The Avatar
05-05-2006, 10:24 PM
Developed by: ArenaNet (http://www.arena.net)
Reference Site: Guild Wars page (http://www.guildwars.com)
Genre: Role Playing Game
Hard Drive Space: 1.3 GiGs +
Players: 1 to 4,8,16 to HEAPS in cities
Release Date: Apl 26, 2005
I admit, this review has been a long time coming. It's not that I'm lazy or anything, it's just that even after all this time, I still can't make up my mind as to whether I like this game or not. But, one thing I know for sure, this game definitely beats the crap out of World of Warcraft.
Okay, now that all the screaming has died down, could all the die-hard WoW players please take their seats. Thankyou. Understand, I say this not to antagonise you, but rather to try to save your money. Unlike WoW, Guild Wars is free to play online. You buy the game and that's it. I've had this game for ages now, and I've paid exactly.....$80 all up for my original disks. How many of you die hard WoW players can say that?
Ahhh, I see we have a tiny little man standing up with a comment. Yes, well, hmm. I agree, Guild Wars doesn't have the "free roam" ability that WoW does. GW is a little more structured and strict about that. And considering the amount of players, it has to be, to allow people to use the servers. Let me ask you, what is the longest "server" time you have had to wait to get into WoW? A few hours you say??! Well, in GW, I have never had to wait more then thirty seconds while the screen loaded. That's it! Once, I got into Lion's Arch during peak activity. There were over two thousand players milling about, and you know how much slow down I got? Zero. You know how long it took to load in the area? No longer than usual.
Yes, I can see by everyone's disgruntled looks that Guild Wars is beginning to sound like a better and cheaper alternative, huh?
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/guild_wars4_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=18139&c=209) Someone is about to get their ass handed to them.
And, I'll give you a hint:
It sure as shit ain't gonna be the drake.
GRAPHICS Score:97%
So then let me start with the graphics. Guild wars is beautiful. So beautiful that I cannot even run it at full detail on my mighty (yet old) computer. As you can well imagine, this is a sore point for me. But, when I load up a medium sized arena and adventure alone, I can turn the detail up all the way and amuse myself with the sounds of my computer having a seizure.
The environment in GW has been designed very well. The best example of this is the training area you start off in. It is called the pre-searing area and is one of the main cities in the game. Once you graduate from the training area, you are greeted with a cool cut-scene and the environment you had known changes drastically. Gone are the sweeping green fields, the nice wildlife and the lovely rivers and streams. A devastated area which perfectly fits in with the design of the previous era has replaced it. Now massive crystal cannon shells jut out from where they landed, and the world is filled with rampaging monsters.
Besides the design of the environment, the character designs are fantastic also. Each piece of armour you wear can be easily seen on your body and even tattoos can be put on your skin. There is also a range of commands that you can type in that will cause your character to dance, beg and carry on like the village idiot. It's very realistic.
The monsters are also well designed. And though you're never going to encounter a situation where you can hit them with an almighty uber weapon and watch them ass-plode like in Diablo, you can still get some satisfaction out of watching them die horribly from long distance due to their flawless animations.
SOUND/MUSIC Score:87%
The musical score is very blah, but it does the job that's required of it. I turned it off background music, because for me, it's either a love it or hate it affair.
Sound effects are cool, as would be expected of a game of this calibre. The sound that the crystal cannon shells make is especially cool as it sounds very "crystally". Yes, I know, that doesn't make sense. How can a crystal sound like a crystal? Blah blah blah....shut up.
(RE)PLAYABILITY Score:70%
Oooh, this is where we begin to hit a little turbulence. Because my system is so lacklustre, playing this game is a bit of a chore for me. So, once the quests are completed, all you have to fall back on is multiplayer gaming and finding new items.
Finding new items was a real pain due to the rareness of it. No Diablo cheats here sorry, as your character data is stored on their server, so you can't just hack into your player and add the best of everything. However, due to the huge amount of players in the towns, finding rare and useful items is easy. It's trying to pay for it that's hard. It costs so much to buy a Superior Sigil of Vitality that it's not funny. You really need to spend hours saving as much money as you can find for stuff.
