Friday, October 24, 2014

REVIEW: A World of Wizards


By Bridger Berg (Wizard101: Malorn SoulBane)
PHS Press staff member

Wizard101 is a computer game released by Kingsisle games in 2008. Now, in 2014, it has over 30 Million wizards.

Kingsisle has since made Pirate101, Wizard101’s “Sister Game” and a few games for handheld devices. In Wizard101, the player is the wizard, and they complete quests and battles in worlds of the “Spiral” (The magical universe in which all Kingsisle games take place), such as Moo Shu, Wizard City, and DragonSpire. All of this takes place within a very rich storyline, which the game will have to be played to be fully experienced, but it includes a Fired Teacher, a dead wife, and a massive dragon. (What’s there not to like?)

When a player has finished downloading the game, they will be taken to a room, in which they will be directed to choose their gender, name, look, starting clothes…and class!

There are seven classes of focus in Wizard101, which are Death, Life, Fire, Myth, Storm, Ice, and Balance, all with unique spells, such as Myth’s focus on summoning minions into combat and piercing enemy defenses. The combat in the game is another one of those “Card game dueling” Types, but don’t give up on it just yet! Wizards cast spells with cool animations to deal damage and heal themselves, shields to reduce damage of attacks by opponents (that have cool animations), Blades and traps to boost damage of their attack spells (did I mention these have cool animations?), and can train pets to give them many different special combat skills.

The game is free to play, but after a few areas of Wizard City, players will have to pay $10/Month for a membership, which unlocks all areas in game, or pay a few Crowns, the premium currency in the game (Differs from “Gold” in the way you can’t earn it, you have to buy it) to permanently unlock a single area in the game.

The game is an MMO (massively multiplayer online), so if you’re having trouble with an area, you can always go to Wizard City and ask for help! Well enough talking, it’s time for you to find out if the game is right for you!

1 comment:

  1. Great job Bridger! I haven't played the game myself because it seemed dumb at first but once I hear the way you talk about it I kind of want to play it!

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