Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Highly addictive"

After playing World of Warcraft a year ago, I hated it. So I tried Guild Wars. Hated it. Then Anarchy. Guess what? I hated it. I hated Everquest. I hated Hellgate. This game fixes all the problems I had with them.

One of the main problems was grinding. A lot of companies use grinding as a cheap way to get the players to play the game. What it really does is bore them to tears and make them quit the game. I don't know why the put it in, and I also wonder why so many people like World of Warcraft, but it certainly needs to be replaced.

This game takes a ton of the grinding away and only leaves some remains. Sure, you have to gain experience for Command Rank and Battle Rank, but you'll get that without even noticing it. Plus, you don't need it. Certifications only give you new things. They don't make you instantly better at anything (another reason I hated World of Warcraft). I found myself actually playing the game for fun; not for leveling up.

Another problem was repetitiveness and lame combat. In most MMOs, you found yourself doing the same tedious combat, clicking and watching, clicking and watching, clicking and watching. It gets boring! This game still has some repetitiveness, but pays back with top-of-the-line combat and better gameplay. Even when almost every battle had the same objective, it was hard for me to get bored. It was different enemies, different tactics, and different methods. No battle was the same.

Overall, this game is one of the best MMOs ever. It still has some flaws (such as the graphics being outdated and combat isn't really a revolution in the FPS genre), but overall it's great. If you're looking for an MMO that has more action and is not just a way to pass time, look no further.