The worst part of this game is the level cap. GW tries to go a different way in RPG gaming, so they have a level cap to stop players getting better after level 20. Not very high? I agree. The point of this game is skill ability and not time wasted creating ultra powerful characters. This is one of the reasons I don't like the game that much because to develop skill, real skill in this game, you not only need time, but also a kick ass internet connection, a chunky PC, looking at a P4 with over 3Gig of processor, and a bunch of people you can play with online. These people not only have the same system specs(high end), but must also be decent players. And, unless you're really, REALLY dedicated, then you're not going to make much of a mark in Guild Wars. I'll cover more of this in multiplayer, so hold onto that thought for now.
Another horrible aspect of this game is the A.I. bots. I shudder each time I even think of them. This is a multiplayer game, and it encourages people to go out and adventure with each other. You can still go off on your own, but prepare to be owned by any monster group (thankyou Mr. Level Cap). So, if you're still as anti-social as I am, the game offers you A.I. bots that you can drag around with you to help you get through monsters. Aww, prepare for a headache people. These bots are annoying because they just love, and I mean LOVE to get killed. They are weak as piss and run into the centre of a group of monsters without a beat. You can't even tell them to wait in a certain spot while you run off to draw a couple monsters away from the main group. Nope, they all follow. But when you run away from battle, they all stay to get killed. Idiots.
The problem with this game, is that you never reach that magical comfort zone. You will never become so powerful that you can just sit back and watch the n00bs explode in envy when they look at you. It seems that one of the best parts of an RPG has been taken out with their level cap and the game trying to make it more about skill rather then time spent on developing your character. This is bad, as I'm a sneaky bastard of a player who loves to kill monsters and people way below my level. This game takes that fun away from me and I'm not very happy about it. All I get to do now is call everyone who beats me a dirty cheater and threaten to report them to the admins. And yet, they still kill me. I mean WTF???!
I even tried changing classes to see how the other side lives (I mostly use the necromancer class). There are six professions you can choose from and you also have to choose a secondary profession. Each one plays differently, but the bottom line is this, if you don't know what you're doing, you're going to get nailed. A lot.
On the plus side, the world map is freaking sweet. You can go anywhere anytime. Instant travel, as long as you have been there before. None of this walking for an hour crap you get on WoW, just point, click and viola you have arrived. And the map is huge, you can zoom in and out of areas to pick specific site locations that are all marked and labelled for you. Does WoW offer this function? I think not.
MULTIPLAYER Score:76%
Okay, strap yourself in as I'm going to on this topic for a while. Yeah, yeah, I know you have a very short attention span, I get it, all right, but there is a lot to cover here.
Firstly, the good stuff, this game has a great and unique option during character creation. You can either pick a Role-Playing-Character, or a Player-Vs-Player Character. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. The RPG character allows you free roam of the world and greater customisation of your character, however the PvP character is fully levelled out and allows you to jump right into battles against other players. Because of this, the PvP character does not have free roam around the world. You can only fight in arenas and the computer usually selects one for you. Kudo's for the great idea here guys.
Next, this game has a vast amount of arenas to fight in (assuming you've found them all in the campaign mode). But, the best bit is that the more packed an arena is, the less time you have to sit around waiting for challengers. Each area is beautifully designed and all matches are very difficult.
You can also play in some pretty cool guild battles. No more then 8 players per side, but they include some kick ass castle defence and assault games and team killing arenas. Very nifty stuff here.
However (and now we start with the bad stuff), there really isn't much to do inside your guild castle once you have access to one. ArenaNet should have devised some cool stuff to do inside your guild, like trading shops, or message boards. There are so many things that you could do inside your guild that were not developed and it seems strange to me as the game name is "Guild Wars"! Hell, they even go into a back story as to why you can only purchase land in a remote part of the world because of guild warfare, yet the guild warfare system is so boring and stale.
