So what is the basic idea of EverQuest? You play a character in the fantasyland of Norrath. You create your character by choosing from several races and several character classes at the start, and from there, the path you follow is your own. Norrath is a vast land with almost as wide a range of terrain and areas as the real world. In the typical fantasy tradition, there are elves, dragons, magic swords, enchanted armor, ravenous princesses, beautiful monsters, lions, and tigers, and bears. Oh my! It's a big world, and you're here to kick some monster butt!

The graphics of EverQuest do the job, but do not blow you away. Levels are large, but there is a lot of empty space lacking detail. Everything is textured and the sky has two layers, but if you had to rely on graphics to suck you in, nobody would play. The best graphics are those for magic spells. Cool transparency effects and weird lighting are awesome. Another nice aspect is how different armor and clothing change how you look. We did experience a good amount of clipping and weird graphical glitches such as monsters floating in mid air. A 3D accelerator is required, but things aren't too intense, so you don't need a heavy-duty setup to play. 989 Studios could have done a better job, but we think they spent their time more in the game play part of things, and that is a decision we can respect. It is also good to keep in mind who EverQuest's competition is. Ultima Online graphics lick the boots of EverQuest graphics. Maybe they hired Brian Hook to get EverQuest 2 on the Quake 3 engine? Dream on, but it would be nice.