Guild Wars Nightfall - Review. 3D Chat meets Dungeon Siege?

Imagine a 3D chat enviroment, like Moove. Then imagine Dungeon Siege. Blend both, and you have Guild Wars - Nightfall. Sounds like a good idea? Read on:

First, I would like to congratulate Anet for offering no free trials whatsoever in a game that is easily purchasable online. Your intentions are obvious and it really doesn't take a genius to realize that if your revenues only come from the game sales, then it is in your best interest to sell the game... regardless if people are happy with it or not after they purchased it.
Lesson learned, kids. ALWAYS beware of software that is relunctant to let you try it for free.

If you are curious about the game as I was, DO spend the 5 dollars or so they ask for the trial DVD before getting the game, even if it means waiting for a few days, you might save yourself money on the long run.


Now for the review:


I can't begin to express my disapointment in this game. The hype this game got makes me wonder if people are playing the same game as me, or if they just aren't that demanding on getting their cash worth.

For starters, the graphics are seriously poor, even cranked up at maximum quality, they are not-cohesive with the background and objects, plus the animation is awkward.

The user interface is at best cluttered and confusing. Even though it is highly custom friendly it looks like something from the Dungeon Siege programmer's scratch board, where, by the way, this game goes alot for looks inspiration; the looting system and AI henchmen/hero are a good example.

On that, the henchmen and hero's sound like a great idea at first but, again, it works against it. It makes pve too easy. Most times you will just run amock and mayheming stuff while your artificial buddies heal and join you in the over easy slaughter. Oh and you can't jump. Nor can you fall off cliffs. And when you try to venture too much you will be stopped by invisble walls. Follow the designated path and you will be fine. So much for exploring.

The sound effects are quite decent, the theme music is catchy and appropriate, but the good news fade fast. The voices feel forced and over acted. The less said about the intros&cinematics, the better. Let's just say that the good side is they are skippable, since they look forcefully glued together. Such seems to be the mote of the game.

The plot is, unfortunatly, irrelevant. You don't really feel compeled to know what's happening, nor do you ever get attached to your AI companions. You just move on from spot A to spot B and kill things or talk to someone. There is no sense of depth. Instant travelling, something that sounds like a great idea, doesn't help any. The additional fact that each player gets their own copy of the area they quest in makes it even worse in terms of depth. The intention of PVE is merely to get you to full level asap so you can join the game's greatest strengtht: PVP.

Sad thing is PVP feels somewhat mechanic but it is indeed the most fun from the bundle... still, hardly worth spending 40 dollars on it.

There's a paradoxal attitude behind Nightfall's PVE logic. In theory, since you are offered the choice to create a fully leveled PVP character, that should mean that if you chose the PVE path, the content should be something that should be rewarding and fun. It is neither.


After playing the game, it then became clear to me why there are no downloadable trials. If I was a publisher that had a game with no monthly revenues and which profit came from copy sales, I too would try to hide it from customer's critical eye before they could at least purchase the trial keys, and preferably offer those purchasable trial keys only after the game sold a bunch of copies due to hype.


The upside: No monthly fee's. Highly customable User Interface. Option to create a full leveled character for PVP bliss. PVP can be fun. There's less grinding compared to other online RPG's. Henchmen/Heroes are great if you can't find people willing to join your adventures. Sound effects and music are decent.

The downside: Gameplay is as clumsy as the graphics are, with unfinished looks and a confusing (but customable) UI. No real sense of immersion. Confusing to interact with other players even for mundane tasks. No real motivation to play with other players since most of the content can be played with the help of hired NPC's. There's little sense of a world worth exploring. Looks and plays like an average shareware budget game but with a full retail price.

Conclusion: If you are still curious and tempted to get the game (like I was), don't let the "free monthly fee" be the only reason since that is only a major selling point if you DO endup playing the game often. There are other choices with no monthly fee's that are much more enjoyable than this game, if not in the Online-RPG, at least in the RPG world.
Even an old school title like Dungeon Siege 1 or 2, which undoubtly served as an inspiration for this game, would prove more fun.

DO try before you buy, chances are you won't get seriously addicted to it and you will save yourself 40 bux in the process.