Wildstar, anyone?

I spent so long being in the closed beta for Wildstar, under a heavy NDA that I've attuned myself to not talking about it even though the NDA's been lifted! Wildstar's a game I've been interested in since I saw the very first trailers and teasers years ago. It's an MMO, which is a game genre I'm not actually a huge fan of, but I wanted to give it a go because the humour and art style was just so great!

Moose actually received a beta code on Christmas Eve, so by Christmas Day we were playing around on it. The two factions are Exiles ('good' guys) and Dominion ('bad' guys) - and as soon as I saw the Dominion videos, I was sold. They're classy, cultured and sophisticated. Which is, of course, why I play a Chua.

Image source - GamesRadar

Chua are the Dominion's 'animal race'. They're sort of crazy chipmunk-hamster-chinchillas, with a penchant for explosions and murder. They're the shame of the Dominion, who keep them around for their engineering prowess, but I think they're just adorable and swell.

As I said, Wildstar is an MMO, but it has something I've not found in other MMOs; actual combat. This is the main reason I'm sold on it, to be honest, and why I'm giving it a real go despite having never enjoyed an MMO before. You don't just click a bad guy, apply a type of attack and wait. The combat is action-based. You dodge, double jump, sidestep and run around the enemies, apply stuns and knock-ups and skillshots while dancing around them. It's crazily mobile.

Sure, there are some grindy aspects to it. There's a lot of tasks that are 'collect 20 these' and 'kill 20 that's, but the graphic style, humour and additional gameplay aspects save it, I think. I've not played any high level stuff yet (my highest character is a level 25 Chua) but what I've seen so far, I love a lot. Also, you can have your own house. That you decorate yourself in any way you like, right down to the wallpaper and carpets. It's like The Sims, but with extra explosions.

Anyone else playing, or thinking of picking it up? The game's got a couple more closed beta days left, and then it's released officially on June 3rd! Can't wait!

www.wildstar-online.com/