And the thing that really got me out of playing multiplayer battles was the freaking super nerds out there. There is no class ranking system where you can go up against people of your own skill level, it's all random. We fought players who worked so well together that it bordered on cheating. There was also people in the game that knew skill sets so well, that you could hack away at them non stop for 5 minutes and not do any damage to them, while we would get our asses handed to us on a plate. This sort of thing is great for the dicks who know all the skill tricks, but not so great for the ones getting annihilated. Very unbalanced gameplay there. Oh and don't even get me started on the Asian servers with the bloody bastards that commit Seppuku (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=seppuku) if they show dishonour by even losing a match. These guys not only play hard, but are also freaking scary to watch. They LIVE Guild Wars.
This game needs a ranking system that I can exploit to kill people easily and for fun. I want to act like a bully online, it's fun, and ArenaNet have denied me my rightful dues. Which makes them the freaking bullies in my books. Bastards.
And finally, let us not forget the other players in this game. Developing a good team is the key to this game, but if you're like me, a casual player then you're not going to get much out of this game (multiplayer wise). I would love to develop an awesome Necromancer Guild; I even developed a great strategy for winning each match. However, it requires so much dedication and patience that in the end, I just gave up. So many players have dropped out of adventuring games because other party members were too stupid to listen to directions. They acted worse then the A.I. bots because they seemed to derive pleasure at pissing the other team members off. Don't go near this title unless you have the patience to put up with other people's stupidity.
CONTROLS Score:100%
This is probably the coolest control system I have ever seen implemented into a 3D game. You can re-arrange the camera to your distance and liking at any point and the interface is as simple as click and kill. Nothing more complicated is needed and once you have the hotkeys memorised, you can pretty much do whatever you want. There is a very small and easy learning curve here.
An interesting ability the designers have incorporated is that it allows you to click and drag menu items directly onto your screen. So, if you don't want to hit the "i" button each time you want to see your inventory, you can simply drag the icon from your menu bar and put it where ever you want on the screen. Nice.
ATMOSPHERE Score:100%
The atmosphere in this game is perfect. Especially if you play through the training ground missions as they endear you to the beautiful lands of Ascalon before it's destroyed. The cut scenes in this game are really cool and the CGI is freaking super. I actually got a woody watching the chicks kick ass in the movies. I know, I'm a very sad, sad individual. Once again, shut up!
The only thing that destroys the mood of this game is the rigid structure of the maps. You can jump or walk up certain inclines because you have to go around. It's stupid, as you can climb certain areas almost vertically, while a small anthill will stop you dead in others. Pretty much the only thing that breaks the mood of this game. That, and the idiots who can't follow instructions. Seriously, how freaking hard is it to "wait here while I lure some monsters?" I ask you, how freaking hard can that be??!
PROBLEMS
People. I think I covered this topic well in the Multiplayer and Playability sections, but just in case you didn't get the message I tried to point out, it's people. The problem with this game is other people. This game forces you to interact with other people and I don't like that because I am, quite honestly, better than anyone else on the internet. Hisssssssssssss.
ScreenShots
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/guild_wars1_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=18136&c=209) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/guild_wars2_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=18137&c=209) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/guild_wars3_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=18138&c=209)
Who's your daddy? Not me man! I used a condom, get the hell out of my face man!!
OVERALL Score:92%
As I've said before, don't go near this title unless you have the patience to put up with other people's remorseless stupidity. I don't, so that's why I don't play it as often as I would like. However, it is a great game with so much going for it. Besides the lack of Guild related content, there is heaps to be done and an awesome storyline to play through.
But, overall, I give this game a 92% rating due to its innovation, its light on the pocket and its a good story that draws you in.
Phew! Thats was almost three thousand words there people. If you're anywhere near as tired of reading this tripe as I am of writing it, then please feel free to let me know. As always, I value any input as long as it's constructive.
