Burning Crusade


Burning Crusade has been out for a while now. I've been exploring many of the new features of this game and i have a simple word to describe them all.

Amazing.

This is possibly the best game to hit the PC,right above oblivion. Of course, the expansion isn't fully ready yet. New aspects are constantly being added to the game, such as more arenas and battlegrounds, and an end to annoying twinks. Now what is different from the normal game?

-Two new races (Blood elves and Draenei which is nearly impossible to spell)
-new abilities for Burning Crusade users
-special (yet useless) pets to follow you around (special edition exclusive)
-Outland for lvl 57+
-Arenas (profesional arena for lvl 70, practice arenas for other lvls)

Now the story line has also been expanded. The Draenei have escaped from Outland on their spaceship which crash landed off the coast of Kalimdor. The radiation from the reactors is making everything around the crash sight horribly mutated. These playable Draenei are aded by the familiar half-demons you were able to play as in frozen throne, but they serve little purpose and are usualy only vendors or shaman trainers. They are part of the alliance, as they have a certain hatred towards the orcs ever since they both lived in Outland. Cultural diffusion is present, as you could see that some Draenei still follow the shamanistic religion, while others follow the Light (pretty much Christianity). Ironicaly, that is the same religion as the Humans, yet they have never made contact, and instead of praying to the superficial god of the humans (I'm talking game lore, not trashing Christianity. The Humans' god doesnt exist in the game) they worship something that resembles a collection of red crystals.

The Blood elves are High elves now in turmoil because of the desecration of the sunwell. They finaly rebuilt half of Quel'Thalas, yet the other half is slowly decaying. A Dead Scar stretches across the two countries that make up this region. Littered with demons and undead, this scar leads to Deathholme, a base that was created by King Arthas durring the seige of the sunwell. In this battle, the leader of the High Elves was killed (after being raised from the dead, she became queen of the undercity) and replaced by Prince Kael'Thas, who is exploring Outland with Illadin and Lady Vaash. With their source of magic gone, the elves were becoming corrupt, with some of them abusing sources of magic such as mana crystals. Half of the capital has been rebuilt; the ruins separated from the rebuilt city by the Dead Scar. As the Draenei crash landed, the Blood elves were able to steal their god, and used it to harness the light. They have always worshiped the Light as they have been allied with the humans until they leaft them for dead in a fierce battle against the Scourge.

The arival of these two new races now leads to offensive crusades of Druidic religions, shamanism, and the Light. The arenas are quite fun, yet it allows group members to leave with no penalty, giving your partners a chance to skedaddle, leaving you to fight on your own

The only downsides are chinese gold farmers and twinks. But thats always been a Downside.


Gameplay- 10/10
Graphics/sound- 9.5/10
Design/story- 10/10
Lasting appeal- 10/10
Overall- 10/10

Value-
Normal- $40
Special Edition- $60-600, depending on retailer