him taller, you will not be better at basketball. These options are merely for the look of your character.

After you create your character, you will be teleported to Main Square, the heart of the city. This is the first city which includes roads to all sports.

There is a lot to do in this city. There is a good and easy guide for each sport which allows you to try all of them before doing real missions and tournaments.

The graphics are also very decent. They might not be amazing, but they are pretty good, especially for a casual MMOG.

Gameplay

The sports you can play ingame are: Tennis, track ‘n field, soccer, bobsleigh, basketball and ski. But that’s not everything! You can also dance, fitness and test your accuracy by shooting indoor!

Each of these sports has their own gameplay features. Some are troublesome and others are easy to master.

Tennis
Tennis is one of the less challenging games of EoS. You basically have to sprint to the ball and your character will automaticly hit it. You will have to set a direction yourself, though.

Track ‘n field
Track ‘n field contains more than just running. There are several sports included in track ‘n field such as sprinting, hurdles and jumping. Track ‘n field is one of the sports which requires skills and experience. You will have to jump in time to avoid obstacles and reach the finish in time!

Soccer&basketball
Soccer and bastketball are almost alike. You need to exercise a lot if you want to master these. The basics are easy, though. Run after the ball, steal it and try to score, but if you want to play against others, you will need to learn more than that.

Bobsleigh
Bobsleighing is really amusing but also pretty complex. There are many tricks which you can unlock. It is one of the games which requires the most experience and skill, because you have to control your bobsleigh through the whole track to avoid slowing down or falling.

Ski
Basic skiing is pretty easy, but when you start doing tournaments, you will see how hard it is to avoid all flags and to be the fastest player. Finishing a lot of missions before doing tournaments would be recommended if you want to keep up with the others.

Dance
The dance feature isn’t very unique. You will have to press the key arrows that you see on your screen. You just need to be fast and you’ll have to press them at the right moment. Other than that, it’s nothing special and the dance moves look terrible.

Fitness
This is one of the best extra’s ingame. You will be able to train your character’s muscles and health. The gyms have a wide variety of facilities. They have treadmills, boxing balls and way more! You can also buy snacks and water which will keep your stats in balance.

Shooting
Practicing aim isn’t very special. You will see many different targets and you will have to shoot on them. This is not very hard, but you have to be fast to hit them all.

Features

Other than the massive amount of sports, you can also participate in tournaments. There is a tournament guide in every town. Just pick a sport, subscribe and wait until the tournament starts! It might be good to know that most of the tournament players are very skilled, so it would be good to practice a lot before doing any tournament.

You have an individual level for each sport, but you also have a general level. This is the level you have in cities and it can only be upgraded by doing quests which give you experience for this level.

One of the best features of the game would be the amazing amount of different kind of clothes. Every sport has its own stores with different kind of clothes. There are soccer kits, casual clothes, snow suits etc. and they are all available in many colors! These clothes are pretty expensive, though. You have to earn a lot of money from tournaments and quests before being able to buy a lot of clothes.

Community

The population of the game is decent. You will find people everywhere and a lot of them are willing to help you. You will also never find an empty tournament. There are always people that are willing to join you.

There is one little thing that might bother you; Half of the community is French and their English isn’t really good. However, the company is also very nice and helpful. You can contact them if you have any problems and they will always respond. They really care about the players and they are also really helpful on the forums.

Personal opinion

Empire of Sports is the first multi-sport MMOG. The game is unique and classic, but challenging. You might find yourself jumping from sport to sport which will be fun for a long time. The community is very nice and helpful and the game is updated frequently. You might notice a lack of content from time to time, but this doesn’t take away the fact that Empire of Sports is a great, amusing game which will keep you busy for quite a while!

Pros:
- Decent graphics
- Amusing sports
- Helpful community
- Challenging features
- Updated frequently

Cons:
- Lack of content
- Many French players

#Graphismes 13/20
 
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#Jouabilité 12/20
 
Qu'il s'agisse des quêtes, de l'artisanat ou du système de combat, Runes of Magic démontre un certain penchant pour la frilosité, en recopiant des schémas déjà vus maintes fois chez la concurrence. Et quand le jeu tente d'innover, avec les runes ou le multiclassage par exemple, c'est tantôt peu inspiré, tantôt bancal. Pas de quoi attirer les joueurs expérimentés à la recherche de nouveauté.
 
#Durée de vie 14/20
 
Runes of Magic se targue de proposer plus de mille quêtes, mais il faut voir leur gueule... L'immense majorité étant parfaitement inintéressante, la progression devient rapidement fastidieuse. Du côté de la zone de jeu, RoM propose une petite dizaine de régions à explorer, sans compter les donjons. Cela ne représente pas une superficie énorme, mais c'est tout de même pas mal. Atteindre le palier maximum dans chacune des deux classes choisies ne sera pas une mince affaire, sans parler des compétences d'artisanat.
 
#Bande son 13/20
 
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#Scénario 13/20
 
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#Note Générale 14/20
 
Classique, voilà sans doute le mot qui définit le mieux ce Runes of Magic. Un mot à double tranchant : cela signifie à la fois que le jeu utilise des mécanismes qui ont fait leur preuve, mais aussi qu'il manque cruellement d'originalité. Du coup, il risque de partager les différents publics. D'un côté, les vieux briscards des MMORPG risquent de rester froids devant une formule aussi routinière. De l'autre, les néophytes devraient être conquis par la gratuité du titre et son accessibilité, qui font de Runes of Magic une bonne porte d'entrée dans le milieu. Pour savoir de quel côté vous vous situez, le mieux est encore de l'essayer.
 
La note de la rédaction est une appréciation de la qualité générale du jeu, mais n'est pas une moyenne arithmétique des différents critères.