Wizard101: Gaming In the Wizarding World.

As a gamer of many years I always enjoy trying out new games that have new, fun and interesting themes. KingsIsle Entertainment has succeeded in releasing one such game. Wizard101 will take you on a fun, interesting ride through "Wizard City" and it's surrounding areas. The plot lines are interesting and the quests are fun to do as you wait to see what is going to happen next. You get to meet some interesting characters along the way as well, from the quirky, funny Headmaster Merle Ambrose to Dorothy Gale, Toto and the Tin Man, you will never be wanting for fun NPCs to quest for.

The programming staff at Wizard101 has apparently taken several pages from the Disney book of game design as many of the features of the client itself are the same as those found in ToonTown Online. This is not, mind you, a bad thing at all. These features were developed to keep children safe online and do so here as well as on ToonTown. From the real friends codes you can get to give to real life friends so you can chat together to the way your characters are named to the speed chat which here is called "Menu Chat" parents never need fear for their children while they are playing Wizard101. Another feature found in both Wizard101 and ToonTown is that while you are in monster populated areas you are safe from attack as long as you stay on the sidewalks, which can be very helpful when having to walk through areas to get farther into the game.

This is where Wizard101 Breaks apart from ToonTown though. The story, premise and overall game play is quite different. The spells, characters,, monsters and world are rich and diverse. There are so many things you can do in this game that to list them all would take several pages. Overall, I would suggest that any parents who have tweens who want to get online to play games check this one out. The child safety features alone make this one worth looking into but when your children see the mix of ToonTown, Harry Potter, Wizard of Oz and the gamut of other stories that have been put into this world they will be hooked...and so will you!

Your Friendly Neighborhood Gamer,
Elmseeker

[QUOTE] Groups - the concept of groups don't really exist within Wizard101. Grouping is really done on an encounter-by-encounter basis. Any player can simply join a battle already in progress (except for a few specific challenge battles) by entering the battle circle (either by teleporting to a friend in an instance or just running up on a public street). This is a great approach to both solo and casual play, but it has limitations. When I want to play with my son and daughters, we basically all have to follow each other around and jump in on each other's battles. Additionally, since there aren't any real groups, there isn't an explicit group chat channel. I'd love to see groups and group chat implemented. Group creation could be limited to those paid players >= 18 (unless explicitly allowed by an adult, in which case it'd be 13+ - NEVER under 13, UNLESS IN THE SAME FAMILY ACCOUNT) [/QUOTE]

There is a channel for groups.  Bernie introduces it in a tutorial tip. You just click the chat bubble with 2 smilies.

after first reading this review and beign bored I gave it a shot with an open mind and I found myself loving the game more every hour that I played..  I ended up subscribing for a month after finishing all the trial quests and being about lvl 10 I have really enjoyed it I am now lvl 26 still having fun I am however going to be playing sc2 on July 27th so i have unsubscribed but its a great mmo if you looking for something to try I def recomend it to any fantasy especialy harry potter magic the gathering type fans to try it..

SC2 owns though wizards is good but not good enough to keep me from sc2 :)

$9 monthly fee? seriously? i mean if this MMO is for kids, then how the hell can they charge $9 montly except if their parents are paying

