Admit it - if you are not a current player of Blizzard's unstoppable MMORPG series, World of Warcraft, you have either played it at one point or were intrigued by it. Expansive worlds and deep gameplay that leads to rewarding experiences shared with the thousands of human players makes for a convincing argument - especially for the person with MMORPG or PC action RPG experience. For those lacking such experience, or without friends endowed with it in those two genres, World of Warcraft may prove to be daunting, confusing and unnecessarily frustrating; not knowing where to go or how to build strong characters, as well as the inability to progress at a natural speed without help, can lead many down the path of a terrible experience. Oh, and there is that $15 a month fee on top of actually purchasing the game - yuck.

So, what is a rookie to do? With quite a few options to choose from, NCSoft's Guild Wars has pushed its way to the front of the user-friendly pack over the last few years. While keeping with the expansive world and large online human player base, Guild Wars adds a simpler user interface that always shows where to go when on quests, with gaming fields empty of uninvited and potentially dangerous players, as well as the ability to build a party, giving you the option to play alone. And, this is a big one - no subscription charges after the initial purchase! The only real problem with Nightfall is that, just as with the other two instalments in the series, as you gain experience in the genre, the desire for adventuring on a grander scale sets in.

For myself, Nightfall was not my first foray into the world of MMORPGs and similar games like Diablo II that led to their immense popularity. I bought Final Fantasy XI for the PS2 when it first came out, the $100 PlayStation 2 Final Fantasy XI, but after my free month was up I couldn't find a way to justify the $15 a month fee just to continue to repeatedly die alone. I played World of Warcraft for about a month, but after becoming sick of struggling to adventure alone yet again, as my guildmates were further along, I again couldn't justify the monthly fee. As a console gamer nearly exclusively, I was never in the MMORPG loop and never bothered to find another, possibly free, game to play.

Then came 2006 and the third instalment in the Guild Wars series, Nightfall, fell into my lap. All I knew about the game at this time was that it was free to play after buying the game and it was an MMORPG - that was it. Nightfall comes in two forms (not counting the collector's edition, which must not be that collectable since I see it new in stores constantly) - the version that comes on discs and the digital version I have, which is quite ingenious. The game downloads each area as you visit them, only storing visited areas on your hard drive for quick access and characters are stored with NCSoft. As long as you have a broadband connection and don't mind a wait of a few minutes every once in awhile when you enter a new area, this is a nice, clutter-free option.

Nightfall tells the story of your created character's rise through the ranks of the Order of the Sunspears, a military faction that appears to be loosely based on Egyptian culture. As you progress through the ranks, stopping an evil event known as Nightfall, tied to the return of a lost god, becomes the focus of your adventure. You create your own character, having control over their sex, basic look and one of eight different main professions - physical attacking warrior, ranger, dervish and paragon (the latter two being Nightfall-specific) and the spellcasting monk, elementalist, necromancer and mesmer. The story is told through a multitude of characters and quests throughout the game, some through cut scenes but mostly through text bubbles. For the most part though, the story takes a backseat to the game itself, as there are very few moments that pull a player's focus away from the next quest.

Why is that? Through a combination of to-the-point quests and intuitive controls it becomes hard to not think about gaining levels, learning new spells and visiting new locales. Completing the quests handed out by the residents throughout the Nightfall world is key to progression, as well as gaining money and experience. But unlike World of Warcraft, nearly every quest given in Nightfall not only tells you exactly what to do and where to do it with trying to be cryptic, but the steps of each are marked on the map. Along with the instant warp points between visited cities, you will never find yourself wandering lost in the wilderness. The actual tasks these quests ask you to accomplish vary greatly, touching everything from item fetching to "go kill this" and "protect this person" quests, to unexpected quests such as manning catapults or helping to capture a wild hog. In addition to these, there are also time-sensitive quests, such as the holiday-themed Wintersday Festival quests and Signets that give bonuses if players help defeat certain types of enemies.

The controls are handled as any other MMORPG, directly controlling your character with the keyboard or mouse, but with a small RTS twist, as you can override your party members' actions, giving them out specific orders. Your party, at one point or another, will contain Hero characters - party members with back stories that can be raised much like your personal character - and hired hands, which cannot level up or be customized in any way. Heroes are essentially fill-ins for other human players, as everything a playable character needs - equipment, stat points spending and skills picking - is all present. Adventuring alone in Nightfall is never close to the burden it can be in other games, an overdue feature to the genre.

Attacking enemies is as simple as clicking on them for regular attacks, although your party members will immediately begin attacking as soon as an enemy engages you in case you are taken by surprise. Up to eight special attacks and skills, each with in-depth descriptions, can be mapped to the number keys and/or in-game bar for one-press access. The variety of special attacks is large, as each weapon type, profession and sub-profession has their own set. Building the best set of eight can be confusing, especially once you factor in the second profession, so consulting with friends, other users or the Internet is greatly encouraged. Just don't expect to be able to alter your skills on the battlefield - this can only be done while in a town or city, leaving you to waste time backtracking if you find a new weapon or want to change your skills on a whim.

The presentation of Nightfall takes a realistic approach when compared to Final Fantasy XI and World of Warcraft, which allows it to stand apart from those two. The majority of characters are human, with the fantasy variations coming in clothing rather than physical appearance. The landscapes are lush, overflowing with flora and fauna, all draped in a varied, natural palette, injecting individuality into each area you enter. Towns and cities, the only places where you will see other players who aren't in your party, are compact, usually leaving you to only interact with the commercial areas. This is both a blessing, as there are few problems navigating through the towns, and a curse, as they are normally full of other users and that can bog down lower end systems, regardless of the quality of your Internet connection.

The realism continues with the sounds of Nightfall, as they bring to life the graphics with haunting accuracy. The clashing of weapons against flesh, the clanking of armor as you run, the crashing waves on the nearby coastline and the various cries, screams and yells of the enemies and beasts - every single sound effect adds extra depth the graphics, pulling you even further away from the real world into that of Nightfall. The soundtrack is well composed and varied, quietly humming in the background while exploring and roaring with anxiety during battles. You won't be rushing out for the soundtrack, but it handles the role given to it without complaint.

As far as lifespan goes, Nightfall gives and takes. The world is imposing in size, with plenty of quests, side missions and items to pursue, something that is helped by the periodical time-sensitive events. While you can't fight against other players in the main game, you can engage them in PVP battles. Join an active guild and you might find little reason to ever stop playing, as you play with friends to not only progress through the story but to gain notoriety for yourselves. On the other hand, by restricting non-party player interaction almost exclusively to town and city hubs, the lacking humanity - that sinking feeling that nothing your player does is actually affecting the game world - can eventually drag down the experience for gamers prone to play alone. In case you forgot though, there is no monthly fee accompanying any of the Guild Wars games - that alone will be enough lasting appeal reasoning for many a frugal gamer!

Even while running the game on a computer just meeting the requirements, I was still able to see and enjoy the presentational work put into the world of Guild Wars: Nightfall, not to mention having the game in a playable form. I can only imagine that playing on a mid-range system would greatly increase the experience - one of the signs of a truly solid PC game. Players new to MMORPGs would do themselves a great injustice to skip over Nightfall, as the addition of Heroes makes this rookie-friendly series more than approachable to the beginner.

Reviewed by Tony Peters for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).