Reference Site: Guild Wars page (http://www.guildwars.com)
Genre: Role Playing Game
Hard Drive Space: 1.3 GiGs +
Players: 1 to 4,8,16 to HEAPS in cities
Release Date: Apl 26, 2005
I admit, this review has been a long time coming. It's not that I'm lazy or anything, it's just that even after all this time, I still can't make up my mind as to whether I like this game or not. But, one thing I know for sure, this game definitely beats the crap out of World of Warcraft.
Okay, now that all the screaming has died down, could all the die-hard WoW players please take their seats. Thankyou. Understand, I say this not to antagonise you, but rather to try to save your money. Unlike WoW, Guild Wars is free to play online. You buy the game and that's it. I've had this game for ages now, and I've paid exactly.....$80 all up for my original disks. How many of you die hard WoW players can say that?
Ahhh, I see we have a tiny little man standing up with a comment. Yes, well, hmm. I agree, Guild Wars doesn't have the "free roam" ability that WoW does. GW is a little more structured and strict about that. And considering the amount of players, it has to be, to allow people to use the servers. Let me ask you, what is the longest "server" time you have had to wait to get into WoW? A few hours you say??! Well, in GW, I have never had to wait more then thirty seconds while the screen loaded. That's it! Once, I got into Lion's Arch during peak activity. There were over two thousand players milling about, and you know how much slow down I got? Zero. You know how long it took to load in the area? No longer than usual.
Yes, I can see by everyone's disgruntled looks that Guild Wars is beginning to sound like a better and cheaper alternative, huh?
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/guild_wars4_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=18139&c=209) Someone is about to get their ass handed to them.
And, I'll give you a hint:
It sure as shit ain't gonna be the drake.
GRAPHICS Score:97%
So then let me start with the graphics. Guild wars is beautiful. So beautiful that I cannot even run it at full detail on my mighty (yet old) computer. As you can well imagine, this is a sore point for me. But, when I load up a medium sized arena and adventure alone, I can turn the detail up all the way and amuse myself with the sounds of my computer having a seizure.
The environment in GW has been designed very well. The best example of this is the training area you start off in. It is called the pre-searing area and is one of the main cities in the game. Once you graduate from the training area, you are greeted with a cool cut-scene and the environment you had known changes drastically. Gone are the sweeping green fields, the nice wildlife and the lovely rivers and streams. A devastated area which perfectly fits in with the design of the previous era has replaced it. Now massive crystal cannon shells jut out from where they landed, and the world is filled with rampaging monsters.
Besides the design of the environment, the character designs are fantastic also. Each piece of armour you wear can be easily seen on your body and even tattoos can be put on your skin. There is also a range of commands that you can type in that will cause your character to dance, beg and carry on like the village idiot. It's very realistic.
The monsters are also well designed. And though you're never going to encounter a situation where you can hit them with an almighty uber weapon and watch them ass-plode like in Diablo, you can still get some satisfaction out of watching them die horribly from long distance due to their flawless animations.
SOUND/MUSIC Score:87%
The musical score is very blah, but it does the job that's required of it. I turned it off background music, because for me, it's either a love it or hate it affair.
Sound effects are cool, as would be expected of a game of this calibre. The sound that the crystal cannon shells make is especially cool as it sounds very "crystally". Yes, I know, that doesn't make sense. How can a crystal sound like a crystal? Blah blah blah....shut up.
(RE)PLAYABILITY Score:70%
Oooh, this is where we begin to hit a little turbulence. Because my system is so lacklustre, playing this game is a bit of a chore for me. So, once the quests are completed, all you have to fall back on is multiplayer gaming and finding new items.
Finding new items was a real pain due to the rareness of it. No Diablo cheats here sorry, as your character data is stored on their server, so you can't just hack into your player and add the best of everything. However, due to the huge amount of players in the towns, finding rare and useful items is easy. It's trying to pay for it that's hard. It costs so much to buy a Superior Sigil of Vitality that it's not funny. You really need to spend hours saving as much money as you can find for stuff.
