World of Warcraft Retrospective Review

Despite the fact that Cataclysm is capturing the souls of 12 million gamers at the moment, GamePro has written up a glowing retrospective review of World of Warcraft as it existed in its “original incarnation” six years ago. As you might have expected, they give it a perfect score of 5/5:

If you haven’t played WoW, or might have played it and become frustrated at its old structure, the new-and-improved WoW represents a truly brilliant experience that is more addictive than ever before. Of course, if you want to truly appreciate all that the franchise has to offer, you will also have to buy Burning Crusade (so you can level to 70), Lich King (to get to 80), and then finally Cataclysm so you can join everyone else as they level up to 85. But to me that’s part and parcel of what makes the game fun. WoW is a game that you play for months and years, and one that provides an incredible experience which yields high gameplay rewards and dividends to those who are prepared to invest in it.

Just be warned. I’m one of those people who’s been playing the game for six years, and over that time has literally put hundreds of man-days (yes hundreds, yes days) into the game, and I can personally attest to the fact that WoW is addictive. Very, very addictive. Especially once you start making friends or, as I do, play with my significant other as a team. If you’re not careful, it’ll consume your thoughts, and keep you up all night, night after night. Just as any great game should; but this one is bigger than virtually anything else out there, and it keeps on getting bigger because it’s constantly changing.