Really, Guild Wars seems to have characteristics that would put it as a hybrid between a MMORPG and an action-RPG game of the kind where you click and attack whatever is in your path. The developers' intention is to make a game where success is measured more by player skill than countless of hours trying to power-level a character. If they do manage to achieve this, it might be in fact a very refreshing experience. This review is actually based on the experience of playing the October World Preview Event. The developers seem to have decided to use these events instead of the traditional beta period that most games of these kind go through, so as you read the following, keep in mind the game is not due for release for a while yet and things might change from now to the time of release. I plan to write an actual review of the game when the game is available.

TECHNICAL
Following are the specs of the machine I used to play this game. Note that these are not the required specs (check the official website of Guild Wars for those), but I like providing my machine specs when I review a PC game so that readers can have a reference when I talk about performance:

Processor: Athlon XP 2500+
RAM: 1GB
Video Card: GeForce FX 5600 with 256MB of RAM
Internet Connection: Cable Modem

The installation of the client for the weekend event went quite smoothly. There were no unexpected hiccoughs, no hang-ups. The files needed were downloaded and before I knew it, there I was, playing the game. Except for the occasional and very rare, character teleporting syndrome, the whole game graphics-wise ran without any major glitches. The teleporting syndrome itself wasn't that annoying, and it definitely wasn't very constant. For a game that is still in development, the graphics and sound are in fact quite solid. Granted, they've been testing the game for quite some time now, but still, it's very impressive that they've taken the time to polish it so. It is possible to minimize the game and switch to other windows you might have up, and there was no particular performance issues when doing so.

I found the user interface and controls are a bit awkward at first. You can use the mouse to left click and select were to move and the right button to move the camera. Players familiar with the point and click action RPG genre should be ok with the system, except that keeping the left mouse button down didn't seem to keep the character moving. You can also use the keyboard to move yourself. I didn't find the hotkeys to use to activate things like your inventory and what-not, although I'm pretty sure there must be some. Again, we need to keep in mind that for all purposes we're playing a beta version of the game, so not everything is as evident as it should be in the final version.

Your heads-up display includes meters and other goodies at the bottom of the screen that indicate your health level, amount of magical energy you have for spells, slots for quick access of skills and spells as well as a small map/compass for the immediate area around you that shows where your enemies are in relation to you. The display is not hard to understand, although some of the abilities you have require recharging or use things like an adrenaline rating (which you seem to gain as you fight) and that is not as evident or easy to determine from the interface at times.

CREATIVE
The art is just beautiful. The character models are very detailed, and there are quite a number of customizations available for skin color, faces, and hairstyles. However, you're stuck with what your starter clothing looks like, as it is dependent on whatever class you take. But really, everything in the world is beautifully rendered and it certainly makes the world appear quite alive. The water texture is particularly impressive. There are a good number of sound effects, especially when a fight breaks out and your character makes some different grunts while fighting.

When you finish a mission, you go through a small cut-scene. It uses the same in-game engine and models, but with the game being so beautiful already, it really doesn't take away from the experience and in fact, if anything, it adds to it. I'm a sucker for appropriate cut-scenes as long as they're not overly long and they help explain the story. The whole package screams fantasy and it does a great job in making you feel like you're part of this imaginary world they've created.

There is one minor issue with the art that I noticed, in particular when I used a dyed my armor silver, it showed the change of color on the inventory representation of the armor, but not on the body model.

GAMEPLAY
The preview event had me starting as a level 15 character. I decided to go with Warrior as my primary and Monk as my secondary. In Guild Wars, a Monk is actually the equivalent of the healer class and not the hand-t- hand fighting class as some might expect. The first task you're given is for all purposes a mini-tutorial. It's not the most developed I've experienced, but for the purposes of this preview it is enough. If anything, it gets you into the action right away.

As I mentioned before, the controls felt a bit awkward. Targeting is not as smart as it should be, and if you decide to use the keyboard instead of the mouse to target an enemy you'll probably find yourself targeting something that's a bit far away. Combine that with the fact that you can use space to initiate an attack or conversation, and sometimes you'll end up with your character leaving combat with enemies around it just to go running off to get to that enemy that happened to be targeted by mistake.

As you progress through the first mission, you'll end up with a Monk henchman. The henchman is quite useful, and is quite intelligent when it comes to casting spells to keep you and he alive. When, later on, you get other henchmen, the AI is solid enough that they work as a team and they are quite effective in how they support you through a mission.

Eventually, you're introduced to the map functions and there it becomes a bit confusing. The map/compass can be a bit hard to read at times, and the world map doesn't help you when trying to determine where to go next. What it does give you is the ability to click on a place you've visited and teleport without having to walk all the way back. Paths between areas seem to linear more often than not, so there's not a high chance that you'll get yourself really lost and off track to where you need to go next.

Your first interaction with players happens when you reach the first town. The way the game works, it uses towns and camps to provide a gathering place for players. However, mission areas are instanced, so only you and the members in your group will see each other there. In some of these areas you'll be able to find merchants of all sorts, as well as an NPC that allows you to create a guild. You'll have to pay money to start one, though.

I don't know if this functionality will be part of the game when it is finally released, but for the preview the game provided NPC henchmen that you could take with you to either a full NPC party except for yourself, or to fill spots when there aren't enough PCs to form up a party. Now, this is a very interesting gameplay addition and one that if retained, would make this game a bit unique. The henchmen model is not new to action-RPGs, but Guild Wars is not a pure action-RPG either.

One thing that somewhat bothered me is that you seem limited in what skills you can use for a given mission. I didn't find a way to access skills others than the ones in your display, and you can only assign skills to that in the areas between missions, not after the mission has started. Although it kind of adds some strategy to the game, as you now need to think of what skills you're going to need, it seems a bit artificial when seen in the context of the story and character development. Also, the gameplay can get a bit repetitive (at least as a Warrior) in most cases it seemed that just letting the character go with the default attack was sufficient. Add the limited skill-set to this and it can be problem for some people.

Sadly, I didn't get to experience a whole lot of the multiplayer aspect of the game. I spent most of my time during this preview trying to learn the ropes and doing a lot of solo stuff along with my henchmen. Hopefully, in future events I'll get a chance to see more of the MMO aspect of the game.

IN CONCLUSION
This preview event is my first exposure to the game and I have to say I'm quite impressed with what they've accomplished to date. The game seems enjoyable, the question that remains to be answered is if it can sustain that enjoyment over an extended period of time. The MMORPG market is very competitive right now, but the Guild Wars business model of no monthly fee to play it is certainly very attractive. Based on what I've seen, it's definitely worth checking out. Hardcore MMORPG fans might not find the game all that challenging, and more casual games might be a bit intimidated by the apparent emphasis on player versus player gameplay (even though the game allows for cooperative gameplay without having to participate on the player versus player side of it). It's definitely a fine balance to find, and only time will tell if Guild Wars succeeds in doing so.

You Can Read Other Commentary on the Event in our Guild Wars Blog