‘Guild Wars’ gives big features at small price

“Guild Wars”

••••(out of four)

NCsoft for

Windows,

$49.99

Rating: T (Teen)

Great visuals, lots of opportunity for solo and group play within the game’s vast world, plus an intense player-versus-player (PvP) arena are likely to keep “Guild Wars” healthy for quite a while in the cutthroat market for gamers’ dollars – especially when there’s no additional monthly fee.

The game’s remarkable range of creative options hit us as we sat down to create our first characters. Unlike many games that require players to start at the weakest level and earn skills through long hours in training missions, “Guild Wars” offers the immediate option of jumping into the fiercest combat with a high-level character, protected by some of the best armor available in the game.

Then we had a choice of wandering around on our own or entering a quest mode in which we joined other players and entered the lands of Ascalon in a group. In the PvP zone, players can fight in teams, so we would join the fray in a team of four, battling another quartet of players.

The interface is easy to learn, especially for gaming veterans, and after just a few battles, we started to perfect our techniques, learning how to use our most potent skills. Choosing a character’s blend of skills is one of the best strategic challenges. The game limits each character to a mix of eight skills, and it’s that chemistry of skills that often can transform a looming loss into victory.

The role-playing portion of “Guild Wars” doesn’t rank with other, costlier games in this genre, such as “Everquest 2” or “World of Warcraft.” It felt quite linear in its quests and didn’t give the broad, expansive feeling of some other games.

Still, we were overwhelmed by the range of top-quality game play that’s available for $49.99 with no online fees. “Guild Wars” is a cool concept pulled off with creative flair by the folks at NCsoft. It’s a great choice for months of adventure.