Guild Wars games were always about giving players a fresh start, offering something new with only the core mechanics following the old rules. Leaving behind the war ravaged lands of Tyria from Prophecies, players embarked on a crusade against opposing factions in the Chinese themed Factions and later fought against evil in the Egyptian-like lands of Nightfall. But while all of these adventures offered plenty for all, veterans who have been playing the series since the start never got a real chance to take one of their favorite characters somewhere beyond. Eye of the North aims to give all GW lovers the opportunity to do just that.

Youngsters not welcome

For the first time in Guild Wars history people interested in Eye of the North can’t just go out and purchase it. Besides the obvious limitation of needing a lvl20 character in order to play, the main problem would be the fact that GWEN (abbreviation of the title) is not a stand-alone title. Yes, that’s right, after three completely individual chapters in the Guild Wars saga ArenaNet finally decided to release a true expansion pack, the kind you usually associate with MMOs (or any other game for that matter). And just like any standard expansion, GWEN presents old characters with new, usually tougher challenges.

First things first though – getting to the new content. As mentioned just a few lines back, having a fully leveled up character is a must, and considering the foes you battle early on having a good set of armor isn’t a bad idea either. If you meet both requirements getting to northern Tyria where GWEN takes place is just a matter of finishing a quest. This is where things could get tricky however. Travelling to northern Tyria makes sense for Prophecies characters, but what about characters from one of the other two Guild Wars chapters? As luck would have it ArenaNet got this covered – characters from every continent just have to travel to the local capital and take on a quest that has them going underground. There, after an intense escape sequence players come across a teleportation ring and before they know it they are traveling in the far reaches of the Shiverpeak mountains.

Free like a bird

Guild Wars titles have always been about free gameplay and having tons of choices about what to do next. But when it comes to the main storyline the games have been pretty linear (with the only exception being the choice of faction in GW: Factions). This is no longer the case however – GWEN offers player three completely independent storylines, each leading players into a completely different area of Tyria. All three quest lines are tied in with a specific race or faction, and they generally take a lot of work, often having branching quests at various points. To top it off, in typical MMO fashion every town has several quests that are completely unrelated to the main storyline. Usually such quests are needed to gain experience, but considering that all of the GWEN content is intended for maxed out characters one might wonder what good these quests are. Other than the fun and monetary rewards, the main allure of these tasks are faction points. Each of the three factions/races you will be helping have their own set of weapons and more importantly armor. To get access to these specific merchants you have to have to be in good standing with the individual factions though, so you’ll want to do every single quest you come across.

Even more so once you start meeting people who already acquired the new armor sets. The previous armor sets were all nice, but by now even the most hard to get ones have been a common sight for at least 6 months. The same will happen with the new armor sets in GWEN sooner or later, but at least for now the 3+ different sets for each class and gender make up for tons of different fresh new looks. The same is true for some new weapon designs and the occasional new spell effect.

Smarter, meaner and more deadly

I won’t go over how combat works in Guild Wars again (check out our Nightfall review if you need a refresher course), but it’s worth pointing out that the new areas have plenty of new foes that want to crush your skull in. And unlike the groups of numbnuts that populate the rest of the Guild Wars world, the enemies in GWEN actually work together as a team. This means that the spellcasters try to keep their distance while the melee fighters rush in, interrupting your spells and keeping you away from their weaker allies.

As if being smarter was not enough, they are mostly tougher than the mobs you’d meet outside of the new areas. The result is that you’ll have to carefully plan every single encounter, especially if you are playing on your own, with only the AI heroes and henchmen at your side. What you end up with is an MMO where routine fighting is all but impossible, as even the tiniest mistake can cost you your life and that of your entire party.

To even things up at least a bit the authors put new skills into the game, some of which are actually extremely powerful. Doing massive damage while simultaneously slowing down your opponents isn’t all that uncommon with the new skill sets, which can come in handy when traveling the various dungeons littered about the world. These extra powerful skills are fortunately PvE only, so the balance of PvP fights hasn’t been affected.

