Arcadia [9.2/10]

http://www.realtruepern.acornrack.com/

Howdy, howdy, howdy! How are ya? It's time for another review on this fine.... Saturday? Yes! Real life is always a bother at times so this review is coming on a wondrous Saturday! Hopefully these random extension days won't happen very often but enough about myself, you're here to read about Arcadia, a Pern RP!

Now I first let me say I know very very little about Pern, and have never RP'ed on a Pern website. So if I harp on something that makes total sense in the Pern world then feel free to laugh at my lack of knowledge and move on! (Pern is dragons, right?)

The AD for the site is nice and neat and this site is already after my own heart. "You don't need to know Pern" , well I'll fit right in! And this is a good example of even if you don't have a pretty image, your AD can be just as good or even much better than one with a flashy image.

Lets hop on our dragons, fry up that evil aristocrat and... YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED!!! It's time for the review! (Yes... my dragon reference was from DBZ. I told you I don't know Pern!)

First Impression:
Is this a scene from Gladiator? This looks like the Fields of Elysium. Anyway, the layout looks nice enough I personally would have preferred it if it was a bit smaller but it looks like the owner was trying to use up all the space which is fine.

The Public Area:
There's lots of information but I must say, I FINALLY KNOW WHAT THREADS ARE! I've looked at some other Pern sites before but for some reason the explanation of what the heck "Thread" is absent. Also everything is nice and neatly organized and its nice to see all this detail.

In the ranks portion of the information, I would like to have seen the actual rank names in bold, in the previous pages (to this point) there has been bolding so it seems odd to not have any on this page.

In the Dragon Descriptions I really like how you posted the colors, some of them are a bit hard to make out because of the background BUT I still love the idea.

The Application:
You get the rules and application guide before you can apply which is a good idea, and I have no problems with any of it. So to the actual application!

As like the site is, the application is neat and organized, having OOC, Character and Dragon sections.



The Private Area:
Layout Change! Everything again, looks nice and neat and everything appears to be on the the initial page load. There isn't any extra pages in the private area that I can see, but all the info you need is in the public area which is great (aside from like the Firelizards and Calendar page).

Forums:
The forums (as expected!) are nice, and organized well. I would have liked to see some sort of jumping between areas or using a script to divide and show only certain areas. Also the descriptions of the area are both in the forum list and the topic list which is something I've never seen before.

Other:
The Member list is nice and yet very simple, and of course is neat so it works well with the theme of the whole site.

Member profiles are very nice, giving you information in sections and using code to only display the certain portions you want. This also goes for the dragons, so it's like a section in a section with a section in a section....? It's good, that's all that matters!

Roleplaying:
From what I read on the forums I categorize the roleplaying on this site to be Intermediate to High Intermediate.

Rating: 9.2 out of 10 Points.

For those wondering on how this affects the rankings I'm bumping everyone else up a point. Consider it a "Mini Score Review" but this site deserves a spot in the top! There isn't really much bad I can say about the site except for the forums not living up to the rest of the greatness. So there you have it, another site reaches the 9's. This Pern site has a bright future so join it TODAY! ... I'll post the bunny picture again if you do!

This Site has the Jello Seal of Approval!

Reviewed by: The Jello Emperor

Serenity [6.7/10]

http://www.acornrack.com/seren/

It's Tuesday so that means it's time for another Jello Review! Sorry I don't have an in-depth movie reference or random TV reference for today's site, but that's because today's site is... Serenity! And no, I'm not talking about the blind girl from the Yu-Gi-OH series (Hah! Got one in there!). Today site is another foray into the world of horses, herds, and territories.

First off I'd like to apologize if I start coming off a bit harsh, I've been battling illness so my annoyance levels are already high with coughing every 3 seconds. But anyway, the AD starts of honest in admitting that an equine RP isn't the most original! As always I skipped down to the bullet points first before reading the text, and so far it seems like every newer horse RP out there. Point system, herds, etc. I think the ability to be a domesticated or wild horse is new... but truthfully I lack the expertise to fully know.

Now put on those boots cowboy, saddle up and lets ride off into the sunset! .... After you read the review of course, of course, which this special horse will endorse, of course, the famous Mr. Ed!

