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Review:

25th February 2005:
World of Warcraft
Enter the World of Warcraft and find out if you are the fate of Azeroth.
Posted by Chris Snook - PC - UK and Europe

I am impressed.

Not much manages that feat but World of Warcraft has managed to do so. It is indeed one of the most impressive achievements to date in the Online Gaming world.

Blizzard have managed to pull off the near impossible. Recreate a world that they built and populate it into a living, breathing, vibrant place to immerse yourself in. You are part of Azeroth and not just an avatar sitting in the middle of a make believe world.

Set after the events in Warcraft III the world is still in the grip of war with both the Alliance and Horde's pact having fallen apart in the four years since the defeat of the Burning Legion, with armies flung far and wide. Into the breech step the brave citizens of the world who will become mighty adventurers in their own right as you guide your characters through the lands, facing beasts, entering dungeons and doing battle with groups of the opposing faction when they come to do battle against your realm with magic and metal, soul and spirit.

Everywhere is busy. Villages and cities bustle with NPC's, some eager to give you quests to perform, others willing to sell you anything you may wish for - for a price, a fair price m'lord too.

Sometimes too busy. There have been well reported problems with logging in on popular servers and that when there are many players in one place there is server lag. All true but unfairly made. No matter how much you stress test, there will be problems with uptake and popularity. Blizzard, despite learning from the US release were simply caught unawares.

Everything is polished, from the engaging and dramatic introduction cinematic to the way the characters move and interact, when you speak you make gestures to emphasise that you are doing so. There are rabbits, cows, rats, bears, pigeons and all other manner of small critters and animals that add to the feeling that this is a living breathing world. Peasants and peons abound, they respond when you poke them, guards utter recognisable phrases and there is sound everywhere. Everywhere except where the soil is truly dead and lifeless.

Character creation is simple, with enough options to keep from every fourth character looking identical but not so much that you get overwhelmed by the possibilities. There are no stats to select, just your race, of which there are eight (four per faction) and nine classes of which two - the shaman and paladin are only playable by the Horde and Alliance respectively. Here there is a good mix of combat, support and pure fire support characters, running the gamut of mages and warlocks through to fighters and clerics, each with a purpose and each with abilities that allow them to survive solo. As an aside there are three types of server, catering for the three main types of player, to build your characters on. The traditional take on monsters not other players (PvE) servers, Role-playing (RP) servers and the Player verses Player (PvP) servers are all here allowing everyone to find a niche.

Once created it is into the big wide world. Where you are treated to a real time introduction of your race's recent history, none of it is pre-done as you can see players fighting as you travel through the intro. Another different and very well done snackie to look at.

From here you are on your own, or not as you wish. You can solo or group or join a guild to help you advance, levelling is easy within the first few levels but becomes much harder around the tenth level and grouping will become needed. There are tons of quests to be undertaken, ranging from courier style jobs through to the more important one such as get this vital book. Not all are monster slaying which is nice and some involve a lot of thought. With each one the size of what you know of the world increases and knowledge can mean the difference between life and resurrection.

Death is not so painful, you find yourself cast into an eerie, shadowy place. The spirit realm where you can either be resurrected by a spirit guide for a minor penalty or return to the site of your corpse where you can return to life with no penalty - handily there is a radius to which you can return you do not need to be exactly at your corpse, great for avoiding dying immediately again, since you can 'see' the living world.

Graphics wise, the NPC's and characters are detailed but not so much as to overwhelm older systems and they look much like the RTS versions, a little cartoony but recognisable. Each moves and interacts with subtle and different touches. The emote and action options are varied and differ from race to race. Try dancing, elves and undead are good at it. Background are vivid, water flows, there is wind and other elemental effects, footprints stay in the snow as you walk past, slowly filling back up as the snowflakes continue to fall. There are many, many small things that combine to add to the whole and each time you play you spot more details.

In the sound department you are not short-changed either. Things clang, grind, crunch, splatter and a whole lot more as you interact. You can get a feel for a hit as an axe or sword buries itself into the monster, or the swoosh of a fireball as it crackles towards its target. Music is also not stinted on. Each realm has it's own anthem that fits its status within the world and the option to turn on and loop ambient music is also there, an option that does a good job of not swamping the ambient sounds that are there anyway. Again it should be released as a soundtrack.

There is no issue with game time. You will either spend hours immersed within, trying for that next thing or making a better sword or you will have made your mind up already and will not be seen anywhere near the game. There is enough for what everyone could want.

Controls are configurable and can be altered to make the best use of your game style, including the use of all five buttons on some mice. Combat and magic are intuitive, even when using a pet. Level progression is fair and balanced and all in all things gleam, there is not much that is wrong and that which is can be fixed with a few button reassignments or the creation of a macro.

WoW is a triumph. Despite the niggles with servers, the doubters and naysayers who probably will never go near it and the still fledgling community, finding its feet slowly, World of Warcraft is quite possibly the best made, and most coherently thought out Massive Multi-Player Game there is currently. Do not miss.

Chris Snook

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Review Summary:

Superb entry into the Massive Multiplayer market. With an exceptionally well thought out and living world to enter with no pressure to grind away to get the next level. Ignore the press about the servers, ignore the people who said it isn't what it is. Be prepared to loose any social life outside of a PC you ever had.

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