Speaking of dungeons, there are 18 new multi-layered dungeons to be found in GWEN. MMO trained ears immediately think “raid” when hearing the word dungeon mentioned, but in GW dungeons are all but raids. Often requiring a surprising amount of ingenuity to overcome some of the puzzles, these trips into the underworld present a welcome respite from traditional instanced fighting that is so prevalent in GW. Some of these dungeons aren’t really that big, but some take between an hour or two to cross from one end to the other. And considering that most of the quests don’t have you fully exploring these gigantic underground cave systems, you have plenty of reasons to go back and explore some more on your own.

The rest

Ironically enough, it wasn’t the new quests or storyline I ended up spending most of my time with. Instead, I found myself spending a surprising amount of time playing Polymock, a real-time Pokemon clone. This rather simple head to head confrontation with another Polymock player (which can, at least for now, only be an AI player) has you choose three beasts, than battle it out against the opponent who did the same thing. Having 8 skills at your disposal on each beast you are tasked with bringing down the foe’s 3 creatures one by one before he does the same to you. As said it is all very simple, but it is this simplicity that allows it to be so enjoyable. Polymock is not the only mini-game available; you can play Dwarven-boxing as well. The later doesn’t need any further explaining, as the name really tells the whole story.

From the looks of it, GWEN is the last GW release we will see before Guild Wars 2 hits the street. To commemorate that and award veteran players the developers included the Hall of Monuments into the game. This instanced hall will allow players to “store” certain items, miniatures and achievements, so that the character’s descendants will be able to access them in Guild Wars 2. It’s nothing more than a gimmick at this time, but I’m sure that veterans will appreciate the fact that they can leave a mark in the game.

My first moments in the landscapes of GWEN were mostly filled with uncontrollable drooling and ogling. The amount of detail that was put into all of the new areas is simply mind blowing, especially knowing that the engine is over 2 years old. It seems that by knowing the engine inside out ArenaNet managed to use little tricks to make the areas appear even more vivid. As an example, one of the first areas you’ll visit is a mountain path, located in the heart of the Shiverpeak mountain range. The distant mountains are carefully textured and then covered with normal maps, giving them the illusion that they are far more detailed than they actually are. I know it’s a simple effect, but surprisingly few games employ similar tricks, which makes their appearance in a game using an old engine even that more impressive. Other than the great looking new areas not much has changed about the looks of the game – the characters still look amazing (with a slight hint of anime), as do the countless spell effects.

One area of the game that received a huge overhaul is the music. Well, the system is still the same as before, but the musical score by Jeremy Soule is simply his best work yet. The perfect tempo, melodies that blend in together and themes that are perfectly suited for the areas they are played in. I caught myself starting up the game simply because I wanted to listen to the login menu theme, it’s really that good.

Conclusion

Guild Wars: Eye of the North delivers to the table plenty of new content for veteran players. The sheer amount of new terrain rivals each of the three GW chapters, as does the number of new skills. The move away from missions and towards dungeons is welcome - bringing some much needed change to the PvE dynamic. The fact that it is suited only for veteran players might put off newcomers, but it makes the experience that much better for all the longtime players of GW. Highly recommended!

Gameplay 88/100 It is still GW, but a lot harder. You’ll die a lot, but always come back to get more. Graphics 89/100 If nobody told you this was GW, you’d think the Unreal 3.0 engine was behind it all. Sound 92/100 A soundtrack that gives a run for its money to huge scores like the one from LOTR. Value 82/100 The campaign is not the longest, but with all the extra quests and mini-games you’ll be playing for a while. Multiplayer 84/100 Play alone or play with friends. It’s entirely up to you! Overall (not an average) 87/100 Finally some new content for high level players. If you finished at least one GW title and don’t want to start over in another chapter, this is the expansion for you!