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Play Wizard 101

Wizard 101 is a free turn based online MMO. Free means you don’t have to pay a monthly fee like most other online MMO’s.  All that you need to play Wizard 101 is a windows operating system and a web browser.

Before starting Wizard 101 you must create a character and there are 4 steps in doing so:

1. Choose a Gender – The game wastes no time throwing in some humor by having Headmaster Ambrose exclaim “My vision seems to be failing me. Are you a boy or a girl”
2. Choose a Name – Unfortunately you can’t come up with your own name.  The game does allow you to somewhat customize your name by providing a tool that lets you choose from a list your first name and then two words that will be combined to form your last name.  You can also push the random button.
3. Choose a School of Magic – To choose your school, you are asked several questions.  The game then picks your school of magic according to your answers.  After it chooses your school of magic it shows a cool little video that has to do with your school.  If you don’t like the one that the game chooses for you it gives you the option to choose a different school.
4. Create Username and Password – Create a login account by answering some basic questions  that you would see with most account creations.  It also gives you the option to have them send you a free in-game gift.

Next you choose the option to play for free and you will be prompted to download the install file.  The install file is small and downloads quickly.  The initial install itself takes under a minute.  After you open the game and login with your chosen username and password the game will update files, this process takes 3 to 5 minutes.

After your initial login you are asked to customize your characters appearance:

Physical Appearance:

1. Hair Style and Color – You can choose from several different hair styles and colors.  The hair styles don’t seem to make a big difference because you are wearing a hat that covers it up.
2. Face – Choose from a few different face types.  Along with the face types the eye color changes but you are not able to choose a combination of face type and eye color.
3. Skin – Choose the skin color you would like.

Clothing:

1. Hat – Choose the main color and trim color of your hat.
2. Robe – Choose the main color and trim color of your robe.
3. Shoes – Choose the main color and trim color of your shoes.

After your character is set up you are taken to a screen that displays your final character and gives you the choices of exit, options, play, delete(to delete a character) and new(to create a new character).  The options menu provides the choices of video options, advanced video options, sound options and gameplay options.  The gameplay customization options are pretty deep and enable you to really tweak the game.  If you choose to use a higher resolution in the game after you click okay the game will offer to download high detailed textures to provide even better graphics.

The controls for Wizard 101 are simple.  To control your character you use a combination of your keyboard and your mouse.  To walk you use your arrow keys and to interact with objects you use your mouse.

The gameplay is like most other turn based MMO’s.   Your character has a health meter and a mana meter.  The health meter controls how long you live while your mana meter controls how many spells you can use.  Battles are basically turn based duels.  While battling you are given a deck of spell cards that you can choose from to cast on your enemies.  Different spells will do a different amount of damage to your enemies.

Upon entering the game the graphics are very impressive.  The graphics are cartoony, reminiscent of World of Warcraft and they look good.  The visual effects will suck you into the action.  At the very beginning there is an event that causes the entire screen to shake back and fourth and this definitely will get your attention.  During battles the animation for the spells you cast are very detailed and at times are like watching small movies.

The sound is wonderfully entertaining.  The background noises and sound effects are realistic and help to immerse you into the game.  The voice acting is very good and the characters voices match up to the characters wonderfully.

So far Wizard 101 seems very well put together and displays a lot of production value.   At this point I can’t say how good this game will end up being overall or how long it will stay fun to play but initially it seems great.  If you are an MMO fan,  enjoy turn based rpg’s or just like online games that allow you to interact with others then you should at least check this game out.  It’s free, easy to sign up for and installation is quick so what do you have to lose?  We are excited to continue playing this game and will post more of this review soon so keep checking in for the second part of our Wizard 101 review.

Play Wizard 101