Ultima IX: Ascension

The Good
The graphics are fantastic, sometimes even breathtaking, the music is wonderfully orchestrated, and the sound effects are nothing less than superb. Additionally, the box is very attractive. If Origin had put half the work into programming and gameplay as clearly put into making this game aesthetically pleasing, this game could have easily been one of the best of the year.

The Bad
Buggy, buggy, buggy. Aside from an extremely clumsy interface, this game will make your brand new PC act like a dinosaur, due to the massive amount of system resources and memory it hogs. Forget running any other applications; if you open up notepad.exe while Ultima Ascension is running, your computer is going to crash.

The plot is very linear, and because of this, you can only go where the game wants you to go – unless you think you can handle a dragon, or a small child who hurls Avatar-killing fireballs no matter what you do or say. In a world where multiple paths and endless possibilities are the watchword of RPGs, Ultima Ascension falls miserably short.

The Bottom Line
There’s something in this game for everybody to dislike, from the first-time RPGer to the die-hard pencil-and-paper RPG Addict. Fans of the previous Ultima Titles will not only dislike this product, they will be shocked and insulted, and may resort to doing something rash, such as burning Richard Garriot in effigy.