‘Cataclysm doesn't just make WOW better. It does something even more valuable than that; it renews it. It fires your excitement at starting on that long road one more time, and invites you to relish the journey just as much as you'll lose yourself in its ending.’ Eurogamer couldn’t have put it better last December.
I’ve been playing World of Warcraft since the first game was released (WoW gamers call this release Vanilla – don’t ask me why). Unlike millions of people all around the world, I haven’t become an anti-social geek with around 20kg in extra fat but I do enjoy that good hour every day stuck in front of my PC socializing, raiding or just annoying other people.
Plot
With the release of Cataclysm, two new races emerged. The Worgen took the Alliance’s side and the goblins started helping out the Horde. Apart from the new races, a new skill was also created: Archaeology. This skill will let you roam around numerous dig sites all around Azeroth and dig for all sorts of treasures. In my opinion, it’s one of the most time-consuming skills to level but it also gives you a chance to explore Azeroth and as you level up, the rewards are quite worth all the effort you’ve been through.
Audio/Video
Not much has changed since the first release of World of Warcraft, but let’s face it, not much had to be changed anyway. The music is really captivating in its own way. Usually, the first thing I do when I start playing a game is turn off the background music. But in this case I can say that this particular medieval music goes down well. There’s not much anyone can say about the graphics. In my opinion, really few things have changed that can make you say WOW!! The good thing about the graphics is they’re not extreme (if you have a normal home PC) but they’re very easy on the eyes. Even if you’re not interested in the actual game you would still enjoy watching someone else playing it. With the cataclysm release, 3D was introduced and let me tell you, THAT is not easy on the eyes. I managed to play it for three minutes straight and was about to throw up. There are so many details and so many players that it’s just too confusing.
Gameplay
The gameplay in World of Warcraft was always the same so there’s not a lot I can comment about. To some people it might be too much since this is not your normal shooter where you just control the mouse and four keyboard keys. In the case of WoW, the player must use almost the whole keyboard. But it you’re into the game, that won’t stop you.
Personal Impact
Like I said before, I’ve been playing WoW for quite some time now but I can say that Cataclysm is a revolution in the World of Warcraft series. The new feature that interested me the most is the PUG (Pickup Group) system where you can queue up to go to in instance (dungeon) without having to spend at least an hour running around looking for people to join your party. The PUG system will create the party for you from players all around. The best thing is that they don’t even have to be playing on your server. That makes the queuing time relatively shorter. Exploration is now even more fun since big parts of the world have changed since Deathwing’s presence on Azeroth . World of Warcraft, unfortunately is not a game for everyone but I would easily recommend it to anyone who asks. But like Blizzard employees would say
‘Take your friends into Azeroth with you, but remember to take them out of Azeroth with you as well’
Overall Rating: 9/10
Written by Bejnamin P.