When it comes to Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game (MMORPG), very few developers pay attention to the wizardry world or do it this well. As early as 2008, KingsIsle Entertainment (a Texas-based video game developer company) took up the challenge to create a game with a Harry Potter feel, thus the birthing of Wizard101. Two years after it was released, it was set for release outside of America. However, it wasn’t until 2011 February, after they partnered with Gameforge, that Wizard101 was released in 6 other languages. 

Wizard 101 is a family-friendly fantasy MMORPG, where you play in the third-person, as a child magician and student of the Ravenwood School of Magic Arts. The school is located in the fictional and magical universe of Spiral. Spiral is home to many wizarding worlds, which an evil wizard is out to destroy. And just like Harry Potter, your mission is to stop the wizard while still a student at the Academy. Unlike Harry Potter, though, we are not told anything about the player’s mogul life. 

Starting to Play

The game plays as a continuous story, where you are introduced slowly into the wizarding world through the headmaster. Before you begin the game, you are required to create a character. To create a name, the headmaster would ask you to take some personality test questions. Your answer to these questions would help the game recommend a class for you to join. Or, you could skip the test and manually select any school, whichever one suits you. After choosing a school, you then create your character. The game allows the player to choose gender and facial qualities but restricts name options to the ones provided by the game. I suppose the reason for this is to ensure people select a wizardly name. There are many name choices, so it isn’t that much of a deal. Once you’re done with character creation, the game begins with a short tutorial session.

The game has seven different classes you can play, known as Schools of Magic. Each class has unique spells peculiar to them, and once you have selected a school, it is irreversible. Albeit spells belonging to other classes can be trained, using Training Points. The other schools from which you train magic spells are known as Secondary schools of Magic. Some schools’ nature is solo damage centered, such as Storm, Fire, Death; other classes are altruistic and communal, e.g., Ice, Life, Myth. Balance, as the name goes, seeks to be an equilibrium school, a jack of all trades.

The secondary schools are the Stars, the Sun, and the Moon. The first two are all about adding more precision to your spell; the only difference is that the Star is only used for the Aura magic. The Moon spells to deal with altering the form and swapping the users’ spell cards with the opponent’s, thereby giving the user some of their strengths and weaknesses.

Questing is an integral part of the game, yet it isn’t the highlight of the game. Questing is the fastest way to level up your character, as it provides the player with experience points needed to unlock new levels. Combat in Wizard101 is made with spell cards that are played using the turn-based system. Each player has a customizable deck of cards with which he/she can deal damage to the enemy’s health, increase his/her health or that his friends, shield against attacks, bluff, etc. A fight ends when a player successfully depletes the computer’s health or when their health is empty. A teammate can heal you during a duel except you flee the fight. However, if every member of your team has zero health, the other team wins. 

Once you encounter an enemy, an arena is formed. To fight, you have to enter a slot in the arena and begin dueling. Casting a spell costs pips, which can be earned every turn. The strategy comes in deciding what spell card to use and when. This makes the game more interesting, especially when you’re dueling against other teams. Sadly, combat does get a bit repetitive after a while, but not for long in most cases. 

Conversation

The game promotes controlled conversation. Most of the chat is highly censored to protect the minors on the game. For instance, words that have sensual, political, or even antisocial connotations are filtered. When typing a message, filtered words appear in red and cannot be seen by other players; instead, they’ll see ellipsis.

Graphics

When it comes to graphics, display, and animation, I must say the Wizard101 developers did a fantastic job. The animation is built to appeal to young people and adults alike, and the game soundtrack captures the mood of the game. The story-driven gameplay of Wizard101 is significantly assisted by the superb voice acting accompanying each cutscene. The spell animations are just a sight to behold; sometimes, it’s fun to watch other schools’ spell animations while you wait your turn. The new content update released in August brings even more improvement in terms of graphics. The animations are, in my opinion, way better, and the music is just perfect. I particularly love that there is the option of using the classic version. It serves those with lower-end computers or people stuck on the old display.

Overall

In all, Wizard101 sets the bar high for any developer looking to create a game in this genre. Although some work still needs to be done on the combat to make it more engaging, its unique turn-base card combat style sets the game apart from the regular MMO. Truly, Wizard101 has earned the moniker of being the game that is fun for the entire family.