If Perfect World isn't perfect, it's DAMN well near it.
Perfect World International (From here on out, PWI) is the USA based servers/translation for the hit Asian free-to-play MMORPG Perfect World II. Perfect World Entertainment has been kind enough to host this version, and now that Closed Beta is winding down, it's time to reflect how good the game is so far. Is this world truly perfect, or just a good world? Due to so many things in the game, I will be breaking it up more than my usual reviews, we'll start with the usual stuff first.
Design:
Imagine a free MMO that not only allows you the freedom of true 3d flight, a huge, expansive world that is totally on one map (no load times to any zones outside or in towns) that has territories that can be owned by guilds, but also full freedom to your character. Well PWI attempts to do these things and more, and it actually delivers. The game nicely paced and has many, many features.
Graphics:
Let's get this out of the way, the graphics in this game are nothing short of spectacular in an MMO, free or otherwise. The world is vibrant, colorful, and full of sharp textures. The Armors, weapons and magic effects are crisp, clear and impressive to watch in action, and the water effects are almost exactly the same as the FPS Half-life 2, which is in no way a bad thing since HL2's water is basically only bested by Bioshock. Character animations are fluid and look nice as well. The world has many different looking locals, from the snowy North, to the plains around the city of Etherblade, to the forest home of the elves, the places in this game are great to go sight seeing. Overall this game is a feast to the eyes all around in terms of animation and textures. Also, you will NEVER run into a twin in the game world, thanks to PWI's deep character creation, which is as deep, if not more so than TES4: Oblivion's character creation.
Sound:
The sound in PWI can be broken into two categories, SE and Music, so we will look at each section here in parts.
Sound Effects: The sound effects in PWI get the job done, they are good by most accounts (things like weapon impacts are not as good as they could be, but magic and creature sounds more than make up for this) and never really get tiring. Except however the footstep sound, it will eventually fade and you'll ignore it, but it needs a change, in variety mainly so it sounds different on different terrain types, this is NOT a game killer though, as the rest of the sound takes up the slack for this minor fault. The ambient sounds, while a little quiet are immersive and really bring the game to life.
Music: A musical feast for the ears lie in this game's sound track. The log-in screen tunes set a relaxing theme, as do the exploration songs, the songs for things like bosses and Territory Wars are tense and keep the adrenaline rushing. For what's there, the Chinese sounding music is beautiful and really sets a great tone to the game.
Gameplay:
The game is simple to pick up and play, and works with the two main MMO control types, WASD, and Mouse control. The game gives you a nice help system for those who need a little help learning the game and the entire first 30 levels of gameplay will be earned entirely in quests, no grinding, even in the later levels, grind stays reletively low, and the game never actually becomes a grind fest. Flying becomes available to all players at LVL 30 (lvl 1 for elves) which opens up the skies for exploration, while ground mounts are available around lvl 40 for fast ground travel. Guilds also play a big role in this game, in the form of the above mentioned Territory Wars, in which each week a guild can bid on a hunk of the game world, and duke it out with another guild, or the environment in battles that can reach up to 80 vs 80 (according to the product manager of PWE). There is also a marriage system which gives a few perks, as well as the embrace system where a male character can carry a female character. Battles are paced well, and the many skills you will learn are very nice, and easy to pull off in succession.
Cash-shop items:
As a free game, the company relies on a cash shop to turn in a profit. Luckily, the cash shop is not needed to play the game and enjoy all the features, even the end game content. The cash shop contains items like fashion items (clothes to make your character look unique in more than just the face), different mounts and flying objects, fireworks, and the wedding items. Other items, used more for PVP are there and do give an advantage, but aren't truly necessary to have. Pricing has not been announced for the cash shop as of yet, so I cannot say whether it will be cheap or expensive.
PVE:
PVE (Player vs Environment) is robust here, giving you plenty of mobs, bosses and dungeons to raid. With over 100 levels to progress in the game, you will have a long way to go before you are "Maxed." The Environment even makes a couple hazards, like drowning when you swim (though you need to stay underwater for like 10 minutes), and even become quests in themselves as double jumping and flying are required for some. Now if only there was fishing... (if there is, I haven't seen it)
PVP:
PVP has a true heart for competition here, there are more ways to fight against another player here than some FPS games. With the usual Duel system, two players agree to fight. No one dies in a duel. Then there's the Arena, and TW. Flying combat is available too. New players need not worry about this, as they must be lvl 30 to do anything more than duel. If you aren't a fan of PVP, go to the PVE (in truth, Optional PVP) server and turn it off.
Translation:
The overall translation is mostly decent. Most quest text is accurate and to the point, even if a little of it doesn't really feel natural. Some minor text errors are here and there, but this is the first true localization attempt and in closed beta, so some minor tweaks will be needed. One example of a bad name that doesn't really fit with the game world flow is "Archosaur," which is a very large, dragon themed city that all characters visit around the 20s in levels. Aside from the Philippines version, all versions I know of have something to the effect of "Ancient Dragon City," which fits the city's overall look and feel. Some character names are kinda plain and
expected for Chinese names. Otherwise the translation is actually one of the most decent Asian to English
translations out there, just has a few quirks to be worked out.
OVERALL:
If this world isn't perfect, it sure is darn near it. This game just keeps reeling me back in for more, and I like every minute of it. If you have some time, you need to check out this awesome free to play MMORPG when it enters open beta September 2nd. If you are desperate to play now, sign up and get a beta key, just know a character wipe will occur before the Open beta.
OVERALL RATING: 9/10