If Wildstar looks familiar, it's for good reason. Carbine Studios, the developers behind the new hotly anticipated MMO came from Blizzard and worked on...that other MMO. They aren't resting on their laurels though as right out of the gate their first game takes everything you know and love about MMOs and tweaks it just enough to make it its own and the result is a game that feels familiar, inviting and exciting all at the same time. With Wildstar, Carbine Studios isn't looking to reinvent the wheel, they just have a few ideas on how they can get it to turn slightly faster.

"It's a premise we've seen in so many MMOs..."

At first, Wildstar doesn't seem that different. It pits a group of plucky outcasts against a towering evil on a distant world for control of its vast resources. It's a premise we've seen in so many MMOs but works thanks to the unique World of Warcraft visual style and the Joss Whedon's Firefly style setting. Don't be fooled though, Wildstar borrows a lot of it's ascetics; including it's text style and on-screen icons but it's refreshing how it's still leans so heavily on so many others games confidently to create something all it's own.

One of the major factors that sets Wildstar apart from other MMOs is the unique character progression system. Like most games you'll pick your class and race, but you'll also pick a path, which has a huge effect on gameplay. You'll choose between soldier, settler, scientist and explorer and your skill tree, mission structure and abilities will vary dependent on your choice. The soldier's missions are pretty straight forward but characters like explorers and scientists have much more interesting paths. The explorer for instance is rewarded for climbing to certain points or exploring new areas while the scientist is tasked with seeking out new items and elements.

"...Wildstar is way to creative of an MMO to simply fall in line..."

It's refreshing to not have rely so heavily on questing to level-up your character, and I spent a lot of time as the explorer (I may have been trying to create the Wildstar equivalent of Indiana Jones) trying to level up and stay away from the main quests since they rely so heavily on uninspired MMO tropes that it feels like it's not even part of the same game. Go here, raid this. Kill that. It's all stuff I've done before and Wildstar is way to creative of an MMO to simply fall in line and simply have me do the same thing I've done so many times before.

That's not to say though that the combat isn't interesting and fun. There's a certain level of strategy to it's mix-up of straightforward RPG combat and action approach. You'll aim and telegraph your attacks, so button mashing is rarely an option. My only concern was that for all of the complexity of the systems employed in Wildstar, there's little explanation to some of them, and it's a bit frustrating when you're expected to find out all of the tricks on your own, but once you get the hang of it, they're all pretty easy to master.

With Wildstar, Carbine Studios has a game that delivers on so many of the tried and true MMO promises that it's sure to please die-hard fans of the genre. It's where the game strays from the path carved out before it, mainly in it's rewarding exploration and combat systems that it truly shines and shows what potential it has for years to come. With a growing dedicated community and attentive developers, Wildstar has the potential to become a standout MMO, get in on the ground floor while you still can.