A typical grinder MMO with the Asian flavor & a unique system for creating characters.
The first noticeable thing about this game is the character creation system. Unlike many MMO's where you can create and use only one character (per account) at a time, in SNW:GE, you get to create a family of characters. Initially, you can create a family of four among a five classes. As you progress through the game, you can buy additional character slots using the in-game currency. You'll also get UPC cards that you can use to fill in any bought open slots so that you can have your own version of that UPC and use his/her unique abilities. The other nice thing about this game's character creation system is the costumes. Although the costume you choose when you create the character is the one you'll pretty much see throughout the whole game, the costumes are well designed to go with the game's colonial-era time setting. The only real customization here comes with the abilitiy to buy different hats and other costumes as your family members get to the higher levels.
Speaking of which, each family member not created using a UPC card can be of one of five classes--fighter, gun-toting musketeer, wizard, elementalist, and scout. Each of these classes and UPC's have a set of stances which you can choose depending on your play style and how you want to build that family member. For example, you can have a fighter use a sword and shield, or a single sword; your musketeer can use a rifle or even a pair of pistols; or your scout can either use daggers for attacking or trade offense for much needed healing and other things consistent with his/her Medic stance. Depending on where you bought or downloaded your copy of the game, and you're willing to pay the subscription price of $8.95/month, you'll can get a UPC card to start with as soon as you have your starting group of 3 family members from the five classes.
The graphics are incredibly amazing for an Asian import of this kind, which goes real well with a colonial-era fantasy timeline. There'll be many kinds of monsters to fight, and a myriad of lanscapes to see. As mentioned earlier, the costumes are well designed, as they tend to give the male characters plenty of noble..or un-noble personality, and the women...well, let's just say the pixels can make a male gamer's mouth water.
The music are also pretty consistent with the time setting, although the combat BGM's are more of your typical Asian game combat music. Nonetheless, they are pretty good, though most will probably turn them off after hearing them so many times. The sound effects are nice, and the few voice actings are pretty decent for its kind.
There are a few notable shortfalls in this game besides it being another grinder MMO and one that requires a subscription to get access to everything in the game, even take your family members beyond lvl 20. The most notable shortfall is the lack of customization. You can't change the hair and facial appearance of your non-UPC family members, nor can you see them wear the main armor you equip on them as you're stuck with the costumes they're wearing. The other shortfall is that, as of now, there isn't any real good way to access and use the game's Cash Item shop, and that one appears to require the use of real currency to get special in-game currency to utilize such a shop. There are a few translation issues too, but none too significant so far.
Technically, the game seems to run pretty well even at the minimum requirements, although there are no options for playing the game in full screen mode at this time. There's also been some few bugs and glitches that haven't been noted that much, but pretty negligible at this time, so the developers seem to have ironed the game out pretty well.
Other than that, SNW:GE looks to be a good mix of your favorite grinder MMO's with a nice party control system that's almost consistent with Guild Wars. With a retail price of $19.95 plus the aforementioned $8.95 premium monthly subscription, it's a real bargain. Thus, it is worth a try if you want to try it out for free with limited access; but for its premium prices, it's a really nice game to try between your favorite MMO game sessions.
In-game: Astrala Family (Cesario Server); Delarnisse Family (Orpesia Server); Rubyhearte Family (Vespanola Server)