The Guild Wars franchise has had an interesting run thus far. When it was released in 2005, it was met with a generally positive reaction, and provided a solid pseudo-MMO experience without the monthly fees commonly associated with the genre. Since then, the series has received several new chapters, each with their own campaigns, skills, player-versus-player modes, and more. Eye of the North is the first official expansion, and while it offers much of the same content you've come to expect from a Guild Wars game, the aging graphics engine and brief campaign take away from some of the appeal. If you've liked the previous games and are looking for more to sink your teeth into, this expansion will satisfy that desire - just don't go in expecting much else.

This wouldn't be a Guild Wars game if there wasn't a vast adversary poised to destroy the world, and Eye of the North's story follows suit nicely. An enemy called the Destroyers has emerged from a strange portal with one goal in mind - the extermination of everything that lives. Naturally, this isn't good, and it is up to you to form alliances with an unlikely band of heroes to fight the Destroyers and rid the world of this menace before it can carry out its plan. Along the way, you'll meet new races, old friends, and familiar enemies that will either help or hinder your progress. There are also a few mild surprises and an interesting look at what's in store for the future of the Guild Wars. Overall, the story is pretty entertaining, even if it is somewhat brief.

The new Hall of Monuments shows the accomplishments your character has achieved.

While it lasts, Eye of the North's campaign is probably the most enjoyable of the series. It spans across the continent of Tyria, opening up parts of the map that weren't previously accessible in the first game. You'll explore snow covered mountains, baron wastelands, tropical rainforests, and other areas. Many of the environments you'll encounter are merely extensions of existing areas you've seen already, so some of the places you'll visit may provide you with a sense of deja vu. However, the new weather effects and enemies help to reduce some of the unavoidable familiarity. On the other hand, the mission structure of the campaign is quite different than the previous games. Instead of taking quests that lead you to a new mission outpost, quests are now intertwined with mission objectives. This means that when you accept a quest, it will sometimes take you to an explorable area that will then lead to a mission. The problem with this new system is there are long strings of gameplay without any sort of intermission at a town. If, for any reason, you had to stop playing in the middle in of one of these segments, you would at the very least have to spend time walking back to the mission area, which can get tedious.

The campaign is also relatively short by Guild Wars' standards, clocking in at about eight hours for the experienced player. As a result, those looking for an elaborate story-driven experience will be disappointed. Fortunately, there is a ton of extra content in each of the game's dungeons, which are all vast and expansive. It seems much more effort was placed on these repeatable multi-level monstrosities, and they're destined to keep you busy for days if not weeks after you've finished the game. In addition to the dungeons, there are a few new minigames that have also been added. There is a 1v1 fighting tournament against AI characters that, while difficult, does have its moments. A few other highlights are dwarven boxing, which is exactly as it sounds, and something called polymock.

Polymock is like a real-time Pokemon of sorts. Each player chooses three creature pieces to do battle in an order of their choosing. Each creature has slightly different abilities, so there's a layer of strategy involved not only with each skill set, but in the order that you choose them as well. Since you and your opponent alternate turns during piece selection, you can effectively counter their placement with your own, and vice versa. It's pretty deep for a minigame, and is a welcome addition. Outside of that, there's not much else here. It would have been nice to see some sort of new PvP content, or even more minigames. That's not to say that the expansion is lacking content - in fact, there's almost too much - it's just that there isn't enough variety to all of it. If you've been playing Guild Wars since its first release, you may find that this lack of change can cause the experience to become stagnant after awhile.

In terms of graphics, Eye of the North's technical limitations really holds it back. The ArenaNet art team is one of the best in the business, and it's their excellent artistic vision that makes up for the graphic engine's outdated and often ugly visuals. There have been a few basic improvements like new particle shaders, but other than that, you're basically looking at the same engine from two years ago. The horribly blurry textures, little-to-no facial animation, clipping issues, and distance pop-in are among just a few of the visual problems that plague this game. However, the art design still stands strong, and single-handedly saves Eye of the North's graphics from its lack of technical flair. The attention to detail in almost all of the environments is nothing short of exceptional, and even with the terribly aged technology, you'll often find yourself stopping to admire the surroundings. It's pretty incredible that the art team was able to convey such a vivid fantasy world with all of these limitations, and if nothing else, they deserve credit for that.

Even with the extremely dated graphics engine, the game's artistic style shines through.

The sound design is even less compelling. For some reason, with the exception of a few tracks, most of the music has been reused from previous games. The main changes reside in the battle music, which is a new feature of Eye of the North. Depending on your encounters with enemies, more intense music will fade in and out accordingly. While this idea sounds good in theory, it doesn't work so well in practice. Since battles are often brief affairs, there is little time to enjoy what new music exists, and seeing as how many of the exploration themes have been recycled, most of what you'll be hearing are tracks that have already been played to death in previous titles. The new sound effects themselves are also nothing remarkable, and you'll probably barely notice them.

All in all, Guild Wars: Eye of the North is a solid expansion to a series already brimming with content. While there hasn't been much new added to table and the brief campaign and shoddy technical graphics leave a bit to be desired, the sheer amount of new content will undoubtedly please long-time fans. Since this is the last game until the official Guild Wars sequel, there are far worse ways it could have panned out. Ultimately, if you enjoyed the previous games and are looking for more of the same, then Eye of the North will definitely scratch that itch.