Wizard 101 is a kid friendly MMO that bears some striking resemblances to ToonTown Online. They're both targeted at younger players. They're both turn based. They both feature canned chat phrases. (Wizard 101 allows censored typing that can be heard by any account registered to a person above a certain age.) Both games have mini-games to be played while you're killing time after your latest defeat, or if you just want to earn some money without fighting. They both have instanced buildings you can fight your way up. And they both have fights on the streets which you can spectate or jump into.
The main difference is in the battle mechanics. ToonTown is about choosing between six types of gags to coordinate with everyone else. Wizard 101 is based on virtual cards used to cast spells. So you don't know what abilities you may even have at your disposal in any given fight. There are some icons that appear telling what ability you're using and on what target, so there's still some coordination to be done. I personally think ToonTown's system is a little more straightforward, but I was a child pre-Pokemon.
Of course, including a pretty extensive in game FAQ helps people find their way as well.
I didn't use it too much, so I can't speak to its actual utility, but it still seems like a brilliant idea that should be in more MMOs.
The other main difference is that where ToonTown has pies and pianos, Wizard 101 has magic.
Yeah. Magic is pretty cool. One of the coolest aspects of the magic attacks is the camera work. They do lots of smash cuts, whip pans, and quick zooms that make the fight visually exciting. I can't believe other RPGs (Persona 4, for example) make combat look so incredibly dull. Wizard 101's animations lose some of their punch after you've seen them a dozen times, but since you're leveling up and getting new cards and fighting alongside people from six other schools of magic who have different cards, there's a fair amount of variety.
I played as far as the free content would let me, which brings up another quirk of the game, it's pricing structure. You can pay a subscription, or you can just pay money to permanently unlock new zones. If my math is correct, you can buy permanent access to the entire game for $80 and have roughly $13 worth of points left over to buy special pets and gear or simply hold on to in anticipation of future content.
It does, however, make PvP expensive. If you don't subscribe, you have to pay upwards of ten cents per match to play ranked PvP, and get the associated gear. I tried to get into a match of practice PvP just to get a taste of it, but after a couple minutes in the queue, I decided I didn't really care.
Details aside, Wizard 101 is not for me. But it's well made and seems a good fit for its target demographic.
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