It's hard to imagine that 15 years ago, the pinnacle of role-playing games involved an experience something like this:

>Look
You are in a comfortable tunnel-like room.

>North
You go north. You are hit by a Troll for 50 damage points.

You are dead. Play again (y/n)?

Things have come a long way since the humble text-based adventures and online MUDs (Multi User Dungeons). Today's MMORPGs (massive multiplayer online role-playing games) have tens of thousands of players online at any one time; graphics are on a par with single-player first-person shooters; and it's all wrapped up in more gameplay than is humanly possible to complete.

However, these changes only came about through revolution, not evolution, and the catalyst for this was the original EverQuest back in 1999. Suddenly, we had a game that was fully graphical in either first- or third-person mode.

Combat was all in real-time, and covered a playing area measured in miles. On any given night, you'd find in excess of 100,000 people playing: it was the catalyst for more marriages and the cause of more divorces than any other game in history. But after six years and numerous add-on packs, the game was starting to show its age. What's more, EverQuest was no longer the only trick in town: a plethora of new MMORPGs had cropped up, from Dark Age of Camelot, through to Eve Online and World of Warcraft. Something more than a simple graphical overhaul was required.

Enter EverQuest II. Our first reaction was that this was EverQuest I but with new graphics. Rest assured though, this isn't the case: you need to play the game for only a few hours to realise there have been some radical changes.
After a brief tutorial, you're thrust into a small training world, the Isle of Refuge. It's here that your career path in the world of EverQuest begins. Unlike the original, you don't immediately choose what your class and character is like. Instead, you initially choose one of four subgroups - fighter, mage, priest or scout - and set about solving simple quests and killing low-level monsters. This is a good introduction to what you can (and, more importantly, can't) do within the game.

Combat is exclusively real-time and consists of some automatic fight sequences (such as engaging the enemy with a sword) along with special moves and spells, chosen by the player. In addition, each class has a range of special skills it can bring to bear on its foe. Both the sound effects and special effects are top-notch and you get a real adrenalin rush when running for your life, pursued by a horde of creatures baying for your blood.

Now, there's a purpose to all this questing and slaying: each time you either successfully complete a quest or kill a beast, you receive experience points. Once you reach a set number of points, you 'level up', giving you better statistics (health, magic power and so on) and enabling you to venture out into more dangerous zones - it's a concept that should be immediately familiar to RPG and Dungeons & Dragons veterans.

Of course, there comes a point where you're too powerful for the Isle of Refuge, so you head over to the mainland and the game begins in earnest. And it's here that the element of human interaction kicks in. At the lower levels, it's possible to go solo against enemies, but once you go up a rung or two it's impossible to take on the tougher mobs alone. Your only choice is to team up with other players and it's about now that the class distinctions start to come into their own. A group without a healer will be dead in short order, but by the same token if it doesn't have players who can dish out the damage, it's on a hiding to nothing. With the numerous classes and subgroups of player types there's no such thing as a perfect group, although some types are more essential than others.

It's here that things start to become addictive. Not only do you have the human interaction, but your group will come across valuable items that not only make the player look better, but can improve their stats, making them more powerful - although, as in life, there's an element of fashion victim among some players. Eventually, you'll probably want to join a guild or clan. This is a group of individuals who team up and go hunting and questing deep in the Bad Lands.

EverQuest II has to be the best MMORPG to date, and there just isn't enough space to cover it fully here. With its cutting-edge graphics, immersive gameplay, completely boundless character development and human interaction, it's a game you'll be playing until the whine of the milk float outside brings you to your senses, seven days a week.

The only down side, and this is an inherent issue with every MMORPG on the market, is that you need to plough months of your life into the game before you get to a high enough level to explore the most challenging zones.

Couple that with a monthly subscription fee currently mooted, and it may not be everyone's cup of tea. EverQuest II is the Marmite of games - you'll either hate it or get through five jars a week. Beware, before you spread it on your gaming toast, that it may become a terrible addiction.