Guild Wars: Eye of the North

God of Destiny overall score = 8.1 / 10

Positive
# Original campaign is extended with tons of new quests and content
# A number of tough, satisfying dungeons to explore
# Additional heroes and skills offer new ways to build characters and parties
# Fun minigames add variety and charm to the time-tested gameplay

Negative
# No new professions
# Limited to top-level characters
# Too similiar to the previous games

Guild Wars: Eye of the North (or GWEN, as players affectionately refer to it) is the first true expansion for the popular online role-playing game. Factions and Nightfall were both standalone products; Eye of the North requires players to own an existing Guild Wars game, and the content is available only to players who have reached the level cap of 20. This sounds limiting, and indeed, the expansion isn't going to bring new players into the fold. However, fans of the original Prophecies campaign in particular will find a great deal of content to sink their teeth into. There are new skills, a pleasant return to the story, minigames, and fantastic new dungeons. Sure, it's more of the same in some ways. But in the case of the addicting and satisfying Guild Wars, more is never a bad thing. There are some other new ways to experience the fun as well. You can don a pair of brass knuckles and test your melee skills in Dwarven boxing, for starters. Or play Polymock, a unique Pokémon-style game in which you put creatures with predetermined skill sets into one-on-one battles. There's also the Norn fighting arena, which features a progression of single battles that pit you against a number of familiar characters. These may sound like slight diversions, but not only do they provide many more hours of quality play, they also let you experiment with skills that may further enhance your main character's build.
The most negative and positive things that can be said about Eye of the North are things that could be said about the previous games. The dumb henchmen AI, inconsistent pathfinding, and incomplete follow command are the same as they always were. Of course, if you've played enough Guild Wars that you would consider purchasing the expansion, you've learned to deal with those minor quibbles. Nevertheless, they're still there, and they still occasionally get in the way of the fun. Yet as always, the action itself is visceral and exciting, which isn't exactly something that can be said about the combat in most RPGs. It's also remarkably tactical, requiring smart choices that enable you to take just the right eight skills into battle. This is the stuff that makes the expansion worth every penny, and reminds us that getting more of the same can (albeit rarely) be a wonderful thing. If you're still playing Guild Wars, Eye of the North is an easy purchasing choice because it was made just for you, and it rarely disappoints. Guild Wars 2 will be released in 2008.

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