Real Game Reviews

The early winter of 2005 brought with it the launch of probably one of the most successful games in the history of gaming: World of Warcraft. Produced by Blizzard Entertainment, already made famous by such titles as Diablo, Starcraft and the Warcraft series, their latest brain-child took the world by storm.

What is it? A MMORPG. That is to say it’s a roleplaying game, with all the goodies that has to offer, with a twist: it’s online. Thousands of players world-wide can connect to hundreds of copies of the game-world and enjoy the contents along with others. Still, there are many other MMORPG’s out there. Everquest, Guildwars, Eve, the more recent Dungeons and Dragons Online, to name a few. So what makes “WoW” as it rapidly became known, so special? It’s a question that most avid players find really hard to answer. Let’s try to break it down a bit and explore what it has to offer.

The world. Based in the lore-setting created by the Warcraft series, in the future of Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, one of the things that appeals the most to its fans is the strong connection to a setting and a series they all know and love. Blizzard have done their best to maintain as many ties as possible to the original Warcraft series. Thus, a player will find his character meeting one of the key characters of the Warcraft saga, such as Thrall, Cairne Bloodhoof, Sylvanas Windrunner and even the dreadlord Varimathras or facing off against some of the villains that made and broke the world, including Balnazzar the dreadlord and even Kel’Thuzad himself. Further connections can be found even in the game interface, where the icons depicting the various character skills are often reused icons from the strategy game. Even the ones created especially for WoW are made in the same style as those from the Warcraft series. Players will even recognize sounds and speech-snippets from the original game, even reused sound effects that bring one closer to the Warcraft world. Last but not least, the graphics themselves remind of Warcraft 3, being done in the same choppy-blocky-cartoony manner as the strategy game, the devs choosing to ignore all the new hi-poly technologies that make games seem almost real, in favor of a Warcraft flavor. This was also a strategic marketing move on their part, as the game runs on pretty much any semi-decent computer system. Sure, it doesn’t look that good, but who cares? There’s this little thing called…

The gameplay. World of Warcraft excels at it. How? Well…it grabs you. From the moment you create a new character and add it to the world, you are greeted by an NPC (computer-controlled character) with an exclamation mark above his head (meaning he has a quest for you) who immediately makes you feel welcome and gives you a purpose. Sure, the thousands of quests tend to get repetitive after a while, but every so often you’ll run into a rich and lore-filled quest-line that picks it straight back up again. Your character grows, gains new skills, and then specializes in one of the facets that make up its class. You begin joining other players to complete difficult quests that cannot be done solo. You explore dungeons and caverns in 5-man parties, each with its own specific role, working together for the sake of progression and better equipment.

The community. It’s huge. Gamers all over the world gather in guilds, playing and talking together, some forming strong friendships even outside the game…a few even finding love. Undoubtedly the social aspect is one of the key selling-points of MMORPGs, and WoW does well to not disregard it. Emotes, various specialized chat channels, and a solid online forum-base aid this aspect greatly. Blizzard even catered to the more social-oriented individuals and included a few “RP” servers in its realm-lists, where staying “in-character” and playing together from a social perspective are greatly encouraged.

Another involving aspect of the game is player versus player combat. Although outdoors PvP is controlled and almost non-existent on PvE servers (players versus environment), on PvP servers it’s free for all. The PvP aspect is also encouraged through the Battleground, and more recently, Arena system, that pit teams against each other, fighting for honor, recognition and superior pvp-oriented equipment and weapons. The combat is fast-paced and addictive, turning into an almost different game, as players start using character skills they have been ignoring while fighting computer-controlled monsters.

Progression. This is done first by leveling one’s character (gaining experience levels) and then, after reaching the level cap (currently level 70, thanks to a recently released expansion) either through PvP combat (either in arenas, battlegrounds, or a combination of the two) or Raiding. Raiding is a common aspect in MMORPGS, and refers to a larger group of players (10, 20, 40) banding together and attempting to tackle some of the game’s most difficult content. The rewards are many, ranging from astounding storylines revealed, to epic equipment gained and (real) world-fame reached when one group is the first to defeat a particular difficult encounter.

All these ingredients seem to blend together perfectly, making World of Warcraft the most successful game to date. Fifteen day trials are available at most game-shops, together with the full game, so why not give it a try? Many have labeled it as “amazing” “addictive” and “illegally fun”. How will you find it?

This review was done by NUX - be sure to give him a tip or buy him a beer for his efforts