PC Review Reviews Gaming Guild Wars



But what about the Player versus Player action. Heading to the Arena gives you instant PvP action, teaming you up automatically with other Arena ready players and leaving you to take your aggression out on your nearest opponent. The real fun is to be had in the Guild Hall matches, where team play and strategy is the key to success. Getting a well worked set of tactics worked out between you and your fellow Guild members gives you a much better chance of victory, and improving your Guild’s ranking.

The fighting system in Guild Wars is something quite different to other MMO’s. Before you leave a town setting, you’ll need to equip your weaponry, armour, and load up your Skill Bar with the eight skills you see as your best. These skills are the real key to victory in all of Guild Wars’ battles. Other than simply clicking on your opponent to strike them with your basic weapons, you need to make well timed use of your Skills in order to overcome your enemy. Each take a particular amount of time to recharge, and eat up a certain amount of energy, so timing is key. You don’t want to eat up all your energy reserves with a killer strike that misses your opponent and leave youself wide open to an attack, without the ability to reclaim a few hit points. Over time, and once you become fully accustomed to your different Skills, you’ll develop different kinds of strategies which you’ll automatically fall into as you enter battle. It’s this system that rewards skill, rather than who has the more experience points that makes Guild Wars truly stand out.

Guild Wars is quite the visually appealing game too. While the initial few cities and areas aren’t too wide in variety, and can look a little sparse at times, the later sections of the game introduce some glorious colour schemes, and some detailed architecture.

Is Guild Wars the best example of MMO out here at the moment? For most of you, probably not no. World of Warcraft seems to have firmly grasped that title. But for those making your first intrepid steps into the genre, there’s no better learning curve than starting with the likes of Guild Wars. With the usual down points of the genre removed as mentioned earlier on in this review, all newcomers will instantly find enjoyment, even if they can’t spend 12 hours a day online.