Adventurers who want a respite from fighting don’t have typical MMO activities like crafting or hobbies, but there are fun and fast mini-games available to play. The games include a “match 3” type of game, a Classic Concentration-based game, and a Dig Dug clone. The mini-games aren’t just a distraction from the main game, but a way to refill your mana and potion vials and earn a little gold.
Combat is turn-based and in trading card format. You carry your spells in a card deck, and whenever you encounter a mob, you’re dealt a random set of cards from your stash. Each spell has a percentage of failure, and most require “pips”, which you earn after every turn. The stronger the spell, the more pips it requires. Learning which spells to cast and when is crucial to winning a battle. On one hand, you can attack every turn with small, 1-pip spells and risk defeat from a strong attack. On the other hand, you can pass three times to earn pips for a powerful spell, but at the expense of your opponent chipping away at your health each turn.
The combat animation in Wizard 101 is really cool when you see them for the first time. Leprechauns jump out of cauldrons and kick gold coins at you; banshees wail at your face, and giant snakes wrap you with their tails and deliver an electrical shock. However, since each sequence is like a mini cutscene that takes about 10 seconds to play out, you may eventually wish for a way to fast forward them. After seeing the Ghoul grave attack 50 times it gets a little stale.
Combat is fun but it can be frustrating. If you’re defeated or flee, you wind up all the way back at home, depleted of all your mana. You’re conveniently near the minigame area, but it’s annoying to spend several minutes schlepping across town to where you need to be. When you travel, you have to stay off to the side or risk bumping into a mob and starting an unwanted fight. Finally, other players can join your battles at any moment. Nothing is more irritating than being forced to fight longer because a player joined your battle and dragged in a third enemy just as you’ve finished killing two of them. At one point someone jumped in my fight then fled, leaving me with not just my mob but his!
Like many MMOs, Wizard 101 has PvP battles. You can participate in either the ranked matches – which require crowns or a subscription – or the free practice matches. PvP is divided into 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 matches. You can join a match, create your own, or simply watch others duke it out on the arena. PvP can be a bit imbalanced, as it’s possible for high-level players to battle low-level players. Additionally, you can’t strategize privately with your teammates since there isn’t a dedicated chat channel for teams.
KingsIsle promotes online child safety with Wizard 101’s language filtering system. However, it’s far too stifling. It starts at character creation, as you have to choose a predetermined name from three lists. Yes, it’s to prevent smartasses from naming their character IPWNNOOBS or something vulgar, but individuality is lost as you see 10 people named JESSICA or THOMAS running around. Parents can also set the controls so their children can only communicate using the drop-down menu chat. This is very frustrating as you can’t say anything outside of what’s on the menu.