The worst part of this game is the level cap. GW tries to go a different way in RPG gaming, so they have a level cap to stop players getting better after level 20. Not very high? I agree. The point of this game is skill ability and not time wasted creating ultra powerful characters. This is one of the reasons I don't like the game that much because to develop skill, real skill in this game, you not only need time, but also a kick ass internet connection, a chunky PC, looking at a P4 with over 3Gig of processor, and a bunch of people you can play with online. These people not only have the same system specs(high end), but must also be decent players. And, unless you're really, REALLY dedicated, then you're not going to make much of a mark in Guild Wars. I'll cover more of this in multiplayer, so hold onto that thought for now.
Another horrible aspect of this game is the A.I. bots. I shudder each time I even think of them. This is a multiplayer game, and it encourages people to go out and adventure with each other. You can still go off on your own, but prepare to be owned by any monster group (thankyou Mr. Level Cap). So, if you're still as anti-social as I am, the game offers you A.I. bots that you can drag around with you to help you get through monsters. Aww, prepare for a headache people. These bots are annoying because they just love, and I mean LOVE to get killed. They are weak as piss and run into the centre of a group of monsters without a beat. You can't even tell them to wait in a certain spot while you run off to draw a couple monsters away from the main group. Nope, they all follow. But when you run away from battle, they all stay to get killed. Idiots.
The problem with this game, is that you never reach that magical comfort zone. You will never become so powerful that you can just sit back and watch the n00bs explode in envy when they look at you. It seems that one of the best parts of an RPG has been taken out with their level cap and the game trying to make it more about skill rather then time spent on developing your character. This is bad, as I'm a sneaky bastard of a player who loves to kill monsters and people way below my level. This game takes that fun away from me and I'm not very happy about it. All I get to do now is call everyone who beats me a dirty cheater and threaten to report them to the admins. And yet, they still kill me. I mean WTF???!
I even tried changing classes to see how the other side lives (I mostly use the necromancer class). There are six professions you can choose from and you also have to choose a secondary profession. Each one plays differently, but the bottom line is this, if you don't know what you're doing, you're going to get nailed. A lot.
On the plus side, the world map is freaking sweet. You can go anywhere anytime. Instant travel, as long as you have been there before. None of this walking for an hour crap you get on WoW, just point, click and viola you have arrived. And the map is huge, you can zoom in and out of areas to pick specific site locations that are all marked and labelled for you. Does WoW offer this function? I think not.
MULTIPLAYER Score:76%
Okay, strap yourself in as I'm going to on this topic for a while. Yeah, yeah, I know you have a very short attention span, I get it, all right, but there is a lot to cover here.
Firstly, the good stuff, this game has a great and unique option during character creation. You can either pick a Role-Playing-Character, or a Player-Vs-Player Character. Each one has its own strengths and weaknesses. The RPG character allows you free roam of the world and greater customisation of your character, however the PvP character is fully levelled out and allows you to jump right into battles against other players. Because of this, the PvP character does not have free roam around the world. You can only fight in arenas and the computer usually selects one for you. Kudo's for the great idea here guys.
Next, this game has a vast amount of arenas to fight in (assuming you've found them all in the campaign mode). But, the best bit is that the more packed an arena is, the less time you have to sit around waiting for challengers. Each area is beautifully designed and all matches are very difficult.
You can also play in some pretty cool guild battles. No more then 8 players per side, but they include some kick ass castle defence and assault games and team killing arenas. Very nifty stuff here.
However (and now we start with the bad stuff), there really isn't much to do inside your guild castle once you have access to one. ArenaNet should have devised some cool stuff to do inside your guild, like trading shops, or message boards. There are so many things that you could do inside your guild that were not developed and it seems strange to me as the game name is "Guild Wars"! Hell, they even go into a back story as to why you can only purchase land in a remote part of the world because of guild warfare, yet the guild warfare system is so boring and stale.
