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