Welcome back, fellow geeks and gamers. Also a hearty and sincere first welcome to those geeks and gamers who just arrived. In review, in this column I will present you with the best and worst of the electronic boutique that I have been sampling for the last two weeks.
 

This summer was a long and lazy one, full of raw gaming potential. I sampled Gladiators, for the PC (and give it a 75% rating). I played hours upon hours of America's Army (88%, available for free at http://www.americasarmy.com), re-played No One Lives Forever 2 (92%), and put in about half a game of Fallout 2 (94%). At the end of the summer there was Doom III (90%), which you simply must play if you are a first-person shooter fan.

That said, I'm here today to talk to you about the very best of all summer gaming . . . Ever. You'll be pleased to find this game is not only available for free, but also accessible through the Interwar. It is the greatness called Kingdom of Loathing, and can be found at http://www.kingdomofloathing.com.

As the game’s homepage tells us, in the Kingdom of Loathing, the “Adventurer is You!” And so you is [sic], as you explore the world of the Kingdom by clicking on different areas, like the Seaside Town, the Mysterious Island of Mystery, and the Lair of the Naughty Sorceress. The Seaside Town is complete with a market, a mall, secret dungeons, trainers to help you learn skills, and a Council Building, from which you receive quests.

Upon character creation, you’ll be presented with an excellent range of character classes, from the brutish Seal Clubber to the dangerous and mysterious Sauceror, from which to choose. Each class is balanced to provide you with a satisfying gaming experience no matter your choice. From class selection, you are tossed directly into the game.

Completing quests and leveling up through adventuring opens new, even more dangerous areas to adventure in. You collect items (food, equipment, and miscellaneous) to help or hinder you in your quest. In addition, you learn skills and abilities at each level that help you along. Companion familiars such as Mosquitoes, Fuzzy Dice, and Bloody Volleyballs can also be found to fight with you in combat.

Tongue-in-cheek humor is evident everywhere in the Kingdom. In one area, called the Palindome [sic], you are attacked by monsters whose names are palindromes, such as Stab Bats and a Tan Gnat. The graphical simplicity of Kingdom of Loathing adds to the humor value. All art is in the form of stick figures and simple line drawings. This is both aesthetically pleasing and makes load-times for pages ridiculously short.

You are solitary in your adventures, but the game includes a clever massively-multiplayer aspect. All the stores in the Mall are owned by other players (you can buy one too). Here, trade is fast and furious, as prices fluctuate on hard-to-find or high-demand items such as Jarlsburg’s Key Lime Pie, Hell Ramen, and Really Really Sticky Spider Webs. Also, a chat window on the right side of your browser allows you talk to other players real-time.

If you’re particularly brave (or just mean), you can elect to take part in player vs. player combat, in which you choose another player to attack, making off with some of their hard-earned items (or losing some of yours). Like any good multi-player game, clans also make an appearance. You can join a clan, or make one of your own. Being in a clan gets you many benefits, such as working out in the Clan Gym, or nabbing treasures from the Clan Stash.

I could keep talking about how truly genius this game is, but I’m over my word limit. Suffice it to say, Kingdom of Loathing is the best web-based game yet, and you should be playing it at work as much as you can get away with.

Highs: Deep complexity and in-depth adventuring and puzzle solving. Free. Web-based.

Lows: Sometimes buggy, sometimes slow. Actual adventuring potential runs out after a while, at which point trade provides all the entertainment.

Final Rating: 94%