Something people will notice about online/downloadable games and other non-tangible products is typically if they don't like it, it's an immediate 1 star. I'm not sure why this occurs. Even if I disliked playing Guild Wars 2, it would still be at least a 3 star product as 3 stars is "it's ok". For me, I actually do enjoy playing it a great deal, but there is more toward giving it five stars as I did.
Graphics 4.5/5: The graphics are very strong in this game, but not machine hindering. I have an old workhorse computer. My processor and most of my components are at least 3 years old (Q6600 CPU, 4gb RAM, video card is the newest - a GFX 560ti) and I'm still playing the game at 1080p with all high settings at between 25-35fps. The graphics look very good. The distortion of the air as a spell moves through it, the foot prints left behind as you walk through snow, the water splashing across the screen as you swim through a stream, they're all excellent touches and work well with the absolute vibrancy and variety of landscapes you'll see. Enchanted forests, snowy mountains, underwater shipwrecks, they're all there.
Gameplay 5/5: The gameplay is probably the biggest varying grade depending on who you talk to. For some it will be too sticky, for others not sticky enough. For me it's 'just right'. The gameplay has a slight 'twitch' based aspect to it, but not too much. You can dodge grenade like projectiles and slow moving spell orbs, and you can even potentially dodge 'homing' attacks by utilizing a 'dodge/roll' feature that is available to every character, although you can't use it constantly. A vast majority of the skills and spells are able to be utilized while on the move, and this is probably one of my favorite aspects. Long gone are the days of being rooted to the ground while charging up a spell, now you can feel free to hop and move about, which is an excellent change of pace. There is a certain level of 'aiming' in the game, but not too much to feel like if you're unskilled with twitch based games you'll be at a huge disadvantage. A character with a huge sword can catch multiple creatures when they swing their sword in an arc in front of them, instead of being forced to only damage the creature targeted. You can also swing or cast without having an opponent targeted at all, just in case you're not exactly sure what you should be doing in the heat of a massive combat.
Speaking of massive combat, it's genuinely fun. The fact that each class, no matter which one you choose, has a variety of different ways to play is very refreshing. You could equip a greatsword and work at putting out as much damage as you can muster with AoE and single target damage skills, and then when you see your allies starting to lose, you can quickly swap out to a staff that perhaps has skills to heal, shield, or buff those around you. When someone is down, you can heal and revive them no matter who you are, meaning that there's always hope in an encounter even when things seem dire. A particular combat comes to mind that I was in. It was a group of about 15 of us against a group event creature, and in one fell swoop over half of the group died. With only around four characters remaining, three of them worked at keeping the creature busy by running around and dodging it's attacks as best they could, while I worked at reviving a character. Then myself and that character revived two more characters, then us four revived four more characters and before we knew it we were back in the game from a certain defeat. There's so much more to be said about the gameplay, but I'll leave it at that for now.
Sound 4/5: The sound is appropriate, and does go above the call of duty in some aspects. The jingling of your heavy armor as you walk, the whistling of the winds in a valley, the swishing of the waves near a body of water are all very nice. The music is good, if a bit forgettable. The effects of striking an opponent are a bit exaggerated, but not annoying. All in all the sound is definitely a positive experience.
Playability 5/5: I think on-line games in general need a 'playability' category, or 'how often can I get in and have some fun?' Logging in to Guild Wars 2 is VERY swift, almost scarily so, and logging out is just as swift. I've had no problems with my game time as of yet, but I did come later to the party than those that started on day one. I've never had the game crash. I've never had the server crash. I've never encountered a bug that forced me to be unable to play. Not only that, there is so much to do that even if you only have half an hour to play, you can accomplish something. There's always daily achievements that reward you, such as gathering resources or killing a variety of opponents. There's always small quests that you'll run up on, a majority of which can be completed in between 5 and 20 minutes. There's always something to do, and no matter what you do the game does an excellent job at actually rewarding the players. You gain experience for exploring. You gain experience for crafting. You gain experience for chopping trees and mining mines. You gain experience for reviving fallen NPCs, and of course you gain experience for doing all the classic hacking and slashing and questing found in any MMO.
At the end of the day, when determining how I want to rate a product I ask myself in the end 'did I get my monies worth?' If the answer is 'yes' then the review obviously has to be positive. The next question is 'are there a ton of things I could have gotten more value from in this category for the money I spent?' If the answer is 'no' then the review needs to be a four or a five. Guild Wars 2 is nearly always on sale, with a plethora of special input codes to lower the price and almost assure that you get your copy for about $45. For $45, in the realm of on line video games Guild Wars 2 has absolutely given me my monies worth, and has now gone past what it was worth to me, making it an enjoyable and extremely worthwhile purchase.
Related products with free delivery on eligible orders
Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1
Sponsored | Try Prime for unlimited fast, free shipping
Similar brands on Amazon
Page 1 of 1Start OverPage 1 of 1
Sponsored
Unusable serial code from used game.
Good game used copies will have used serial code.When used game will be unplayable.Amazon needs needs to have a verification process on CD keys,serial Codes .
Top reviews from the United States
There was a problem filtering reviews. Please reload the page.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2012
