Sword of the New World: Granado Espada

Overall, Sword of the New World was a fantastically fun MMO to play. While not as intricate as some other MMOs, the dynamic of having three characters to control instead of just one is a lot of fun and definitely gives the player a lot of things to do and learn throughout his/her experience.

It's like candy for your eyes. [Vol 3, Issue 2, p.56]

Those who aren't wired for the Korean MMO experience of heavy grinding and repetition will probably find that level 1 to 20 is just enough to sate the urge to try something new. I personally think Sword of the New World is very well done for what it is, but I don't quite gel with the style of gameplay.

A compellingly good MMO at an amazingly attractive price.

As MMO launches go, this one was pretty smooth. Yes, there are bugs and crashes and little twitchy things that can be annoying, but for the most part everything runs well enough to enjoy.

An elaborately realised world, with too little interaction to be truly great. [Oct 2007, p.60]

This game offers a beautiful, highly stylized, world to explore, but sacrifices meaningful interaction.

Even though the game is a bit rough around the edges, Sword of the New World: Granado Espada oozes with quirky personality that will appeal to fans of Asian-born titles, presenting a visual mash-up of anime and Baroque influences.

It contains some well-crafted elements, while the refined and altogether very usable MCC system makes controlling three characters a breeze, yet still manages to retain an incredible amount of depth, thus scaling exceptionally well with player ability.

Something about Granado Espada is fiendishly addictive. What stops it from being truly great is the fact that it's both simple and rather boring at times. [Oct 2007, p.83]

You’ll need a very forgiving attitude to begin playing Sword of the New World, because it still needs quite a bit of work.

The dark addictiveness of levelling is as strong here as anywhere. [Oct 2007, p.85]

My biggest issues with the game are the plodding pace in which your characters advance combined with the fact that you must be high level to truly partake in faction PVP. Flaws aside, the free-to-play model makes it easy to trade in your Arcanite reaper for pistol and cutlass, even if you plan on only vacationing for a short time in sunny Granado Espada.

The story is engaging and the dialogue is casual, often goofy, but when you get down to it, so much time is spent in a monotonous grind that deep down you'll probably know there is more fun to be had elsewhere.

Tedious quests and little payoff make this Korean massively multiplayer online game a real grind.

This is thoroughly disappointing in some respects - not least because Sword of the New World is one of the most beautiful MMORPGs we've ever clapped eyes upon.