Once upon a time, MMORPGs were an oddity, played by a few diehard individuals. Until the emergence of broadband, it was so damn infuriating that few were mad enough to try it. I personally remember playing Ultima Online with a dial-up connection - oh what fun it was to run into a fight, wait ten seconds for the game to realise you had selected attack, suddenly have the game freeze because the four players on screen was a bit too much for the servers and then two minutes later to have the screen change to a view of your dead naked body, some scumbag having taken advantage of the fact you couldn't fight back and taken the equipment you spent six weeks getting enough gold to buy. Oh, those were the days!

While regular occurrences like that prevented these games from ever reaching the popular market, things have changed dramatically in recent years; widespread cheap broadband and a community that is now used to spending many hours online has massively expanded the potential customer base. This has allowed giants such as World of Warcraft to rise to the forefront, and it has also allowed developers to take new and distinct approaches, such as with Guild Wars.

So what is it that makes Guild Wars stand out? It's not gameplay, although it's good here it only emulates other games. It's certainly not storyline, as the last two outings caused me plenty of headaches when I tried figure out what on earth was going on. It is an altogether new approach that's most easily noted in one simple fact - Guild Wars is an MMORPG with no monthly fee. No forking out fifteen dollars a month (a lot over a year) as well as paying for the game itself. Yes, Guild Wars is cheap. Now you may immediately think this tells you something about the game's quality - in other words, you get what you pay for. On the contrary, Guild Wars is well designed, well programmed and can keep you entertained for hours on end. The price fits with the overall philosophy; Guild Wars is aimed at the casual player and you don't have to keep updating and adding new content to the game world, something that can be irksome when you're only playing for a couple of hours a week.

Although Guild Wars is aimed at the casual player, that's not to say there isn't lots to do. There is so much to the game that you will be unlikely to tire of it before the release of the next edition. There's a long storyline that is designed to guide you through to the top levels and has a lot more direction than in other MMORPGs. The map area is huge, and you can join a guild and take part in guild battles, or simply turn up at one of the combat arenas and engage in Player vs Player battles with a group of friends or randomly assigned players. Solo play is easy; there are NPC henchmen that can be used to bulk out the numbers of your party and even when teaming up with other players you can add henchmen up to a maximum party size that varies from mission to mission. This can also be used to fill up positions that would otherwise be impossible to fill, for example the vast shortage of priests in World of Warcraft.

Despite these many strengths, Guild Wars does however lack the absolute freedom that is present in other MMORPGs and you do feel that your actions do not impact significantly upon those around you. Indeed, it is possible to play through the entire game alone by simply using henchmen, although doing this is obscenely difficult, as real players are, well most of them at least, more intelligent than the AI. The whole game is played in instances, except for meeting places and towns, so you never have random encounters with other players or get to watch them defeat a boss and learn how to do it for yourself. However, this does remove the need to wait for respawns, and indeed the absence of respawns altogether helps keep up the reality of the game. There is also a lack of crafting and non-combat careers however, neither is there any player housing.

Level progression is designed to be fast and to fit in with the main missions; as you progress from one mission to another, you should be at the level to compete, never having to spend hours constantly grinding the same enemy until you finally level up. In fact, most experience is gained from completing missions, rather than from combat. Also, for those of you only interested in PvP, you can create a PvP character who starts at the maximum level, with equipment and skills already chosen. These come from a preset list, which removes variety, but it's a good way to get involved in the game while you develop your own character by progressing through the missions.

The combat system is fairly familiar; you have a main class and a secondary profession, chosen from a list of eight. Your class determines your attributes and appearance, while your secondary profession gives you access to a few additional abilities, in order to give your character some individuality and a degree of tactical depth. You choose a set of eight skills and each can be employed in combat at the click of a button. You may learn additional skills, but you can only equip one set during a mission, forcing you to choose particular tactics and stick to them. The combat is a simple point and click affair - you must choose the correct skill combinations and use them at the correct times, and that's really all there is to it. However, combat is very fast paced and working together as a team is hampered by this fact; I have found the need for group tactics more prevalent in other games than it is here.

Graphically the game pleases, particularly with the characters' appearances, and you will rapidly notice that all the females are very scantily clad! The scenery is varied, although perhaps lacking in detail, while the spell effects could have been more spectacular, but overall the look is pleasing. Guild Wars has taken the approach of looking more realistic as opposed to a cartoon-like style, although some of the enemies are a little odd, like the giant walking plants shaped like fans. The music is good, but the sound effects are bland to say the least; they're identifiable so you know what is going on, but they detract from the atmosphere, rather than enhancing it, sounding too simple and very artificial.

For those who have played previous incarnations of Guild Wars, the changes in this Nightfall expansion are notable but subtle. The two new classes from Factions (assassins and ritualists) have been dropped in favour of two new classes, the dervish (a holy warrior) and the paragon (a support character), who both have similar abilities to the classes they replace. It is possible to transfer an assassin or ritualist between the games however, so those who have invested time in Factions need not worry! The storyline in Nightfall is well thought out and the missions have been made grander, with the more tasks beyond fighting your way through group after group of enemies. For example, in the first mission you collect catapult ammo and carry it to catapults, which you then fire at docked enemy ships, triggering very satisfying explosions. The side missions include a few well-planned events, such as a time when you're walking through the wilderness and overhear a group of people arguing. If you wait and listen, one of them approaches you and asks a favour that will help him win that argument. There are many little touches and features like this that are designed to keep you more immersed in the game - and they work very well.

Guild Wars is a game that makes a great introduction to online role playing and it's a fun way to while away a few hours each week, yet it's unlikely it'll be remembered as one of the greats. The experience is a little under whelming and you are always aware that you are playing a game, never quite drawn into the atmosphere and game world enough, as with WoW. Still, there's a lot of enjoyment and variety to be found here, and Nightfall certainly adds enough for fans of Guild Wars to make the purchase, while the fact that there's no monthly fee is enough of a plus point to recommend this to MMORPG fans who haven't tried Guild Wars before, as well as newcomers who are curious about the genre but have been put off by the need to plunge endless hours in and pay a monthly fee.

Reviewed by Gavin Udall for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).