For those of you who don’t know, Guild Wars is an MMORPG or Massively Multiplayer Online Game based in the fantasy world of Ascelon.Preliminary:I am not claiming to have an excessive amount of experience in the world of MMORPG, because I don’t, but I believe I am capable of making adequate comparisons and criticisms.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - One of the greatest features of Guild Wars was the fact that I didn’t have to pay monthly fees to keep gaming. Me myself being a very casual gamer appreciated the fact that I could play a few times a week without having to worry about getting my money’s worth.Characters:Guild Wars’ lack of depth is first noticed when creating a character. The player is given the option to choose from six professions, gender, and their models look. Although it is a let down for some of the more hardcore gamers, it allows an easy gate into the game, without having to spend so much time on choosing which attributes and skill points to start out with. The fact that you can choose a second profession makes up for some of its lacking parts. You can combine any two of the six professions in order to combine skills to battle your foe. General Game Play:While most online games attempt to create a shared world for the players to adventure together, Guild Wars takes a different approach. Only in cities and small towns do players share the area with other random players. Once you head out of the city you and/or your party are loaded on to your own individual map to face the world with no other players wandering around. The fact that there is a level cap at level 20 seems a bit odd at first, but GW is not a game about grinding for hours to reach the next level, but rather about telling a story.Combat:In combat you are only able to use a set of eight skills that are dragged and dropped to your skill bar before you leave a town. You are able to combine skills from you primary and secondary professions to send your foe to their demise. The fact that you are only able to equip 8 skills at once is a small turn off, but you are quickly able to identify your favorites and realize that you really won’t need more then 8 equiped at a time. The skill system actually works out pretty well.Graphics:Graphically Guild Wars looks incredible. The graphics are pretty detailed and the lighting is equally impressive. The amount of animation that goes on in the world is pretty fluid. A great feature is the fact that you don’t have to put out some big bucks for a super machine for Guild Wars to look good. Although frame rates can get a bit iffy in large groupings (like in any MMORPG), for the most part you should rarely have any issues with frame rates. The only area where the graphics could really use any improvement is in the player models. Many of the armor sets are pretty identical each other, and the characters are very model like, leaving out the diversity you get from other MMORPGs.One of Guild Wars greatest features said by most is the PvP mode or Player VS Player.I’m sad to say I can not really highlight on this mode of GW because I have not experienced it yet.Whether you like Guild Wars or not will depend on your taste, as for any other game. I think GW is a great choice for those being introduced into the world of MMORPG, but will probably leave more of the hardcore gamers looking for more with the lack of in-depth character development. In the end it’s all about preference.