First Impression:
Tornado!! Antonio Banderas was looking for you! The only problems I see are rather small. I see no link back to the index page and the other one small thing I have is that I shouldn't have tried to read the blurry text on the main image, made my eyes hurt a bit.


The Public Area:
The About page I always love these pages, and not because I'm a closed in outcast of the social world and love to keep track of people I can talk to of the opposite gender.

(What? I go outside... when the sun goes down, SOMETIMES...)

But I feel that these pages help connect with members a bit because knowing a little information about the admins makes them seem a bit more down to earth which is both good and bad.

Rules page is fine except for one part, where you talk about posting images and stuff. Those who lack any HTML knowledge will not know to take out the asterisks so you should probably tell them to. (I realize some people can deduce to take out the asterisks but if you've read my reviews before you know my faith in humanity is lacking.)

The Application:
It's nice and simple, so pretty much what you would expect from an application.



The Private Area:
Artax did you run away from Atreyu AGAIN?! And layout change! It seems like the links are kinda squished together here though, most notably in the recent posts section. I suppose there really isn't much you can do about that though. I suppose it's funny to note that I had to look through the links twice because I forgot "boards" is another way to say "forums."

I see a few pages in the private area but I cannot access them so I can't go over their point system or anything. Going over the point system is probably what I was most looking forward to actually, but no matter we'll just move onto the next section!

Forums:
There is a good amount of forums with good descriptions, but it's just one giant text wall of pain. There is no separation between areas and like I said it's all one continuous text-fest. Again it seems everything is squished in a little area so perhaps an expansion of the layout is needed to benefit the site as a whole.

Other:
The member list is just your basic list, not really anything done here to spruce it up. So probably something to look into.

The member profiles are at least organized very well because as I picked some random profiles there weren't filled out at all.

Roleplaying:
From what I read on the forum I categorize the roleplaying on this site to be Intermediate to Advanced.

Rating: 6.7 out of 10 Points

First of all make note that I'm giving them a bit of slack, compensating a bit for my irritability while being ill. Most likely if I was able to see the point system it would be a solid or close to 7 rating. Overall the site seems to be in the cookie cutter mold of horse RPs. I'm not really saying this is bad, but I didn't really see anything new or exciting on the site.

Reviewed by: The Jello Emperor

Water Frontier [7.3/10]

http://waterfrontier.acornrack.com/

Space: The Final Frontier, these are the voyages of the Starship Jello-prise. Its everlasting mission, to bring order to the Acornrack world. To seek out new innovative RP ideas. To boldly rate all sites where no man has gone before.

*cue Star Trek:TNG theme*

Okay, okay that was a long intro but it DOES tie into today's review of a RP site called Water Frontier! This is a space cowboy or space pirate RP that will probably cater to the fans of the anime Outlaw Star or Cowboy Bebop and if you're not sure what those are perhaps you should read a review of it... from a certain group on AR tentatively called The Acornrack Anime Rangers (That means the name might be changed!), that a certain someone is contributing on.

Anyway, the AD for the site is nice enough. The picture is neat and the story block is.. well a story block. This site really does remind me of Outlaw star kind of... but maybe that's because I just watched it a few days ago.

See you Space Cowboy... as we hyperjump into the review!

.........KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHNN!!!!
(I know you were waiting for that one!)

First Impression:
I'm starting to get thirsty... But I think this is one of the few sites that has a more light color scheme, and to me it kinda looks like a website for a water plant. If you don't read any of the text anyway, like "Water Fronter: Your leading water purifier and provider in the Arizona area!" (No I don't live in Arizona) For me the layout seems a bit too stiff but for some it may work.

The Public Area:
For me the little blurb on the Index page is what I would have put on the AD, and used what's on the AD for the main story section for the site. Maybe it's just me but ADs that are short and sweet always seem to be much better in the long run because it's an advertisement and not a thesis.

Ranks page, there isn't really a problem here just that I was surprised that since this is a sort of a "Wild Wild Space" RP I was surprised to not find a rogue or freelancer rank. Someone who takes on jobs that are too political for mainstream companies that would damage sponsors and whatnot.

Rules page, one of my favorite pages because I get to whine a bunch! So here we go! Rule number one! You say use realism and then pull out the eye color thing, and talk about technology in the same paragraph. So have multicolored contacts is a no-no? Or a formerly blind man from an accident who has robotic eyes that happen to reflect and act as a mini-prism! I'd argue that mankind would invent cosmetic luxuries before decent space ships any day.

