by ArenaNet

Member Reviews: Review This Game Yourself!

Pros
•  free online play
•  different role playing and PVP worlds
•  great for solo players
•  countless quests and missions
•  simple to pick up and play
•  addictive game play
•  adventure with NPCs
•  ability to combine professions

Cons
•  less interaction with other players
•  only 4 characters per player
•  lots of loading
•  limited character customization options

The Bottom Line - A new era in massive online gaming has arrived!

Link: Official Site

Review

Guild Wars is the type of MMORPG that gamers have been eagerly anticipating for years. What is so special about this game? Guild Wars has been seen as the "Holy Grail" of MMORPGs because it is the first major MMORPG to offer completely free online play instead of the usual $10 to $15 monthly fee. Without a doubt, a monthly fee is the biggest turnoff to the average gamer. Who wants to pay $15 a month when online shooters like Half-Life 2 and the Unreal Tournament series offer free online play? Enter a MMORPG that should shake up the industry. 

That said, Guild Wars will attract some gamers simply because most MMORPGers are sick of paying monthly fees. Thankfully though, Guild Wars is not a one-trick-pony since it is also a very solid game. Any fan of Diablo 1 or 2 will feel right at home here since this is basically the same development team of that vaunted action RPG franchise from Blizzard. The simple yet addictive game play is here like those two games, but this time with substantially larger worlds and superior graphics. Dark dungeons are replaced with brighter and more life-like visuals such as lakes, grass, and beautiful skies.

One of the more fun aspects of Guild Wars is to combine different professions in order to create the perfect character for your play style. Do you want to be a strong fighter but still have the ability to summon a pet and shoot a bow? Simply make a fighter and then choose ranger as your second profession. You can also do this with fighter/magic combinations as well. This flexibility allows players to mold their characters without being stuck in one pool of abilities. 

However, do not expect all the bells and whistles of other games in the genre.  Guild Wars differs from the big pay-to-play MMORPGs like World of Warcraft and EverQuest 2 by offering a constant dungeon-like (instance) experience rather than a completely interactive persistent world. In other words, you explore most of the game by yourself or with a friend. The world is generated just for you or your party every time you leave a town and venture into the wilds for adventures. 

This approach to massive online gaming definitely has a few obvious pros and cons. On the positive side, 100% instanced adventures cuts out numerous negative situations like loot stealing, spawn camping, long lines for dungeons, and just general harassment out in the world. On the downside, it makes the game feel a great deal like Battle.net with the towns acting like virtual versions of the game lobbies. The lack of interaction with other players in the actual game world also cuts out positive aspects like players coming to your aid in battle and being able to learn from a wide variety of other players in action who are not in your party.

The lack of a completely interactive world means that this game will not drive all the pay-to-play MMORPGs out of business, but look for Guild Wars to still have a huge impact on the industry. Although all MMORPGs could eventually feel the effect of this new MMORPG model, Guild Wars will more likely have the biggest impact on smaller MMORPGs that either rely on low or no monthly fees to attract gamers. Why scour the Internet for free MMORPGs when there is a great high profile one right in front of you? 

Game Ogre's Rating (out of 10): 

9.00

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