You all know Blizzard, the company that has released awesome games such as Warcraft, Starcraft, and Diablo. However, in 2001, Blizzard let out its attempts to make an MMORPG based in the Warcraft world. Well folks, it has been 3 long years, but finally the wait is over, and let me be one of the first to say, it has been WELL worth the wait!

The graphics in this game are, quite simply, amazing. Your jaw will drop as you gaze out across the moonlit desert, or see the sun shining off the waters of a tranquil bay. Plus, the quality of the graphics is not dependent upon high-polygon models, but on expertly crafted textures. What this means is that even basic graphics cards can handle this game, still looking good with a decent frame rate!

Graphics- 9/10 The graphics are excellent in WoW, even on a fairly low-end machine. There is a certain life to it that other MMORPGs don't have; the bounce of a character's hair when he runs, a lack of stiffness when characters run or are standing around. And the cities and towns are excellent. A good example would be Lakeshire which is a small town in Redridge Mountains (a zone in the human lands) there are NPCs (Non Player Characters, controlled by the computer) that move around from time to time rather than stand in the same place all day and night. Overall impressive, maybe not the best out there, but pleasing to look at.

What objectively defines a role-playing game? The debate has been stretched out as far back as I can certainly recollect. You could say they originated in the form of classic traditional styles similar to that of Final Fantasy. Perhaps it is based off of an intricate setup of mechanics relating to the battle system and health display. Even the debate to conclude if Zelda is an RPG genre title continues to be heard throughout the echoes of the gaming realm. No matter how many ways you look at it, a role playing game should let you define what your character is. And I can assuredly say that only one table of the genre gives you the maximum customization possible, with plenty of addicting pulls along the way. All of which deriving from an expansive atmosphere and creative vision that has hit a mark others have so miserably missed.

Blizzards immensely popular Warcraft Franchise makes a massive leap into the online RPG fray. as many, as well as I, would agree, Warcraft still remains one of the most solid and fun real-time-strategy games to date (Starcraft as well.) But was it really all that cut out for the RPG realm?

World of Warcraft (or WoW as I like to call it) is the game that all MMORPG fans have been waiting for. Ever since the days of rolling dice in D&D, RPG players have been leveling up, collecting items, and defeating evil monsters. WoW is no exception to this tradition. I have been playing WoW for about 4 days, and my lvl 10 night elf druid has been the only thing in my mind. Before you even consider purchasing this game (or even playing the free trial), let me first say that this game is VERY VERY VERY VERY addicting.

World of Warcraft, the latest massively multiplayer online RPG (MMORPG) and one dealing with the milieu of Blizzard's best-selling Warcraft series, is one of those games where you have this mixed bag of everything good and outright horrible. This would have been a great game had it not been for the frustration factor - one that is very common in MMORPGs, unfortunately.

This game is amazing. I can't believe it. I cannot describe in words how great this MMORPG is. That said, let's move on to the review.

On a first look World of Warcraft looks like an ordinary MMORPG (massively multi-player online role playing games). You have level gaining, monster fighting, auction houses, money, etc. Ordinary yes, but World of Warcraft takes all of these ordinary things and improves them to make the game a whole lot better than other MMORPGs.

When I originally set out to review World of Warcraft, one of the most critically and commercially successful games of all time, I reconsidered. Despite being a regular on the GameFAQs World of Warcraft forum for almost a year, and a regular visitor of that website for almost four years, I had never before reviewed a game. I decided to wait, build my chops by reviewing a few other games first. That was two months ago as I write this (January '06). Though admittedly I didn't exactly challenge myself with the nine game's I chose to review (making this my tenth, what I perceived to be a kind of milestone), I believe have gotten a grasp on the art. Such a massively successful game deserves a critical, in-depth examination of what made it so popular in the first place