I've been playing for almost a year now.  To get access to the entire game you have to pay either $90.00 (give or take just a tad) or pay for a sub.  The subs start at $9.95 (single) or $6.95 per account/per month.  Also, you have very little access to the entire game unless you buy "crowns" or subscribe.  The mounts you can buy in-game cost about 50k in-game gold or about $8.00 in crowns (again give or take just a tad).  They have brought "cheating" back to the game with the intro of Celestia.  The cheating is thus:  If you "heal" your character, the monster throws a 1 pip (it is how you cast spells) spell that will do a large amount of damage.  More than your char can do with 1 pip.  If you throw a shield on your char, the creature throws a full "heal" on itself.  Most of the cheating is with bosses, but alot of the other monsters do it.  According to KI, it's only in Celestia, but I created a new char and found it to be in some of the lower lvl areas now.  What they've done is, they've given new content, and anything that you Might need (ie, house, mount pet) you either have to waste alot of time and effort to "farm" to get the gold, or you have to put out money on-top of your subscription.  Most of the in-game items are decent, but to have the best you will be spending more than the game is worth.  It started out as a great game for the family, but it's morals and ethics about making you spend more to get less from them is atrocious now.  Their forums are so strict that you can't post until they read what you said, and if they don't like it , it's never seen and they will ban you from their forums.  Like I said it WAS an awesome game, now it's just a hoover sucking the money from the players with nothing to show in return.

Certainly IS a fantastic game. Though the population in Wizard 101 are kids, it's a great way to end a school day or any day of stress for everyone. Don't think of me wrongly, i'm 17, and i get criticized for playing it, but I still play it because of Wizard 101's new to come features. I just can't wait for those! 

Things I enjoy the most about Wizard 101:

1. Being surprised with new features
2. Gardening
3. Combat
4. New rank 8 spell cards
5. Connecting with friends from school
6. Celestia
7. Giving me a challenge
8. PVP

Originally posted by rhinok

Originally posted by Czarr_Rom

What I would love to see is a review done by someone at the target age.

Get an early teenager to review this game. I dont say this to be condescending in any way but if the game is meant to target ?9-14? year olds shouldnt they be the ones telling us how it is? :)

Something like that would be very cool indeed.

• My 9 year old son loves it - he's an addict.  It's all I can do to get him to stop talking about the game, and I'm a gamer!
• My 12 year old daughter likes it and play some
• My 18 year old daughter (just turned 18 a couple of weeks ago) likes it and plays quite a bit

On top of that, my 39 year old wife likes it, but doesn't play all that often and I (38 years old) like it a lot and play in bursts between my other games and work/life responsibilities.  My son and I had a game night last night and played together for a few hours - it was great!.  Even more fun with somebody to play with.

I've said this before in other comments - Wizard101 is the only game that has ever appealed to my entire family.  I've played CoX in duos with my oldest daughter for 2 years.  I've played Dungeon Runners with my son and I've played WoW with my wife (very, very casually  for both of us).  But we all play Wizard101!!

~Ripper

 

 

 I really like hearing stories like this I think this is what games are sopoesed to do they are ment to bring people together. Its great to hear you guys are having fun with this game I have a few younger cousins that are addicts of this game but i never really got into it myself if a similar title is around when im older though and i have children id defiently play with them.

Originally posted by Lydon

It really is an amazing game. Though it may be geared towards children, I found it immersive and addictive. I love the combat system.

 

 Dude, they censor out "Aslan" and many other common words because of their silly "censors". HALF of their enemies cannot be said, so instead of "Attack the stone golem!" you get like "... The ...!" Another dumb thing is free quests leading to members quests during the chain. However, it isn't half bad. It was enjoyable, so it's not exactly the type of game that you'd see someone like the Irate Gamer or AVGN playing. It does get rather addictive, but some of it gets tedious. Example: Running out of cards, not affording more. Another Example: Avoiding fights is a hard thing too. Once I entered a map and randomly started dashing at like 20mph, then I found out I was in a HUGE boss fight. Sure, that's the kind of idea of "party" but it's still good. Not bashing on it, it's actually pretty good.

Pros:

This is a great game. It is fun and easy to play and the graphics are good. Also the ability personalize the experience is great.

Cons:

Don't play it if you don't want to pay money, it's the only way to advance. I reached Level 10 and got bored because I ran out  of quests that I could do. You have to buy certain areas and for a FREE game this is a big detractor. Also there are some very odd people out their so definitely watch it. I've seen players ask for a girlfriend or a boyfriend.

I give it a 6.5 out of 10.