Guild Wars: Game of the Year Edition previews

Had this game since it's launch in mid-2005, played nearly 200 hours and still don't know if I like it.

Pros: spectacular graphics and amazing world, very sexy girls, NO SUBSCRIPTION, runs well on-line, active community, very immersive.

Cons: can get tedious – four steps, slug it out with monster, another four steps another monster, and so on and so on. May have to re-start quests over and over if connection fails, dinner intervenes etc. Story-line, still not sure there is one. Worst of all – very complex trading, equipping &tc with no help or guidance. On-line updates before log-on completes can be lengthy even with fast internet.

I go weeks without logging on, then play a quest and can easily leave it again for another couple of weeks. Just hasn't grabbed me, but if you WANT to immerse yourself in it and are willing to take the trouble to work out what it's all about and what you're supposed to be doing I'd recommend it.

Decent graphics, annoying music, suitable sound and ambience. That's about all you need to know, presentation wise, the game looks and sounds great, but not necessarily the best in this genre.

Gameplay is standard for MMORPG. Get quest, complete quest, receive experience, level character and repeat. So far, so good.

Game is free, no subscription necessary. Okay, now it's sounding too good.

And you are right. First of all if people actually read the TOS agreement they would know that any future “chapters” of this game will not be free. Also they have reserved the right to change the entire game to a fee based service in the future, but they will kindly notify players of any changes on their website.

What bugs me about the game? Not seeing other player's outside of the main centers unless they are in your party, and not being able to jump over terrain, ie you cannot jump down from heights.

All in all if it wasn't free I wouldn't play it anymore.

Graphically, a wonderful game with a good graphics card, with wonderful lighting, reflections, shading and other atmospheric effects. The gameplay itself was pretty much a let down however. It felt like they were taking away a lot of customising your character. You don't craft anything yourself, you only boost skills, not stats, and the only way of collecting resources is by killing or trading.

For the price of the game, you enter a realm of wonder. Yes, no monthly fees to pay. You have a choice of 4 characters with 6 professions to choose from.

The best part is the opportunity to join Guilds whose members join together to fight other Guilds and gather Fame and Recognition amongst the Guild Wars community, with notification given by the makers website … http://www.guildwars.com/

This is the first MMORPG I have endulged in, Why? NO MONTHLY FEE.

What can I say except if only I lived in a timezone compatable with most players aroud the world I would not have to loose valuable sleeping hours to feed my addiction for this game. The graphics are awesome, the game play fantastic requiring you to think even when your character reaches the highest levels and co-operate with fellow adventures. A splintered party is a dead party. Skills galore for your character to chose from.

PVP aspect is fun and this will keep you playing the role playing game to unlock more skills for your character to use in PVP situations.

You can do a number of things in this game from manipulate the market for valuable goods, trade items with other players to make a fortune, go around recruiting for your guild help out other guild members or just go on doing your missions or indulge in guild battles, or attempt to win the favour of the Gods. Or go hunting for all the elite skills for your character to unleash on other players in the PVP arena.

The only limiting factor is once you reach the highest level your character will no longer gain attribute points which is disappointing but you can still gain skill points.

In conclusion this game is awesome although I do not know if the time you spend playing it is entirely healthy but hey it is extermely fun. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!­!!!!!!

i played this game in the first open beta and it was choice i would have to say it is a game to get if you are really into MMORPG'S :D

I have only played in one of the beta weekends but i have done a lot of research into this game. This game has a vast world for you to explore but you don't have to play weeks to get to the good parts, it's good those players who don't have alot of time to play but it is also good for those who do have alot of time. I also run it on 56k and for those who thought it was to good to be true it does run well on a 56k connection. There are some bad points to this game but what game is perfect.

This is just a good all round game

This game is a must have for those who are looking for a decent game. However for the school boys/girls who's mid year exams are coming I'd recommend you stay away from this because once you get on this its really hard to break out. Think of it as tobacco. But the game play itself is AWSOME! nothing else like it, spectacular graphics, brilliant characters, friendly players, best of all NO MONTHLY FEE!!! what more could you want from a MMORPG?

I like Guild Wars. Fact. Its addictive, kooky, a little spooky, has an indepth storyline, interesting character choices and development and a uniqueness to it that I haven't found anywhere else.

My only complaint could lie with the armour section. For starters, gold is very hard to come by (no lower currencies, though ‘crafting items’ are used at times). You can expect to find yourself fighting hundreds of monsters to amass any decent level of dough. As said, crafting items are present in this game, used for item generation and aquisition. There is a small fault though, the lack of money and extreme difficulty in locating these resources annoyed me greatly. By comparison, GW money is of a patheticly low value compared with say… World of Warcraft or EverQuest 2 money.. couple that with how hard it is to come across in any fair volume and it's just plain annoying. Just a point to be aware of before you start: Don't let anyone take your gold, be a gold shark. NOONE MUST TAKE YOUR GOLD!

Hehe.

Highly addictive!!! The great gameplay, amazing graphics along with the high realism have set this game up to be HUGE!. This will easily surpass its World of Warcraft rival due its NO STRINGS ATTATCHED policy. No monthly installments, just the game and a promise from the creators to release further patches and expansions free of charge. Can't stop raving about this game!!! Played one beta weekend and already Im hooked!

This is a great game. The graphics are superb. The ability to group with NPC's makes it an excellent choice to solo or duo as you can always add NPC's to fill out your party. Dual-Class is also a huge plus. The classes are well balanced, I tried them all.

This is the first MMORPG that I just enjoyed playing and never worried about exp/level/gear, just fun to play. I think it's great that they will have NO MONTHLY FEE and will add more content in expansions. As a long time MMORPG player and beta tester I have to say Guild Wars gameplay is by far superior to all others. This game is a must have, but be forwarned, Guild Wars is highly addictive.