When I was 14, I was playing a game called Bloodbowl, a tabletop miniature game based around American football.
The appeal to me was the fact I could develop my team. I named my players,
trained their skills and treated their injuries. I actually cared for
their well-being.
Since then things have moved on a little. I’m now 29 with a house, car and
full-time job. The VCR is dead, mobile phones and ipods are a must have and
surfing without broadband is a NO!
However my gaming desires remain very much unchanged and I now find myself
caring not for a team of games workshop miniatures, but a 7’2” cow called
Topside who roams around an online world called Azeroth … and last month saw
the release of The Burning Crusade.
This expansion has seen the previous level cap raised from 60 to 70 … so I
took Topside into The Outlands to see what the fuss was about.
In the two years since Blizzard released the MMORPG World Of
Warcraft, over 8 Million souls worldwide have succumb to its devilish
addictiveness.
The Burning Crusade is the first in a series of planned expansions which add
new content, races, skills and items. The first major change is that TBC has
added two new races. The Blood Elves (horde) and the Draenei (alliance) are
available with the new patch and both races have brand new starting areas to
explore and each race has new racial Traits.
There is also a new profession called Jewelcrafting for players to try.
For new players starting out the new races and skills offer a wider choice
of variety. But if you have already made the long hard (and sometimes tedious)
grind to level 60 what is there for you?
Well Blizzard has raised the maximum level cap from 60 to 70. There are brand
new and far superior weapons, armour and items to be had, and all this can be
done in a brand new area. At level 70 you gain the ability to take to the
skies of Outland on the new flying mounts giving you access to previously
unreachable areas.
As from level 58 you can pass through the dark portal and begin to discover
the beauty and terror that awaits you in Outland. New mobs and new instances
abound are set in some of the most beautiful landscapes in the game.
PVP (Player Vs Player) combat has become an integral part of the game, and
the push towards PVP is evident in TBC. There are world PVP objectives in each
zone which is a welcome break to the monotony and sometimes repetitive quest
grinding. There is also a brand new PVP battleground which sees horde and
alliance doing battle for territory and flag capture in a Warsong Gulch meets
Arathi Basin type affair.
Blizzard has also introduced a more hectic type of PVP battle with the
introduction of Arena battles.
It’s hard to find anything bad to say…but I have so I will. I’m disappointed
by the lack of a new class. Sure Blizzard has made the Paladin available to
Horde and the Shaman available to Alliance, but this to me seems a bit of a
cop out. Also, I was initially impressed with the new variety in the quests.
However, now Topside is level 68 and I’m beginning to feel like I’m repeating
myself again. Also, the many gaming hours I had put in before TBC to improve
my items have almost been in vain as you quickly find your Azeroth rare and
epic items becoming obsolete due to the sheer power of the new items available
in Outlands.
To say that Warcraft was already a great game is an understatement, and TBC
has only served to improve upon that. I mean any game that has a dedicated
therapy clinic must be addictive! And with constant feedback from the 8
Million subscribers worldwide and free updates from Blizzard I’m sure the game
will continue to evolve and improve until the next expansion.
The prospect of something new to do alone would have made purchasing TBC a
no-brainer. However, Blizzard have really taken care to ensure that the
expansion is worthy of player’s time and money. Make no doubt about it folks,
if you want to play Warcraft then you NEED this expansion pack.
"Can I roll need plzzzz?!"
And for fans of the game who want to see some more info about it, check
out these two links which form an interview on BBC2's Working Lunch with the creators
of the game:
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Burning Crusade: 
When I was 14, I was playing a game called Bloodbowl, a tabletop miniature game based around American football.
In the two years since Blizzard released the MMORPG World Of
Warcraft, over 8 Million souls worldwide have succumb to its devilish
addictiveness.
As from level 58 you can pass through the dark portal and begin to discover
the beauty and terror that awaits you in Outland. New mobs and new instances
abound are set in some of the most beautiful landscapes in the game.
To say that Warcraft was already a great game is an understatement, and TBC
has only served to improve upon that. I mean any game that has a dedicated
therapy clinic must be addictive! And with constant feedback from the 8
Million subscribers worldwide and free updates from Blizzard I’m sure the game
will continue to evolve and improve until the next expansion.
