Guild Wars: Nightfall

'Nightfall' is with us but will it satiate the appetite of the millions of ravenous Guild Wars fans or will it sink into obscurity?

For those of you who are familiar with the ‘Guild Wars’ games, you’ll be pleased to know that ‘Nightfall’ is essentially more of the same, with a couple of interesting new twists to the formula to keep even the most hardened veterans happy. You also might want to skip the next couple of paragraphs.

New players interested in getting into the series will want to know why they should spend their hard-earned on ‘Nightfall’. Well, for a start it is the only major MMO game that doesn’t come with a monthly charge – buy a copy and you can play as much or as little as you want. There is no pressure to play when you don’t want to just to make sure you eke the full value out of your monthly payment.

It is also one of the most accessible games in the genre. Although it can be a bit overwhelming when you first start it quickly becomes second nature, leading some players to complain about the ‘over-simplicity’ of the game mechanics. There is far more to the game than meets the eye though, even if the core gameplay remains the same throughout. The challenge lies in combining the large number of skills (each new version adding a raft of new regular and elite skills to find and experiment with) to create a powerful character – only 8 skills are allowed to be equipped at any one time – and working together with other players to create a strong team capable of taking on large numbers of foes successfully.

‘Nightfall’ itself then adds more skills, a whole new land to explore – after the Oriental flavour of ‘Factions’ comes an Afro-Arabian land of sun, sphinxes and safari – new creatures and enemies and the major new feature – Heroes. Essentially this new feature gives you customisable henchmen, allowing you to give them the abilities you want them to have, complementing your character’s strengths and weaknesses. The template henchmen are still there but the heroes give you more control and, also, a more personal connection with your AI companions. Add to this a new player-v-player mode involving these characters and you have an interesting new twist to the gameplay.

There are new Elite areas, accessible after the game’s completion (I’ll admit that I haven’t got that far yet), two new character types (the Dervish and the Paragon) and a raft of other small little features that add to the overall experience. One that is particularly useful is the ability to save a ‘template’ of the Attribute Points and Spells so you can quickly switch between specific ‘builds’ for individual situations.

New and old fans will get a lot from ‘Nightfall’ – plenty of hours of play are available here. The only downer is the fact that, arguably, the core gameplay is still the same as it was way back when the original came out. One would think that the next instalment would feature some more radical changes – as it is though, the game is still fine in its current form and will provide any player with a lot of enjoyment in the coming winter months.

Advertisment

<< Back to main