Blade & Soul Review

What happens when you mix World of Warcraft and kung fu? Get Blade & Soul, a free MMORPG from NCSoft, creator of Aion and Guild Wars.

Staying true to tradition, Blade & Soul offers an experience that any seasoned MMO player should know right away. This is both to his advantage and to his detriment, as you will see.

History

Players begin their journey at the Hongmoon School, a martial arts academy led by modest Master Hong. Your character is fondly referred to as “Cricket” by those in school. You complete a short tutorial where you meet other students. But then, the ruthless Jinsoyun attacks the Hongmoon Heaven’s Reach training camp and systematically kills everyone you just met.

Now without a school or a teacher, you are saved when found floating adrift in the sea. The main game starts here. Cricket vows to take revenge on the Hongmoon massacre and to defeat Jinsoyun once and for all.

missions

Missions are part of the standard MMORPG rate. Take X thing in Y place, kill X amount of one type of monster, etc. While the missions don’t offer much in the way of excitement or story, they aren’t limited to welcoming them. So, it’s quick and easy to gain experience and level up alone or with a friend.

In fact, most of the game feels like a quick and easy way to gain experience and level up. Many enemies fall at the slightest hint of an attack. The first big boss I met at the end of a series of missions gave me hope for a challenging fight. But then I took the monster down in three meager hits.

That’s a shame, as the combat feels responsive and requires strategy and patience to combine the moves together. But none of that comes out in PvE matches.