And I'd probably rather play an alien of some kind instead of a human in a space RP, because it's spaaaace! So perhaps you should look into that as a suggestion.

Otherwise everything else looks fine.

The Application:
Neat and organized and generally your standard gambit. However, the RP sample actually has a small backstory so you're not just thrown into a whirling poop-storm of confusion and misery! So nice touch there.



The Private Area:
Layout stays the same more or less just the addition of the cbox on the left hand side if you look at the picture. Anyway there isn't any private pages to look at that I see so we shall move onto the next section!

Forums:
Good amount of forums and descriptions and I like the divisions and pictures and things. Overall all is good, no problems here!

Other:
Member list is a little different in that you just see the avatar picture with their name underneath and their rank and faction while being sorted into pirates, tankers, or civillians.

Member profiles are generally filled out well and organized nicely also. but more or less the same as you'd see in any decent site.

Roleplaying:
From what I read on the forums I categorize the roleplaying on thie site to be Intermediate to Advanced.

Rating: 7.5 out of 10 Points.

Overall a good site and even though it's taking on a genre that I don't see much of, it's what exactly I'd expect it to be. Which means I'm saying there isn't anything I found to be outstanding or anything that made think, "I didn't think about doing it like that." or anything of the sort. Probably a huge hit with any Cowboy Bebop or Outlaw Star fans though.

Reviewed by: The Jello Emperor

Riylon [7.9/10]

http://www.acornrack.com/riylon

Holy month-of-absence Batman! Yes, after a month of whining about college and school and stuff I AM BACK IN FULL FORCE! ....Okay not FULL force but I've decided that one month is WAAAY too long for me to stop posting so here we are, with a review of Riylon! Riylon is a fantasy, (mostly) freeform RP that promises loads of fun with 20 different races! Yeah I'm a bit rusty, can ya tell?

Anyway, the AD for the site is alright... truth be told I actually directly went to the points that were written out before I actually read the backstory. But when I did read the backstory it was more or less fine and dandy.

Let me put on my sexy leggings and lets grab a few customers, shall we? No? Well lets just get into the review then!

First Impression:
For some reason I feel like playing Dune... While I assume this is stylistic choice, the page is brown and... yeah. I don't have any real problems with the layout on functionality just that so far all I see is brown. Also, the little text there, I assume there trying to portray something deep and profound but isn't that the DEFINITION of darkness? But I digress, lets move on.

The Public Area:
The Races page is particularly impressive, I do have to admit that I didn't read through ALL of them. However, I am confident that if they spent this much time on them they should all be very well detailed.

The Magic page is also very nicely written as well, and now I feel like playing Magic: The Gathering (You hear that Wizards of the Coast, I play the game and you can sponsor me! ... HEY! Don't you be Jellocycling me!) Anyway, the magic page is nice.

Everything else in the public area seems to be peachy keen and I have no problems or anything outstanding to report on. So we move on to the next section!

The Application:
More or less your standard gambit, so no odd snafoo's or flashy shinies to report on. (I think I've reached my limit on odd random words on this article!)



The Private Area:
The Layout is just altered slightly for the c-box on the left hand side but it more or less looks the same! I don't see any new private pages to read and look over but there is a nice little affiliate thing in the lower left hand corner. So overall it's fine.

Forums:
Decent amount of forums with good descriptions for each forum here, I don't really mind the lack of hotlinks here because there isn't too many forums. If there are more to be added though I would suggest adding them in later to help with the navigation.

Other:
The member list is a nice and neat table with the normal things you'd find.

The profiles are nice and simple as well, but nice and neat. Overall they look nice without trying too hard to look flashy.

Roleplaying:
From what I read on the forums I categorize the roleplaying on this site to be intermediate to advanced. Though since this is my review I'm throwing in a few more cents, in that the way some of the posts are formatted makes it difficult to read.

Rating: 7.9 out of 10 Points.

Overall this is a good fantasy based RP I suppose it also have some post-apocalyptic tones and other genres as well if you pick the certain roles in the site. There are some good and detailed things here like the magic and the species that I really liked as well. Anyway like I said, overall good.

Reviewed by: The Jello Emperor