Review: Vanguard: Saga Of Heroes game

Many people won't welcome another massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG).

Howvere, there is undeniably a huge army of fans that will always investigate with an open mind.

Vanguard: Saga of Heroes doesn’t try and reinvent the genre, but it does bring some new ideas to the table.

Unfortunately, it’s blemished by a too many problems to see it challenging World of Warcraft at the moment, although that’s not to write it off completely.

After the colossal install and the superb character creation feature (which contains an excellent range of tools to help you focus the action towards your preferred game-type), your appetite should be well and truly whetted for exploration.

Unfortunately, it’s slow progressing due to the major scope of the game world. Some might find this an endearing quality while others will find it very frustrating.

And it’s also difficult to team up with others, and more tricky than it should be in our opinion. This would be fine if Vanguard worked well as a solo game but it’s definitely geared towards group adventures. It’s epic and beautiful but it can get fairly lonely.

There are many problems to the game; some are those familiar to the genre and some are gripes that should have been ironed out before release, although these may well be resolved as the game expands over time.

Firstly, it has a monthly subscription charge ($25) in addition to purchase costs, but this isn’t unusual for a MMORPG. Secondly, it requires a powerful computer to run smoothly but again, the nature of the beast generally ensures such a behemoth is needed.

But there are unfortunately a lot of bugs in the game, meaning it’s extremely s low at times and often causes you to end up in the wrong place. Visually, it’s also a mixed bag – it can look stunning in places but the aforementioned stretching of your PC’s capabilities means that it often lags and some textures and backdrops can look a little garish.

Despite the flaws, what makes Vanguard exciting is that we feel it has the potential to evolve into something really special. The combat system is well implemented, and it has an excellent diplomacy structure where you play dialogue cards to drive conversations in your favour; kind of like an advanced version of the swordfights from the old Monkey Island games.

If the developer takes on board the comments from players then we’re confident that this could evolve into something rather wonderful.

Also consider
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
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Warhammer: Mark of Chaos
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Lord Of The Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II
More strategic swords and sorcery for Tolkien fans

Empire Earth II: The Art of Supremacy
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