Classification: M
Platform: PC
Test Platform: PC
Details
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment; Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
A great expansion which breathes new life into an aging game.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------The fictional world of Azeroth has had its fair share of problems over the years, having suffered through invasions of blood-thirsty orcs, demons, and the undead. And if all that wasn't bad enough, now an ancient dragon named Deathwing has burst forth from the earth, and he’s not pleased. With anything. At all. Cataclysm is the third and latest expansion released for the hugely popular MMO World of Warcraft, and it introduces two new playable races, a new secondary profession, a raised level cap of 85, and enough high level content to keep players busy for quite some time.
The two new races both complement each other nicely – the Goblin quests are fun, silly and let you blow up monkeys, whereas the werewolf-like Worgens’ quests are much darker. As a Goblin, you start out as an up-and-coming Trade Prince, and will spend your time suiting up, driving around in your hot rod, and entertaining guests at wild Goblin parties. Of course, things quickly spiral out of control when a certain anti-social dragon makes an appearance and starts blowing things up. The Worgen story starts with you playing as one of the last remaining humans fighting alongside the king of Gilneas against a never ending stream of wolf-men, until – spoiler – you get bitten and become one yourself. The Worgen are a lot more doom and gloom than their Horde counterparts.
For high level characters, the new 80 – 85 zones do a great job of keeping the over-arching Cataclysm storyline flowing coherently whilst giving each area its own distinct look and feel. You'll summon up ancient gods on the peak of Mount Hyjal, ride giant seahorses through the gorgeous sunken city of Vashj'ir, and attempt to stop the whole world from collapsing in on itself in Deepholm. You've really got to hand it to Blizzard's graphical wizards for managing to keep a game with such an out-of-date graphics engine looking so pretty. The music is fantastic too, although the voice acting is for the most part sub-par. One gryphon-riding loud mouth dwarf, in particular, made me want to punch my computer right in the sound card.
Archaeology, the new secondary profession in the game, is basically a World of Warcraft themed game of hot and cold. You go to randomly assigned dig sites in search of ancient treasures which for the most part are completely worthless, although they will often reveal a little bit of lore. Every now and then you'll get a rare item – the only items of note I have received thus far are a pet raptor skeleton and a statue which...makes my character's head shiny, as far as I can tell, but apparently there are some cool and powerful items you can obtain this way. It's a relaxing way to take a break from slaughtering monsters, at least.
Cataclysm is a fantastic addition to World of Warcraft, and despite a couple of annoying glitches I've run into, it's a definite must-have for any long time player. It's a lot harder to recommend it to new players – you'll need not only the original game, but both of the previous expansions to play Cataclysm – but on the upside, the original game content has had a major overhaul, so even new players who only own the original game can get a fresh experience.
Post a Comment