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When a mammoth game like World of Warcraft is unleashed upon the world, it's hard to take in the long view of the MMO market. But its four-million-odd subscriber base be damned, there is a game out there that's pushing the boundaries in more meaningful -- and, very likely, more far-reaching -- ways. That's Guild Wars, which gets the nod here for a multitude of reasons.Primarily, it provides a gameplay experience that's packed with topnotch content, well-designed underlying systems, and amazing visuals. And it provides all this without a monthly subscription.It's a bold move for an MMO, and when you consider that the quality of Guild Wars' experience is on par with the best pay-for-play MMOs out there, well, it's bound to make splashes. And we'll be feeling their effects soon.
Why It Rocked: Since Guild Wars straddles the line between online gaming and traditional RPGs, we're able to slip this one in here as well. What makes Guild Wars so great, in our opinion, is that it has the streamlined addictiveness of Diablo but with a large in-game community.It also looks darn good, and we love the instanced missions that place your character in the cinematic cutscenes, along with your party members. Guild Wars also manages to carve out an interesting and fairly involved story drawn from an original world.And combat, especially multiplayer combat, is a lot more than simply standing in one place, periodically swinging your weapon, and waiting for someone to die. Guild Wars employs a player energy pool that's shallow but regenerates quickly, establishing a tightrope walk sometimes as you try to balance energy usage and energy replenishment. No more health or mana potions, just pure combat.Also, the streaming client is an awesome technical achievement -- a tiny little set of files that download content on-the-fly, and darned quickly, too.
Why It Rocked: Yes, we know that Guild Wars is not strictly an MMO, but it's persistent enough to count for us, and its streaming technology, good looks, and addictive play deserve attention. Having no subscription fee is nice also.Sure, you don't have crafting or auction houses, but Guild Wars excels at providing large-scale multiplayer battles with tangible rewards. Don't want to slog your way through character development to enjoy the cool stuff? No problem -- you can start a high-level character right away and dive into things within minutes.Don't want to spend hours grinding your way through a dungeon? No problem. Several different types of multiplayer modes, from multi-team flag capture to basic team deathmatch, assure that you can play for just a few minutes or just a few hours.Want to play on your laptop as well as a desktop? No problem. You can just download a small client and play Guild Wars on any computer you want, as long as you have an account. Also quite handy if you lose the install disk.
