World of Warcraft: Cataclysm (Review) 08-04-2011 - by Dante Alexander, Staff Mumbler So what's the deal with one of the hugest phenomenons in gaming? People dedicate their lives to this game, so is there something truly amazing in it that so many of us are missing out on?
You never stop hearing about the World of Warcraft games. It's like Black Ops in the sense that ever single gamer you know is familiar with it, but it is entirely different in the sense that it seems to have a constant foothold in the gaming world- it is not a game that loses popularity and fades away when the next big title comes out, nor is it a game that will be forgotten with the release of a new system (or in this case, a new version of Windows).
Well, it's also different in the sense that it's got magical flying nonsense, but that is another subject entirely...
I had always thought that people were crazy to pay fifteen dollars a month just to play the game, and for the longest time, I was convinced I would go a lifetime without playing it. Fifteen dollars a month? Whatever happened to free RPGs? My view of a monthly charge for the same game was somewhere along the lines of, "I'll just stick with Playstation and X-Box, thanks." And even so, there were still MMORPGs out there that were free, such as Runescape, which, even with an upgraded "members" version of the game that they charged you for monthly, would only amount to five dollars a month. So for the longest time I figured that people were either insane, or that there was something absolutely fantastic that I was apparently missing out on.
But as luck would have it, Blizzard Entertainment released a free trail version of the game recently- a "starter version" as they called it. Naturally, curiosity overwhelmed me, as well as the countless others who have been so enthused about this recent development. This overwhelming curiosity was only spurred on by the fact that I'd already been a fan of Blizzard gaming- the expansion set of Diablo II remains onf of my favorite games to this day -and in the end I couldn't help but kill my computer with the massive download of the free version.
Here is a cinematic- if not overly dramatic -trailer for the game...
My first impression of the game was the graphics. Mildly impressive for a game that so many people play, but hardly enough to sell it to me. It plays very much like a console game at times- with gameplay that I'd compare to a very, very, very, very watered down version of the Elder Scrolls games, though with menus and abilities much more suited for online gaming. I was impressed with the variation of races and classes you can choose from (it's too much to break down entirely, but basically the race you choose is going to be aligned with either the "Alliance" or the "Horde," both of which are obviously enemies) and I was also impressed by the massive landscape and specific regions made for each of these races.
But here's the thing: that was about all I was impressed with.
I still don't understand why people would be possessed to pay fifteen dollars a month for the full version. Granted, in most games you unlock many of the cooler abilities later on, but it would take a hell of a lot of abilities to make it worth the payment. The quests are uninteresting, the fights are unremarkable, and the game play is about as repetitive as Charlie Sheen's cocaine habit. Yes, I'm calling the game repetitive- I'm the same person who would mine the same rock a hundred times while playing Runescape, just for an added level or so, and I still found this game to be maddeningly repetitive and simple. It seems that every assignment you get is the same- "Slay 6 mottled boars and get back to me," "Kill 12 Vile Familiars and then come back for a reward," "go to the Northwatch fortress, kill 6 sharpshooters, 6 marines, and their lieutenant," -and on the rare occasion that they decide to change things up, it's still terribly uncreative- "Go wake up 4 lazy peons and get back to me," "Kill the scorpiods with a special item," "Go kill x number of Northwatch troops, but bring back a specific item."
I thought people played games to escape mundane tasks, not add to them.
The free version is not bad- it's better than many games out there -and depending on how often you sit down to play it could either give you a few days or a couple months of enjoyment, or at least something to occupy your time. For something that's released for free, it's pretty damn decent I suppose. But FREE, that's just the thing. I still have no idea how people pay fifteen dollars a month for this nonsense. Once my character reaches level 20 and the demo is over, I will gladly delete this game from my system so that my computer can run at full speed again. World of Warcraft is fun, yes, and impressive too, but definitely not worth the money unless your are a die-hard fan (or a spoiled rich kid, in which case, game away). If I had fifteen extra dollars to throw away every month, I would at least spend it on something more interesting. And in the meantime, Runescape and Diablo II are still free to play aren't they? Based on what I've played in the demo, I would give World of Warcraft a 6 out of 10 for being addictive and well done, but definitely not worth the fortune that players feed it.
Come on, Blizzard Entertainment, I know you can do better than that.
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