We take a spin through the early content of PWE's newest title!

AoE spells were fun, but finding new targets with the locked view radius was a pain

Now, the look of the game bears consideration. The camera angle reminds me very much of Diablo 3 or Starcraft; third-person overhead. However, this can be very frustrating as you can zoom in but never actually change to a good first-person or even third-person view. I found this frustrating as it’s impossible to “look ahead” of your character; you always have a circular viewing radius around instead. The graphics themselves are all right; about on par with what you’d see in a Diablo/Starcraft game, but nothing spectacular. And quests are given in text, not cut-scenes nor voice-acted dialogue. During combat, the effects are interesting, but nothing special. I was impressed when I first summoned some kind of skeletal lich out of the ground to smite my enemies. Then I did it 60 more times for a quest. Honeymoon period? Over. As for the music? Appropriate to the setting (no Asian themes in Norse territory), but forgettable. Multiple times I found myself wondering “Have I heard this before in another game?” Truthfully, that thought become more pronounced when I wandered into the first dungeon and was met by a carbon-copy of the Eye of Sauron.

Beware the Eye of Totally-Not-Sauron!

Onto the gameplay itself! At different intervals, players receive new abilities (ie, at level 15, 30, 40). These can be passive, such as the defense bonus I received; activated, such as the 10-minute attack and hp buffs I received; or actual combat skills. Similar to Forsaken World, I receive an ability that could be unleashed to inflict massive damage… but only restored through “rage” (from being hit or killing enemies…. 1000 points needed to use the ability again). Usually I defaulted to spamming my three attack skills and healing myself when needed. While the initial skills were learned when I leveled, additional ranks were from vendors requiring both experience and coin. I’m not sure how I feel about using exp TNL (to next level) as payment for upgraded skills… especially when they increase exponentially. I can imagine that, at higher levels, new skills would require significant grinding to achieve.

In fact, if I could place most of my criticism with War of the Immortals under a single heading, it would be “grinding.” As I mentioned previously, I hit level 40… and a wall. Immediately before that, I had gained several levels in the instance “Magnetos,” following a Scenery instance and learning more about the prince. Upon leaving the instance, I had 4 pieces of golden-quality gear… with a level 45 requirement. And upon reaching my next quest-giver, I was told “You need to be level 41 to accept this quest.” Noooo! What did this mean? Luckily, the game gave me several options: bounty quests, magic academy quests, and more instanced dungeons. Unfortunately, I discovered the dungeons required a party outside of the scenery mode, so instead I rushed to an NPC in Atlantis (Note: Yes, at this point I had a character who needed to revive Odin, use Apollo’s arrow, and visit Atlantis… just go with it) and answered questions about all sorts of trivia… in-game, and meta-game. The subjects ranged from the terms of service to the colors of guard uniforms. It’s a fun daily quest to learn more about the game… and it delivers a bunch of experience!

Hope you enjoy the look of these guys. If it's a bounty, you'll be killing scores of them.

Finally, after 45 levels and many side-quests, I found myself back in the capital perusing the Marketplace. Since War of the Immortals is Free-to-Play, they make their money primarily through the Marketplace. Their currency (ZEN) is exchanged for real-life money at the rate of $1 = 100 ZEN. One of the best (discount) buying options gives the player free potions, rewards, resurrections, and boosts for 30 days… for only 1700 ZEN! While I’m sure this would give a boost, at low levels I can’t imagine spending real-life money on a game for these bonuses. At the same time, it seems a good sign that at least these bonuses are for leveling up faster, as opposed to gaining an advantage over other players. Then again, the marketplace also contains random items, mounts, and item enhancements, which arguably provide an edge over non-paying members. Whether our readers wish to participate in this kind of pricing scheme or not is ultimately up to them!

So, how can I rate War of the Immortals? Compared to other Perfect World games, it falls solidly in the middle. Similar to Ether Saga Odyssey, it contains a detailed pet system, where your minions become staunch allies. However, it didn’t grind my gears like ESO; at the same time, Forsaken World hooked me a bit more, and was infinitely more pleasant than WotI due to the camera angle. It’s refreshing to be able to see what is LITERALLY right in front of you. But overall? War of the Immortals offers a free-to-play experience that draws you in without drawing out your money. I don’t think it’s the best PWE game I have reviewed (that would be Rusty Hearts), but it certainly holds its own against other PWE titles. Whether it can be a hit or differentiate itself from other games in the western market... that remains to be seen.

Paul "LockeColeMA" Cleveland, Staff Writer.