Ultima Online Review in PC Format

Pix posted scans of a second two-page review of Ultima Online, this time from PC Format magazine. The review is remarkably similar to PC Gamer’s (which was published in the same month — January 1998), but with very British cheek and humour peppered throughout:

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Like PC Gamer, the review praises the game (and in fact scores it identically, awarding it 90%). And like PC Gamer, they also highlight the unrestricted PvP as the major negative aspect of the game, cautioning that as soon as you’re able to build up your character even a little, some “spotty geek from Wisconsin” barges in, kills you, and steals all your stuff.

Indeed, you’d think from how vividly they describe the issue and for how long they spend going on about it, it would have been a major deal-breaker and resulted in a significantly lower score for the game. And were this a review of a modern MMORPG, that would probably be the case. But that just goes to show how significant and revolutionary Ultima Online was, that it could subject new players to the harshest and most brutally unflinching play experience and still come away with a solid 90% score.