World Of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
9/10
An MMO that, despite the fact that it borrows most fundamental mechanics from a series of games who has barely evolved at all for around 10 years now, manages to be genuinely charming, mesmerising and without the obvious flaws plaguing other MMOs in recent history. The blizzard influence is thick in the atmosphere as you play it. Very few things feel pasted-on or forced, and the graphics manage to be stylish, soulful and pleasing even though they are very low-spec.
Outland is a gorgeous place, 10 levels of concentrated enjoyment who are worth endlessly much more than the dreadful 1-60 grind. Every single zone feels solid, impressive and thought-through. You get a sense of scale you seldom felt back in Azeroth. Especially when soaring across the vast, grassy plains of Nagrand on your flying mount, with the giant, broken flats of Oshu'gun under your feet, racing to assault an alliance city with 10 bloodthirsty guild mates has given me a game experience I never previously felt anything similar to. As you grow attached to the character you have meticolously built and you learn more and more about your class, the fact that you feel so distinctive when you participate in all these events contributes alot to the feeling.
The problem with WoW, which also has made it so popular, is the kindergarten factor. Players seldom have to face any challenge except for the obvious fact that you have to burn tons of your spare time on repetitive tasks, except for the endgame content, of course. This also means that much of what happens in the game is fixed, players have little raw influence on the world around them, completely different from EVE or Darkfall.
Thankfully the rated arena system, capturable PvP cities and such has begun to remedy this. Perhaps in the future with guild housing, more involved world PvP and different types of ranked PvP as well as inventive end-game boss encounters, WoW will reach a whole new level.
As for now, I will continue playing it because of the skill-intensive and addictive teamplay present in endgame arenas, where you feel like you are playing a 3rd person action-RPG crossed with Team Fortress with 20 times as many class roles.
Edited by Mathias, 01 June 2007 - 08:56.