A Great MMORPG that lives up to the Blizzard legacy

Blizzard is known for their top quality games. For years they have impressed reviewers and players with their great games, and their games, even the older ones, are still played to this date, enjoyed just as much as the first time. Warcraft, Starcraft, Diablo are their three major franchises, each of them bringing tears in the eye for a vivid addict.

So naturally, it was logical for them to take one of their big trademarks, and make a MMORPG out of it. They are already familiar with online gaming and servers, considering the massive online presence in the three series and experience they've had with Battle.net. They chose Warcraft, and what a choice. Never before has the land of Azeroth been more alive. Its absolutely wonderful, a world filled with mysteries, adventures, quests, creatures and the name of the game, War.

Gameplay
Most MMORPGs these days are built up the same way. You create an account, and log into a server, create a character and play, usually in third person view. This works generally great in these games, worse in some and better in others, and after having tried quite a lot different MMORPG`s, WoW definitely feels, controls and plays best. The game can be almost solely controlled by the mouse, or you can play it with mostly hotkeys, or a combination, and everyone of these playing styles work as they should. It's infact so easy to get into WoW, that it won't take a new player more than a day to get all the basic mechanics into the spine. This is a very positive thing, unlike other MMORPGs, it invites the player and helps the new players get familiar with it faster than other games, and it does so by leading a new character in a beginners area with simple quests and easy access to everything the player needs to get the feel of the game.

Blizzard has in fact worked so hard to make the game welcome new players, that the game mechanics never become a hassle or a question. It just seems to work great from the first steps. Of course the big manual that comes with the game helps alot, and it explains everything in the game, but it's not a requirement to read it before playing, as it seems to flow by itself in a completely different way than other MMORPG's. Enough praise cannot be given to Blizzard for their attempt to make it as fun and playable as possible. World of Warcraft was an important step to make MMORPGs more mainstream.

World of Warcraft takes place in Azeroth, the wartorn world after the events in Warcraft 1, 2 and 3. There are two sides in the game, the Alliance and the Horde, and each side has special races and classes. Most classes are available to both sides, but some are unique. The Alliance Races are Humans, Dwarf, Gnomes and Night Elf, and the Horde Races are Orcs, Trolls, Taurens and Undead. The classes you can choose is then dependent on what race you choose, so you cannot be a Undead Paladin or a Dwarf Druid, but each race has a healthy selection of classes. Each race has unique abilities, ranging from more competence with a certain weapon, immunity to a certain skill or stat bonuses, and can thus also differ a bit when you choose class. Each Class has their own unique playstyle, set up with lots of skills, requirements, quests, equipment and ways to play.

Needless to say, unless you play the same race and class several times, you will not experience the same playstyle, which helps the game feel fresh when trying something new. The core mechanics is still the same, but even the basics of the game can be changed depending on the class(A Mage uses Mana to cast spells which is depleted as he casts spells, while a Warrior uses a Rage Bar to use skills which have to be recharged by fighting). So, even when you are tired of one class, trying another should prove a different aspect of the game.

Its easy to get the impression that Blizzard handcrafted the game with lots of care and attention. Each zone seems to specificly designed for level ranges and follows the evolution of your character. Everything from monsters, to the loot they drop, to quests prevents the typical camping that are found in other games. There's no need to camp for days in order to get items that gives you money, because this game makes sure the player can get a good equipment by just playing normally. Weapons and Equipment can be bought from other players at Auction Houses, and generally it works flawlessly. Yes, it's true that in order to afford or get the very best stuff, you have to spend alot more time than normal, but the game makes sure that you are rewarded for it, yet it allows casual players to progress and feel that they are well equipped.

There comes a point where you get tired of just killing things, where you want to do something else, and luckily, quests is one of the strongest points with WoW. There are several thousand quests, all ranging from simple "speak to another person" to multi part quests including raiding. The quests have great rewards, and you always see the reward before doing the quest, so that you know what you will get by doing it. In many cases, you can choose the reward so that it suits you. The Quests are fun, the droprate on quest items is generally high and the rewards are excellent. The only thing that might be a bother is doing the same quests over again when playing new characters, but this is something one has to deal with in every single game so its hardly not an issue. Quests also give alot of experience, and each zone usually has alot of quests for each race. You will not run out of quests until you're 60.

