The Chronicles of Spellborn from Acclaim was recently released in the North American market after being released in Europe last November. For the North American release, TCOS is allowing players to download the client with a two week free trial. With the client downloaded and installed we gave the game a whirl and this is what we found.

Downloading and installing the client was easy enough. TCOS’ downloader had ample bandwidth available and the 3+ gig client was finished downloading in no time. With a quick patch, we were making our account and getting into the game. For the US market there are two servers available, but don’t get confused when you see them labeled as International; you’re in the right place. You get to choose between a PVP and a PVE server. Choose your preference and continue.

After you select your class, which we’ll go over in a moment, you’ll enter the character customization process. If you’ve ever played City of Heroes you’ll be happy to know there is a similar, though not as robust, process for creating your character. You can choose between two different races, the Daevi and Human. Each has four preset body types. The humans have four sizes, while the Daevi have four skin types. After you select your race, you can choose between different tattoos and hair styles before picking your character’s costume or gear. As you will soon find out, equipment has no statistics – everything is for appearance only. So if you want your mage to wield a huge two-handed mace, go for it.

Later in the game, you’ll find that there are a wide array of items to find that you can further customize your character with, so the customizing never ends. There are some pretty cool looking armor sets in the game, but you have to go out and find them. Although, at the start, you are limited to what is available in the creation process.

There are three archtype classes in this game which you choose right off the bat: Warrior, Rogue and Mage. And once you hit level five, you get to choose between three subclasses for each.

Warrior: Bloodwarrior, Wraithguard and Adept
Rogue: Trickster, Skinshifter and Deathand
Mage: Void Seer, Rune Mage and Ancestral Mage

The interesting thing about classes in this game is that almost each class is self sufficient to a degree. No class is a main tank or a main healer. The damage classes are evenly matched with utility classes: as a mage you can heal yourself and your teammates; as a warrior you can increase your resistance with buffs and reduce the amount of incoming damage. With the nature of the combat system in TCOS, each class can hold it’s own based on the users ability rather than a classes skill sheet, so pick which class suits you the best.

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