Guild Wars: Eye of the North

It has been a long wait for this expansion; gamers had become accustomed to the six-month wait which came with Factions and Nightfall. So does Guild Wars: Eye of the North make the wait worth it? Or is its low price-tag indicative of its quality? I think you know.

The structure of this first true expansion to Guild Wars has not changed much since Nightfall. You can still acquire and command heroes, you're limited to using eight select skills during battle, and complete quests gained from NPCs throughout the adventurable lands. The formula is tried and true, and needs no real refinement; however, Eye of the North still brings plenty of new things to the table.

The story goes that earthquakes have ruptured areas of the Guild Wars world and you've been sent to investigate these new uncovered caverns. Of course, as things go, it isn't as simple as that. You'll find that within moments you're greeted by two new races not previously known in Guild Wars lore: the Norn, who are a half-giant race originating from Northern regions of Tyria not previously explored; and the Asura, a magical cave-dwelling race with a strikingly similar appearance to Stitch from Lilo and Stitch (you can read more about them here). You won't get a chance to play as them until Guild Wars 2, which is clever, because we're given such a desirable glimpse that anyone who has reservations about buying the sequel will find them vanish after playing Eye of the North for a few hours. They're excellent races, and feel very original.

The story does run quite deep from here but ends all too quickly; even when taking into consideration that this is just an expansion. Fortunately, though, the game offers plenty of side-quests and mini-games which will easily devour your precious hours of sleep. Mini-games range from dwarven boxing, whose name explains itself quite nicely, to Polymock, an Asuran game which will ring a bell for Pokemon fans as it plays in quite a similar fashion. You play against the AI with three “pieces” (which are creatures from the game), which each have individual skills at their disposal, to defeat your opponent by countering their “pieces”. It's fun stuff, and highly addictive, adding great value to a title already loaded with it.

In the original Guild Wars missions were its core - now, though, quests and dungeons are. The game's primary questline will have you travel all over the continent of Tyria via foot-travel over its expansive vistas or by way of Asuran portal. Though these quests aren't revolutionary, they do feel fresh, as most when completed reward the gamer with a nice cutscene and worthwhile stats, items and money. The reward feels worthwhile, which ultimately make the experience worthwhile too.

Many of the quests are completed within the game's 18 massive dungeons. Dungeons will for the most part remind you of The Legend of Zelda - not due to their design, but the way they work. You'll find the maps are remarkably similar, and even point where you must unlock doors to get to a boss. And like with quests, defeating these bosses can reap worthwhile rewards in the way of decently powered items.

AI, which is central to a game where a player must rely on their Heroes and Henchman, seems to have been improved, but only slightly. Henchman now have a better set of skills and will use them more appropriately, unlike in earlier iterations where players would scratch their heads wondering “why did he use that skill?”.

This improvement travels on a two lane street as both allies and enemies benefit from the same improvements. However, the enemies are in the fast-lane. Eye of the North has been designed for experienced players who have reached the level cap and are thirsting for more battles, so it's no wonder then that Eye of the North offers a harder campaign to battle through. In saying that, there won't be many times that veterans will throw down their hat and walk away, but they will at times feel the sweat trickle down their foreheads.

Visually, the game will stun you. Despite Eye of the North using an engine built nearly three years ago it does not fail to impress, and this is due in large part to the game's wonderful art direction. Areas feel more alive and open, which is a problem many areas of Factions suffered from. I hate to say it, and I know many Guild Wars vets will hate to hear it, but a lot of the areas feel like they've come straight out of World of Warcraft. But they have been given the Guild Wars touch and are better off for it.

Jeremy Soule, a videogame composer hero, has again returned for his fourth Guild Wars score and has delivered what is one of the greatest scores you will ever hear in a game. From the epic opening music to the roar of the war drums during battle, Soule's score really carries the success of Eye of the North to greater heights.

We've been playing Eye of the North for quite some time now (some would say too much) and will be for a while yet to come. By the end of the campaign you'll get a good understanding of where this franchise is going, and come Guild Wars 2 you'll want to be there as it hits. Eye of the North, with its low price-tag, marks incredible value sustained by the highest of quality. It may not be the best Guild Wars to date but that makes it no less of a necessary purchase.