Warhammer Online doesn’t waste time with petty introductions. Just seconds after starting the game, you make the most important decisions of all: Selecting your character’s faction (two choices), race (three per faction), and career (another three options). The factions basically boil down to good and evil, but the other choices are more complex because they dictate how you’ll play the game. Certain characters are more difficult to play than others, but each offers unique gameplay elements. Once you choose your faction on a game server, you can create 10 characters, but they all must belong to the faction you chose. So yeah, choose wisely… because Warhammer Online isn’t messing around with warm-ups or second chances.
Blade-limbs and tentacles aren't the only benefits of playing a Marauder. You also get a cute kilt.
Really, the expectation is that you’ve played this kind of game before and know the implications of your decisions, so anyone unfamiliar with the MMORPG universe will likely stumble through their first 10 levels or so. Fortunately, once you get the hang of it, the experience is rich and rewarding. You can embark on solo quests, start battles alongside other players, fight against other players, join guilds, start guilds, craft items, and explore the enormous (and beautiful) world.
The game’s main focus is realm-versus-realm and player-versus-player combat, where the two factions square off for control over important locations and items. This ends up feeling a bit like king of the hill with hundreds of allies and enemies. It’s fun, and it’s often marked by anticipatory standoffs and chaotic, frenzied battles. Since you’ll receive experience bonuses for killing sprees and capturing enemy areas, there’s plenty of motivation. Like any good MMO, Warhammer Online has an important social aspect, and you’ll find banter and advice filling the in-game chat at all times, even late into the night. Once you make friends, you can join groups or warbands to help fight your way through difficult quests while sharing the rewards and experience with your crew.
During our testing, we heard some concerns that the game’s servers weren’t always evenly balanced and some murmurs that the cards were stacked in favor of the much cooler Destruction faction. But in our experience, this rarely seems to occur during prime-time hours, and as more Mac users join the fray, things will likely become even less skewed.
The 10-level trial is a free download, and the full game costs $19.95 to buy and then $15 a month to play, so it's an investment. Warhammer Online's gameplay is great enough to repay that expense, or at least a few months of it, whether you're a practiced MMO player or not. The impressive game world, graphics, and combat will keep you coming back for more.
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
COMPANY: Electronic Arts
CONTACT: www.warhammeronline.com
PRICE: $19.95 to buy, $15 per month to play
REQUIREMENTS: Intel Core Duo processor, Mac OS 10.5.7 or later, 2GB RAM, ATI X1600 or Nvidia 7300GT with 128MB of video RAM, 15GB free disk space.
Huge world. Good graphics. Engaging gameplay. Addictive reward system. Tons to do at all times. ESRB rating: Teen.
Uneven populations on several servers. Somewhat difficult to learn. Solo questing can be cumbersome after level 10. Crafting skill is lame. The game's success is based on how many people play.