And the thing that really got me out of playing multiplayer battles was the freaking super nerds out there. There is no class ranking system where you can go up against people of your own skill level, it's all random. We fought players who worked so well together that it bordered on cheating. There was also people in the game that knew skill sets so well, that you could hack away at them non stop for 5 minutes and not do any damage to them, while we would get our asses handed to us on a plate. This sort of thing is great for the dicks who know all the skill tricks, but not so great for the ones getting annihilated. Very unbalanced gameplay there. Oh and don't even get me started on the Asian servers with the bloody bastards that commit Seppuku (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=seppuku) if they show dishonour by even losing a match. These guys not only play hard, but are also freaking scary to watch. They LIVE Guild Wars.
This game needs a ranking system that I can exploit to kill people easily and for fun. I want to act like a bully online, it's fun, and ArenaNet have denied me my rightful dues. Which makes them the freaking bullies in my books. Bastards.
And finally, let us not forget the other players in this game. Developing a good team is the key to this game, but if you're like me, a casual player then you're not going to get much out of this game (multiplayer wise). I would love to develop an awesome Necromancer Guild; I even developed a great strategy for winning each match. However, it requires so much dedication and patience that in the end, I just gave up. So many players have dropped out of adventuring games because other party members were too stupid to listen to directions. They acted worse then the A.I. bots because they seemed to derive pleasure at pissing the other team members off. Don't go near this title unless you have the patience to put up with other people's stupidity.
CONTROLS Score:100%
This is probably the coolest control system I have ever seen implemented into a 3D game. You can re-arrange the camera to your distance and liking at any point and the interface is as simple as click and kill. Nothing more complicated is needed and once you have the hotkeys memorised, you can pretty much do whatever you want. There is a very small and easy learning curve here.
An interesting ability the designers have incorporated is that it allows you to click and drag menu items directly onto your screen. So, if you don't want to hit the "i" button each time you want to see your inventory, you can simply drag the icon from your menu bar and put it where ever you want on the screen. Nice.
ATMOSPHERE Score:100%
The atmosphere in this game is perfect. Especially if you play through the training ground missions as they endear you to the beautiful lands of Ascalon before it's destroyed. The cut scenes in this game are really cool and the CGI is freaking super. I actually got a woody watching the chicks kick ass in the movies. I know, I'm a very sad, sad individual. Once again, shut up!
The only thing that destroys the mood of this game is the rigid structure of the maps. You can jump or walk up certain inclines because you have to go around. It's stupid, as you can climb certain areas almost vertically, while a small anthill will stop you dead in others. Pretty much the only thing that breaks the mood of this game. That, and the idiots who can't follow instructions. Seriously, how freaking hard is it to "wait here while I lure some monsters?" I ask you, how freaking hard can that be??!
PROBLEMS
People. I think I covered this topic well in the Multiplayer and Playability sections, but just in case you didn't get the message I tried to point out, it's people. The problem with this game is other people. This game forces you to interact with other people and I don't like that because I am, quite honestly, better than anyone else on the internet. Hisssssssssssss.
ScreenShots
http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/guild_wars1_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=18136&c=209) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/guild_wars2_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=18137&c=209) http://forum.zgeek.com/gallery/files/6/1/6/guild_wars3_thumb.jpg (http://www.zgeek.com/forum/gallery/showimage.php?i=18138&c=209)
Who's your daddy? Not me man! I used a condom, get the hell out of my face man!!
OVERALL Score:92%
As I've said before, don't go near this title unless you have the patience to put up with other people's remorseless stupidity. I don't, so that's why I don't play it as often as I would like. However, it is a great game with so much going for it. Besides the lack of Guild related content, there is heaps to be done and an awesome storyline to play through.
But, overall, I give this game a 92% rating due to its innovation, its light on the pocket and its a good story that draws you in.
Phew! Thats was almost three thousand words there people. If you're anywhere near as tired of reading this tripe as I am of writing it, then please feel free to let me know. As always, I value any input as long as it's constructive.