The hype-o-meter was off the charts just prior to Warhammer Online's release this year, and when the game finally did come out, gamers found it to be a refreshing change of pace at the same time as being a heck of a lot of fun. Unlike so many other MMOs out there, WAR allows you to get into the meat of the game right from level one if you so choose.
And what is that meat? Player versus Player combat, or Realm versus Realm (RvR) in this case. With the option to join a queue for an instanced scenario battle from anywhere in the game, and open RvR battlefields located in every tier, bloodshed is always just a short step away. The distinction between PvP and RvR is made extremely clear in WAR.
Class balance is not based on 1v1 battles, but rather, group-versus-group combat. The underlying goal of all the factional warfare is to siege keeps and capture territories, which is intended to require the co-operation of larger groups of players, and is reminiscent of Mythic's older and much-loved MMO Dark Age of Camelot. The ultimate glory in WAR is to have the chance to pillage the opposing realm's capital city, loot their dungeons and kill their king – sounds exciting just reading about it, right?
Even if you look past the RvR aspect of the game, WAR still brings a lot to the table: Public Quests, which give players a new way of coming together to accomplish PvE goals; the production values and the way the world of Warhammer is brought to life; the Tome of Knowledge, which provides little incentives to achieve things in all areas of the game, and offers detailed lore.
Troubled, perhaps. Flawed, for sure. But with a team dedicated to improvements and a fantastic new spin on the fantasy standard, everything comes together amazingly well in Warhammer Online. It's no wonder at all that it is our favorite new game of 2008.Runner-Up: Mabinogi (writeup by Tateru Nino)
For those of you that like just a little less darkness, noir, grime and greenskins in your MMOG fare, there's Nexon's Mabinogi. It's homey, cel-shaded graphics and manga artistic stylings have a lot to recommend it as a change on the eyes, without tearing down the rather overdone anime styles of (say) Lineage II.
Conversations with NPCs are more involved than your usual MMO fare (rather like our primary pick, Warhammer), with a keyword system that allows you to quiz various NPCs about various topics -- once you've become aware of it yourself. NPCs respond to your conversational sallies and may like or dislike you as a result, which has an effect on your dealings with them in other ways.
Crafting is rather more involved than the usual sort of "have all the stuff in inventory, then press the button", and crafting attempts may be less than successful, depending on your skills. The skill system is particularly rich and likely to be one of the most unusual features of the game.
Skills must be acquired at entry-levels and then improved by both successes and failures (each skill provides a list of the things that contribute to its advancement). Skills can be advanced without completing every single advancement requirement, but there's a healthy experience bonus if you do meet them all.
Nexon's Mabinogi combines a lot of traditional mechanics with some rather offbeat and novel systems, and wraps it up in an almost soothing and pleasant package. If it weren't for all the darn gold-farmers spamming and getting in the way, and some awkwardness with the interface, we'd recommend it wholeheartedly. As it is, it's well worth checking out as our runner-up for favorite new MMO of 2008.
