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Release Dates Out Now (North America) Out Now (Europe) |
Review
Elliot Ness, for those of you who don't know, is a literal American legend. In the 1920s, he and his loyal army of G-Men waged a war against organized crime (and, of course, bootleggers... it was during Prohibition, after all) which rocked Chicago and captured the attention of the United States. In his memoirs, he claimed that notorious mob boss Al Capone and he were sworn enemies, champions of good and evil, if you are inclined to believe in such notions. So straight-laced were Ness and his government-sponsored crime fighters that they were known as The Untouchables and were widely hailed as being completely incorruptible.
The cardinal rule of good journalism is to always remain objective; to never allow your opinion or personal beliefs to taint your writing. We don't need to tell you that it's also the rule most often broken. To an extent, this is to be expected; there are some things which are impossible for a person to write about in a completely objective manner. Let's face it, no one is capable of keeping their opinions to themself all the time. Critics, on the other hand, are required to be loud and opinionated. It is not our job to quietly report on recent events, but to loudly praise or lambaste whatever it is we have been given to review. We are public judges, tasked with advising you on what to spend your money on and what to avoid like the plague. However, while we are allowed to vehemently extol our thoughts, we also believe ourselves to be The Untouchables of journalism. This may sound hubristic in the extreme, but think about it for a moment: we're supposed to be unflaggingly honest and fair in our reviews. Thus, we are supposed to be incorruptible, above bribery, and incapable of being dazzled by shiny distractions.
This, of course, isn't always true, either: last year there was a major scandal in the gaming industry when it was revealed that a number of early reviews for Driv3r were so positive because Atari and their PR firm had supposedly bribed a few major websites and big-name magazines into giving the game a positive spin. This was a big deal because the game, for lack of a better term, sucked, even though its development had been delayed for a year and it had some A-list celebrities doing voice work.
We were amongst the crowd who openly sneered at these moral weaklings, who said that we would never stoop so low as to let our opinion be swayed by what a company gave us. And then, this past week, we found a package containing the Collector's Edition of Guild Wars waiting for us at the post office. Suddenly, we found ourselves endeared to ArenaNet's long-developed game as we rooted through that damnably shiny box and all the treasures it contained. Currently, our most treasured possession of the lot is a beautifully-bound book featuring the concept art used for the game. Granted, the microphone headset, 3 free months of TeamSpeak software, exclusive powers and weaponry, and getting to play the game a day before the servers officially went online were all pretty cool, too. However, Dear Readers, we are proud to say that we have actually played Guild Wars a great deal and have come away genuinely impressed by what manifested on our computer screens.
Guild Wars is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPGs) that, unlike every other MMORPG, doesn't have any subscription fees. Instead, ArenaNet is relying on initial game sales and the sales of expansion packs to finance all the server costs. The game takes place in the realm of Ascalon, a city-state that is devastated after players go through a series of training missions. This marks the first major difference between Guild Wars and every other MMORPG out there: it has a seriously impressive storyline that can be experienced in a single-player campaign. The story itself is beautiful, telling the tale of a kingdom destroyed by a monstrous enemy (the Charr) and how it struggles to rebuild itself through the efforts of its heroes as time goes on.
Players are limited to a low level-cap and instead learn a bunch of different skills/spells which they must use wisely on missions. This basically destroys the standard MMORPG system of leveling up to obscenely high ranks and thus becoming unstoppable. Of these abilities, only 8 of the players' choice are available on any given mission or during a multiplayer match, so the whole point of the gameplay is to learn how to use one's abilities wisely instead of relying on ranking up to an obscene level so you can pound on the little guy.
Of the six professions available (fighter, monk, mesmer, elementalist, necromancer, ranger), characters can learn skills from any two. This allows for a lot of freedom in how you play the game. Each of these professions has 150 unique abilities available for players to learn. These abilities are all pretty cool, none of them feel worthless or weaker than others, they're all just very different from one another. While some are only useful in certain situations, they can be immensely helpful during the game if used properly and with a shrewd amount of timing. A particular favorite of ours was the ability of the elementalists': making fire rain down out of the sky on our enemies.
Since it is an MMORPG, there is a Player versus Player mode as well. If you choose to play in the PvP mode, you bypass numerous hours of plot-driven quests and create a max-level character who has a bunch of devastating weaponry and powers. You then immediately enter into a series of competitions against other players, but you can't use these characters in the main story-mode or team up with others for cooperative play.
Guild Wars is absolutely gorgeous, by the way. Even on an older laptop, the game looks great and plays pretty smoothly. Character models are ridiculously well designed and customizable, and outfits can be dyed and changed about in order to make your character completely unique. There are all sorts of unique little touches on these models, too; Necromancers have different types of scarring on each of the possible faces, monks have different tattoos, mesmers get to wear masks, etc. The environments are simply breathtaking in their detail, as well. Even after it's devastated, Ascalon is a realm of beauty. It's faded glory is embedded within each crumbled stone monument and it is an air of sorrow permeates the countryside as you travel throughout it. Enemies are also imaginative in their design and execution, never appearing to be so identical that it feels like you're fighting against the same creatures over and over again.
The game's sound is fantastic as well. While there really isn't a great deal of spoken dialogue, the soundtrack was composed by the award-winning Jeremy Soule, and it sounds simply fantastic. The sound effects are also really professional as well, each sounding unique and believable.
NCsoft has a reputation for publishing innovative and well-developed MMORPGs. This time last year, they gifted the gaming community with City of Heroes, a MMORPG about superheroes in a city recovering from an alien invasion. The game sold phenomenally when it became obvious just how well done it was. Hopefully the same thing will happen in the case of Guild Wars, NCsoft's newest gem. What is undeniable, however, is that Guild Wars is a revolutionary title that has completely redefined the possibilities contained within this oversaturated and rather tired genre.
Review by Mike Thompson - 8th May 2005
Scoreboard
| Gameplay: | 10 | ||
| Visuals: | 10 | ||
| Audio: | 9 | ||
| Presentation: | 10 | ||
| Lasting Appeal: | 10 | ||
| Overall Score: | 10 |
Awards
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