World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Review

This article originally appeared in issue 63 of Tabletop Gaming. Pick up the latest issue of the UK's fastest-growing gaming magazine in print or digital here.

We spoke to the designers about the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King back in issue 57. You can read that online here!

It may be set in the frozen continent of Northrend and infested with ghouls and other nasty minions of the Lich King, but at its heart, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is still very much a Pandemic game. As players, you will be whizzing around the map trying to desperately contain the outpouring of enemies through simple dice-based combat. There are multiple ways to lose the game and only one to win – complete all quests – which requires tight teamwork, multi-tasking and some careful pre-planning.

If you like solving the Pandemic puzzle – being good at anticipating where disasters are about to strike and positioning yourself to deal with them efficiently – you will figure out World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King in no time. However, the game does not ride on the Pandemic laurels alone, as the theme of World of Warcraft brings a lot of fun elements to the table. Some are visual, like the beautiful map art and miniature design (beware of a very spiky Lich King mini). Others come from the characters and their unique abilities, which will be familiar to the fans of the World of Warcraft and Hearthstone (a digital TCG set in the WOW universe) games. However, the most fun addition is the ability cards.

In traditional Pandemic, cards were always a precious resource as players needed to collect sets of them to cure diseases. In Wrath of the Lich King, cards are certainly useful but not essential to completing the quests. Players, therefore, get to use them a lot more, especially when fighting or travelling round the map, making the whole game a lot more dynamic and action focused. A small change that makes all the difference, the card play gives a new pace and feel to the familiar Pandemic formula which, along with a strong World of Warcraft theme, sets the game apart from the rest.

ALEXANDRA SONECHKINA

PLAY IT? YES

Designer: Justin Kemppainen, Alexandar Ortloff, Michael Sanfilippo

Publisher: Z-Man Games

Time: 45- 60 minutes

Players: 1-5

Ages: 14+

Price: £60

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