When the word ‘Cataclysm’ comes to mind, I tend to think of death and destruction. Considering that’s the name of World of WarCraft’s latest expansion, I expected Azeroth would have been torn asunder and chaos to reign supreme in the aftermath. At least that was Blizzard’s idea.

In reality, though, not very much has changed at all. Upon starting the client for the first time, I was greeted by a CGI cinematic in which Deathwing – one very angry dragon – makes his dramatic exit from the underbelly of the world and wreaks havoc across its expanse. I must admit, the sight of a massive tsunami about to hit Booty Bay and the dam walls of Loch Modan exploding in Deathwing’s wake was rather sad. It’d stir up a bit of nostalgia in anyone that’s actively played World of WarCraft over the years.

But that’s where the drama came to an end. Despite the massive hype generated by the box art and the cinematic, the picture in-game is very anticlimactic. All continents remain exactly where they’ve always been. Sure, a couple of zones have magically popped out of nowhere to grace our maps, and familiar zones such as Barrens have been changed up a bit, but it doesn’t nearly approach what I’d imagine Azeroth to look like after such a devastating event. The atmosphere just isn’t there.

While Blizzard may not have impressed in that department, Cataclysm has brought with it a sizeable number of new features.

The first is the addition of two new playable races to the game – the Goblins to the Horde and the Worgen to the Alliance. Both races are a little different to what we’ve come to expect from the factions they belong to. Goblins are pretty self-explanatory, but much like the Alliance’s Gnomes, they’re obsessed with machinery (albeit not quite as adept at building it). They’re also nowhere near as cutesy or friendly either – think dirty, drunken, angry Gnomes with long pointy ears.

The Worgen, on the other hand, are arguably the Alliance’s first ‘cool’ race. They’re a race of wolf-like creatures that bring with them that snarl-factor previously exclusive to the Horde. So if you’re in love with Stormwind City, but just can’t stomach running around as a Dwarf or, Heaven forbid, a Draenei, then perhaps the Worgen are here to save the day.

In the past, Blizzard would raise the level cap by 10 with each expansion. With Cataclysm, they’ve opted for an increase of 5. That doesn’t mean that there’s a lack of content, though - far from it! I found myself hitting the level cap long before I was done completing all the new quests, dungeons and other content added to the game. It was blatantly apparent, however, that I was still playing the exact same game I’ve been playing all this time. Expect an almost endless flow of ‘kill X of Y’ quests.

In all fairness, though, Blizzard has noticeably made an attempt to adopt a more cinematic approach to the storyline than it has in the past. If you’ve ever played Guild Wars you’ll feel right at home, as on a fairly regular basis the user interface will fade away and your character will star in an almost fully voiced cut scene.

Besides that, they’ve also tried to break the tedium of the grind by changing up a few of the quests. Every now and then instead of running out and killing a designated number of monsters or collecting an item, I found myself mounting a dragon or a seahorse and using a new set of skills to complete my mission.

Seahorse you may ask? One of the major features of Cataclysm is the introduction of underwater zones, and underwater mounts to accompany them. A few short quests into the game I found myself swimming about the deep sea questing as if it was the most natural thing on Azeroth. We’ve always had underwater combat, but Blizzard has gone and developed a lost paradise under the sea that presents a nice break from the norm. It’s certainly nothing groundbreaking, but a change nonetheless.

Another welcome change is the ability to summon flying mounts on both Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. Exploring the two continents from an angle previously only accessible by Windrider (or by climbing really, really high) has proven quite fun. There’s also no telling as to how convenient it is to be able to fly around the likes of Orgrimmar instead of running about as I’ve been doing all these years. It makes me wonder how I ever survived without the ability to use my own little version of a private jet to travel from the auction house to the bank.

That in itself has become an interesting experience. The rate at which one earns gold in Cataclysm by merely questing certainly took some getting used to. It wasn’t long before I found myself able to afford all those expensive epic flying skills. World of WarCraft has essentially become the perfect example of inflation. Keep supply and demand the same, increase the gold supply, and suddenly everyone’s asking for a lot more gold in return for their wares. Except the vendors, of course, and that’s where getting rich has perhaps taken a bit of the joy out of being able to afford nice things. It just doesn’t feel like much of an accomplishment when everyone can afford what you can.

One area in which Blizzard certainly hasn’t failed to impress is the game’s soundtrack. As with previous expansions, Cataclysm doesn’t disappoint. Whilst the tracks I’ve personally grown to love over the years still make their regular appearances, the new musical pieces have led to me stopping in my tracks on a number of occasions and merely enjoying the moment. From the beautiful new score playing on the log-in screen to the exciting Moonglade theme, Jayson Hayes has certainly done a great job of creating the right mood yet again.

Finally, World of WarCraft has also received a number of graphical upgrades. Perhaps most notable are the new water textures, which bring a bit more realism to the game’s otherwise distinctly cartoon-like art style. Don’t expect anything else major, however, as Blizzard is still very much sticking to their guns with their art direction, and the fact that the client can run on a mid-range PC still only benefits both company and players alike.

Sadly, despite Blizzard’s attempts at spicing up their ageing game, one can’t help but feel a little under whelmed at its efforts. There was nothing stopping the developer from completely tearing the world apart. Continents could have been torn to pieces, Horde and Alliance forced to exist and wage war right next to each other…the possibilities were endless.

The simple truth of the matter is that Cataclysm effectively brings nothing particularly new or ground-breaking to the MMO market. But then again, from a business-perspective, why should it? Blizzard has clearly found an extremely successful model that works for it, and approximately twelve million people are more than happy to continually hand over their monthly subscription to the company on a recurring basis. Not only that, but Cataclysm quickly became the fastest-selling PC game of all time upon release.

Blizzard earns top marks for business sense, but unfortunately disappoints in almost all other areas. One can’t help but feel that most of World of WarCraft’s magic has been lost along the way. Regardless, if you play or plan on playing World of WarCraft full-time, in the end you’ll have no choice but to go out and purchase the expansion anyway.

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