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World Review: Code of Everand
Main
Review
Compatible with Operating Systems:
 World Status: Operational
In many respects Code of Everand is your typical browser MMO. A high level of abstraction, low level of interactivity, isometric worlds and simplified battle scenes. Yet, at the same time, it marks a potential turning point: a MMO created and maintained by a government. Right from the opening credits, it is clear what Everand is trying to do. This is a serious game, trying hard to dress up road safety just enough to be fun for kids to play, just like any other MMO. At the same time, if they are playing it, they are rote learning road safety. Unlike many of these browser-MMOs, Everand is happy running in pretty much any browser that supports Flash 10 or above. Starting Everand is straightforward. At the initial login screen you are asked for a username, password, and 'a parent or guardian's email address'. This marked difference, together with a small piece of legalese strongly emphasizing that this is a Department of Transport creation, is the marked difference from most such worlds. The mechanics are of course the same as any other email-sign-up procedure. When you complete that, the following message is displayed:
The whole world is set up like that. Any correspondence it is assumed, is going to a parent, and is worded appropriately. Functionally of course, its no different, but is a nice touch. After confirming, and signing in, the opening text and animation starts to scroll:
Once this has finished (or it is skipped), it is time to create a character to use to play. Code of Everand's character creation process is simple, well laid out, and very obviously designed to be child-safe. The name creation process being an excellent example of that. You cannot type in your own name. This stops people typing in unpleasaant things. Instead, there are three sub names to choose from. Each is attached to a scrollable list, so clicking on the buttons next to it, changes the name displayed there. It is divided into first name and a double barrel surname. Each name is alphabetically pre-sorted to make searches easier.Oddly however, you press the down button to go up the alphabet, from Z to A, and press the up button to go from A - Z. Slightly counter-intuative but not enough to worry about. When you are happy with your choices, simply click ok, and it is on to the next screen. The choices may seem limited, but the avatars are so small, it does not really matter. The next choice is to create a pet - a frog, fox or owl who wuill accompany you always. As before, you givethem a name, this time from two lists, and choose a skin for them. It asks for a skin colour, but gives skin textures instead. Oddly there does seem to be a typo visible on this screen. It was created by an American firm, but for a British contract, yet it uses the American-English 'Choose Type and Color', instead of the British-English 'Choose Type and Colour'. A minor oversight, but one which is humourous considering it is supposed to be an educational construct. Once you have chosen your pet, the screen goes white - this will haappen often, as the loaading screen is usually a white-out - and the following image appears:  The tutorial has started. This fairly long-winded and step by step tutorial iss triggered every time yyou create a character, and doesn't turn off. It serves to discourage more than one character per person rather well. Still Adran takes us through using the inventory, combat, and of cousrse, how to cross the road, quite well indeed.
When you actually get into it, Code of Everand's world is much like most top-down flash MMOs really. The world opens up as a collection of separate rooms, with passable and impassable areas in them. Your avatar stands there with a collection of others, and if you desire to move, click with the mouse where you wish to go and your avatar will walk there. Each room has one or more exit points, that you walk over to and stand on to go to the next room, and many have NPCs who stand there with an exclamation mark above their heads, telling you that if you click on them they will give you a quest, or advance one you are already on. In addition to the normal exits, there are lines crossing some rooms - green, yellow, orange, red, or purple lines depending on difficulty. These are the spirit channels. Walk into one to begin to cross it. You can cross at a marked pathway, which indicates a point regularly cleared out where the monsters are weaker (zebra crossing), or you can cross at any other point, where the monsters are faster, stronger, and more numerous. Walking into the line switches the view from a top-down isometric, to a first-person perspective in a white mist. Here you have two arrows on screen. One says 'look left', one says 'look right'. Clicking on either, will tilt your head to the left or right. There you may see some traffic, erm monsters approaching. If you do, you prepare for them, laying down traps to injure them in the road. You yourself cannot cross yet. A monster runs over your traps, or maybe several monsters do, and each take damage. You look left and right again, the views showing you the positions, and strengths of the various monsters. You place more traps. The monsters cross in front of you, triggering them. This continues until the last monster is killed. Then you look left and right again. If all is clear, a new arrow appears, 'cross'. Clicking that, crosses the road. Sorry, crosses the Spirit Channel. Kill enough monsters and you gain the experience to level up, plus some treasure which you can sell for money, or use to craft more and better traps. That is essentially all there is to Everand. The rest, buying new clothes, chatting with pre-stocked phrases, and completing quests is standard MMO faire.
Sub Reviews
Because it is designed for children, and a government production at that, whilst socialisation is possible in Everand to an extent, you may only choose from pre-defined stock phrases to speak to the whole room you are in at the time. These appear in chat bubbles above your head, and remain there for several seconds. Clicking on another person's bubble announces who has spoken. You can use these in a very general way, to ask if someone is ok, or if their character needs healing, but no real meaningful communication is possible.
One of the nice things about Everand for achievers, is it has experience levels galore. It just never runs out of them. Combined with the usual MMO experience grindmill, this becomes the standard way of proving you can achieve - by being a higher level than your friends. Nothing new there.
Client OS:Win 2K, Win 98, Win 2K, Win 2K
World Purpose:
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