Guild Wars

[Spacemom]

My son is asking for this for Christmas. Is it similar to Warcraft?

Thanks.

[Occulus]

1. Well, sort of. (in this response, GW means "Guild Wars")

One advantage GW has over WoW is that, once you buy the game, you play for free. That's right- GW has *NO* subscription scheme.

They did something a bit more clever.

They allow you to donate cash- cold, hard cash, to them- in return for gold or additional abilities not available on the disc you bought. You have access to every ability and areas included on the game disc regardless of whether 'donate' or not (and there is no "core" Guild Wars that you MUST buy), and the gameplay appears to be quite similar to what I've seen of WoW. Keep in mind, I've never played WoW (OR Evercrack), mostly because I adamantly refuse to be required to pay for online gaming, but I have enjoyed Guild Wars for many an hour, and IMO it is well worth the money, for any GW game you might buy.

If you have a decent video card, GW looks very nice indeed. Not on a par with Oblivion or Crysis, mind you, but it still has a very clean and polished look about it.

You will want to monitor and if necessary filter the player-to-player chats. I do sincerely mean this. At time players express some vulgar language. I believe the game can filter this somehow, but I've always had it turned off (mostly so I can tell off the mouthy, vulgar 12-year-olds :D ).

By the way, if he's asking for Guild Wars, you might consider Oblivion as a side dish. Oblivion has oft been hailed as the best single-player role playing game for the PC, ever.

The Baldur's Gate games, though dated, rank on a par with Oblivion, for the design and plot alone. I would recommend those as well, and highly, even though they aren't very graphically intensive. The BG series has some of the best 'story' I've ever seen on the PC.

Hope all this helps! :D

[Spacemom]

2. Thank You!

He currently plays WOW, and I do keep an eye on him. What I had heard is that GW was a bit more "kid" friendly. Maybe I'll have to reevaluate that. It would be nice not to have to shell out 16 bucks a month to play something I've already had to buy the software for.

Our computer isn't the best. Our video card is ATI Radeon Express. Do you think that would handle it? It seems to do okay with WOW.

Thanks again.

[Occulus]

3. If he's playing WoW

he probably has already heard everything he'll hear on GW.

I should have posted that a lot sooner than I did. Apologies.