Once you hit 60, there's plenty of content to enjoy. From raiding, to PvP'ing, Tradeskilling, roleplaying, enjoying new content and events in patches, the game doesn't stop just because you have stopped leveling. (Note: In the expansion, the level cap is increased to 70)

This game is huge. There's no denying it. With two different sides, 8 Races, 9 Classes, tons of zones with unique design, look and quests, this game has a lot to offer, and a whole deal of fun while playing. A few bugs are still around, and it can crash sometimes, but all in all its pretty lagfree and stable.

Graphics
To get right to the point, The Graphics in World of Warcraft is really good. Unlike many other games, WoW does not opt for realism. It uses a cartoony like style, that's still really detailed and not childish in any way. The best way to look at it, would be if you scrolled all the way down to third person view in Warcraft 3, and made all the textures and objects ten times as sharp and detailed. That should give a basic overview of what the graphics look like. This works well, and feels natural.

It looks like Warcraft. It feels like it. When you are walking around you really feel like you are in Azeroth. From the lush and inviting forests of Elwynn, to the ravaged corn fields of Westfall, the haunted Duskwood, the deserts of Tanaris, the jungle in Strangletorn Vale, the dry Barrens, snowy Dun Morogh, the prehistoric mysterious Un'Goro and the rotting Plaguelands and lots of other zones, Azeroth is a sight to see. Mighty capital cities like the human Stormwind, dwarfish Ironforge, Orcish Orgrimmar and Forsaken's Undercity(Which is built under the old Lordaron, with the King's throne still intact) helps making you feel like you belong, each designed with love and care to provide you with great immersion.

The detail of the characters, locations and creatures is extraordinary. Everything moves fluidly, most weapons and armor have unique looks that is visible when equipped, and the world is crammed with details. Even the smallest house is filled with decorations and furniture and objects you can look at. Monsters are detailed, have full animations and roam freely around with graceful and fun movements, from the yawns of the lions, the sniffing and yowling of the wolves, to the chest stomping of the gorillas. Plenty of attention has been put into the game and graphics.

In addition, the game has been updated to support random weather. You can see how the weather changes from sunny to clouded and finally a rainstorm and sandstorms ravage Tanaris and Silithus.

Sound
The Warcraft series have always been known for its wonderful music and sound, and World of Warcraft keeps the tradition. From the light tunes of Elwynn Forest, to the Mighty intro music of Ironforge, the music fits like hand in glove with the game. It would have been nice with some older songs from Warcraft 2 and some from Warcraft 3, but the music in WoW is great. Not as bombastic as the previous games, but it's still in the same veins as before, just a little more ambient as its meant to be background music.

When it comes to sounds, it's clear that we are still talking about Blizzard. Straight from the older Warcraft games, many sounds are taken there, and new are added. There's not much speech in the game, quests and dialogues are mostly delivered through text, but whatever speech there is, it's awesome. Click on a Peasant to hear his loony voice ripped straight from Warcraft 3, and it's hard not to laugh. Speaking of laughing, each race has voice emotes, and those can be directly hilarious.

Monster Sounds, Weapons, Spells, all the sounds that should be there are there, and it's really hard to criticize anything, because there isn't anything to put the finger on. There are alot of memorable sounds, from the growls of the Murlocs, to boss dialogues and pets.

Conclusion
My first experiences with WoW was incredibly positive, and hopefully most new players will think so too. From the moment you can log in and create your character and take the first steps, this game never fails to captivate you. Being familiar with other MMORGs helps, but isn't necessary, as the game is very easy on you a while, and it steadily increases the difficulty and challenges, while encouraging exploring and adventuring with rewards and many hours of fun. There are simply very few major things to complain about, mostly PvP issues, but otherwise this game is as good as it can be. That it has broken every record in the book and is Blizzard's first MMOG does not make it less impressive.

The game suffers from some criticism though, and most of them are directed at endgame and PvP content. While much of the criticism is valid, it doesn't detract from the score, simply because the game in itself is incredibly solid, well designed, time rewarding and accessible for everyone. Unlike FFXI which has been around for four years, WoW embraces new players and gets them going right away, with a much better learning curve and easier road to the content.

An expansion called The Burning Crusade is on it's way, and interest is at an all time high. If you could only bring one game to an isolated island, World of Warcraft would be it.