Review by: Toni Dimayuga

Stop me if you’ve heard this tale. A child enrolls in a school of wizardry and magic and discovers that the school is in danger from a powerful, evil wizard. The headmaster, a kindly old man, enlists the child’s help in defeating this foe and his minions. No, I’m not talking about the famously scarred boy wizard and his adventures at Hogwarts. I’m talking about Wizard 101, which can best be described as a trading card game embedded in an MMO, set to a Harry Potteresque backdrop.

You can download Wizard 101 and try it out for free. However, upon completing several quests in the starter area, you won’t be able to access later areas unless you pony up the cash. There are two ways to pay for content: you can either buy a subscription, or pay as you play via RMT (real money transaction), in the form of crowns. Crowns can also be used to purchase special gear, pets, and in-game gold.

In Wizard 101 you play as a boy or girl and during character creation, answering a few questions determines your magic school. There are seven available: fire, ice, storm, life, myth, balance, and death; each has its pros and cons. For example, storm spells are the strongest but also have the lowest chance of success. Although you can initially specialize in one school, you can obtain spells from the others by buying them with training points that you obtain as you progress in level or from acquiring expensive gear you can find or buy in magic shops.

As a wizardling, you start the road to level 50 in (where else?) Wizard City, one of five worlds. Each world has a theme. For example, Krokotopia has an Egyptian theme while Moo Shu is Japanese (in spite of its Chinese-sounding name). Quests are your garden variety MMO tasks: kill mobs, collect stuff, and talk to NPCs. The plot isn’t anywhere near Tolkienesque proportions, but is enough to keep its young target audience engaged in the story.