Here comes another slice of subscription-free gaming from those chaps behind the highly impressive Guild Wars. Following on from the massive success of their first free online RPG, NCsoft has released the first expansion pack for their game. Guild Wars: Factions is billed as an expansion but in many respects, it's actually a standalone game that can be played with or without a copy of the original Guild Wars.

As with the original Guild Wars, the premise is simple in Factions. Create a character, play with the character to build up his or her stats and eventually try to become the best and biggest badass in town, and then go kick some ass in the PvP Arenas.

Once again, NCsoft have done a fantastic job with the graphics in this game. What's even more impressive is that it looks pretty stunning on virtually any spec PC. The lavish landscapes are textured beautifully; mountains rise up to the sky triumphantly, water reflects your character's curious gaze and shimmers in the afternoon sun, grassy reeds brush against your character's thighs as he charges to his next bloody foray and sunlight refracts through forest canopies onto the ground below. All of these amazing visuals completely immerse the gamer within Guild Wars: Factions' lushly created world.

On the main screen, whilst playing the game, there are a number of various bars and symbols that pertain to your character's skills and information about your group, should you be travelling in a party. Your skills are located along the bottom of the screen and this bar can contain up to eight of them. This lends a very tactical element to the game, as there are literally hundreds of skills available to your character, so you have to pick and choose wisely to fit your circumstances at any given time. There's also a very intuitive mini-map in the top right hand of the screen, so you almost always know exactly where to go.

This mini-map also shows the player their 'Agro Zone', a zone which tells you where you're likely to be attacked, and points out any roving monsters in the nearby vicinity. In addition, players can click on the mini-map to send a shimmer across the map that allows players in their group to see where they are - this is ideal should you lose your teammates during a particularly hectic fracas with some creatures. You can also draw symbols on the mini-map to highlight a particular area, again very helpful if you're in a group and you're trying to illustrate to your teammates where to go. That said, this feature can also be used to draw pretty much anything, so expect to see swear words, crude depictions of human private regions and so on!

As well as phenomenal graphics, this game boasts some rock solid gameplay. Players can create a character and customise pretty much anything they like; name, gender, physical appearance, class. With this new version of the game, two new classes have been added - the Assassin and the Ritualist. The Assassin, as the name would suggest, is all about clinical, super-quick kills, while the Ritualist has a variety of shamanic spells at their disposal and can conjure creatures to help them in battle. These two classes are a very welcome addition to the other six classes already available from the first game.

In Factions, the storyline takes place in a new environment, south of the Tyria land from the previous game, in a place called Cantha, which definitely has a hint of the Far East about it. Players are introduced into the game and are offered the choice of a brief tutorial, or if they're already familiar with Guild Wars, they can launch straight into the immersing storyline. One of the best features in the game is that players from the previous Guild Wars game can travel between the original Tyria continent in the Guild Wars and the new Cantha continent in Factions. The two games co-exist beautifully, which is something that's hard to find on any format - sequels tend to crap all over the previous game, almost hiding the fact it ever existed.

Travelling is easier than ever before in an online RPG. To travel from town to town, all players have to do is open up the main map and click on where they'd like to go. This means that instead of wasting time travelling everywhere, à la World of Warcraft, players can use their time more profitably by fighting monsters and levelling up their character. This means that you're never missing out on the fun and kept on your toes throughout every minute of your playing time.

It has to be said that NCsoft have done it again. Once more they've created not only a mesmerisingly beautiful world but also an infinitely playable one to boot. This game, whether as an expansion to Guild Wars or as a standalone product, only serves to bolster the Guild Wars franchise and strengthen the position of NCsoft as a premium developer of online RPGs. Better looking than World of Warcraft, more playable than City of Villains, Guild Wars: Factions is a must for anyone who likes to strut their stuff online.

Reviewed by Ross Alexander for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).