GW Factions: Reviews

Computer and Video Games and GamingGroove have both posted reviews of Factions, ArenaNet's first Guild Wars expansion.

Computer and Video Games.

Aficionados of the original Guild Wars - now known as Prophecies - will be aware that it's the MMORPG that you can eat between other games without ruining your appetite. Dispensing with the levelling-up trudge of killing small animals, it's an action-packed affair that you can play in short, controlled bursts without any negative impact on your character. And crucially, there's no subscription fee.

Factions is of course Chapter Two (of several planned) and is available either as a 'standalone product' or as an upgrade to your already installed Guild Wars. There's only one game client, so my Factions character now sits alongside those from Prophecies in the menu. Of the two new classes available, the Assassin is a swift and deadly killer - with minimal armour - and the Ritualist is able to summon up an array of spirits at the drop of a wand.

GamingGroove.

However, in the case of Guild Wars Factions, you're looking at a totally different beast. From the outside, the game looks and plays like a MMORPG. But, in fact, it is not. Why? The mechanics are different: Factions servers act like a matchmaking service, providing "lobbies" within certain parts of the game. Players gather in these towns, a visual chat room, if you will, and sell goods and hook up for quests. It all looks like a MMORPG game until you leave the town; once that happens, you're on your own. This is where the MMOG splits away from the MMORPG. Factions looks like a persistent world, but it's not. You won't pass live players along the road. You won't accidentally invade a group's camping trip. The only time you fight alongside a human is if you've joined a party; everyone plays the same local "map," but only those players within the party.