Review: Guild Wars (PC)

Graphics- 9.5/10
Sound- 10/10
Gameplay- 10/10
Replay Value- 10/10
Overall- 9.5/10

Many people would have you believe that the only good thing about Guild Wars is that it's an MMO without a monthly fee. This is far from the truth. The fact that you get a huge online world without a monthly fee is just icing on the cake. Guild Wars offers tons of adventure, pvp, and story packed into a huge, wonderful, and beautiful world. This one is a must.

Many people would tear me apart if I said this game was better than WOW, about 8.5 million people would tear me apart, actually. But I really don't care, I'm here to give facts, not opinions. The first thing to note about Guild Wars is that it's online RPG without a monthly fee. But this is far from the only good thing about Guild Wars, in fact, this is just icing on the cake. The moment you get to the log on screen, an amazing score takes you away into a world of wondrous fantasy and adventure. Along with the beautiful music, the sound effects of this game are very clear and sharp. The sound really makes the game much more immersing. Along with the superb sound are some fine graphics. I will tell you now that the graphics are certainly NOT the best out there. Even so, the graphics are better than many other MMOs. But the reason the visuals are so wonderful is due to the game's stunning design. The environment, which is one of the most important parts of a RPGs, keeps you in the game's world with lands of rolling hills, snowy mountain peaks, amazing cities, dense forests, and the list just keeps going. The artists really took their time to design a world of true fantasy. Your surroundings are always filled with color and lots of detail. You can easily be taken by the environments.

But now it's time to focus on the most important part of a game- how it actually plays. Guild Wars easily delivers in terms of visuals and sound, but does its gameplay actually hold up to today's RPGs? Short answer- yes, it does, easily. Many would scorn this game as it has a level cap of level 20. But that's not the game's main RPG point. As with many RPGs, you have skills to use according to your character class. In fact, you have well over 100 of the most detailed skills in any RPG. These is where the game really shines. You can learn as many skills as you want, but you can only equip 8 skills for use. Also, every skill has very detailed effects. For example- you get +10 attack with a melee weapon, but if target blocks, you deal 10 damage only, but target is knocked down. In fact, this is actually one of the simpler skills available. These features make the gameplay heavy on quick strategy and smart skill combinations. As you level up, the effects of your skills get better and more skills become available, but you have to make smart choices when choosing which skills to use and how to do so. As I said, the skills available depend on your class, which can be- Warrior, Ranger, Mesmer, Elementalist, Necromancer, and Monk. From these professions, you can choose a primary and a secondary class. Along with all the skills you use throughout the game, you also come across various weaponry and armor that can be customized for various effects.

A very interesting part of Guild Wars is that it eliminates most of the grind that plagues so many MMORPGs by making gameplay very quest heavy. The easiest way to get armor, weapons, skills and experience is by completing the hundreds of quests available. Another interesting feature is the choice of making a RPG character or a PVP character. By choosing a PVP character, you get a level 20 character right away and can fight in arena style PVP matches. The problem is, you can't adventure into the actual world of Guild Wars and you can only use a small selection of armor and weapons. Although, if you choose the RPG character, you start from level one, and grow to level 20 with all the explorable areas open to you and access to all the weapons and armor available. Once an RPG character reaches level 20, they too can fight in arena PVP just like PVP characters. As well, lower level RPG characters have access to some PVP arenas, but the choices aren't as big as those in the level 20/ PVP only arenas.

Guild Wars is a game with a lot to offer- online play, PVP, a huge world filled with stunning creatures and environments, and tons of quests. Along with this, you get an amazing musical score with some of the best fantasy designs in a game. As well, you can travel endlessly through the world, so that, along with the PVP, keeps you playing for months on end. Guild Wars is easily one of the best games out there.

Pros: Lots of quests in a huge and stunning world. Wonderful designs. Great gameplay with lots of action and strategy. Great soundtrack.
Cons: Not the best graphics out there.

Review: Vedran