World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Review

The musical score and sound effects are very much in line with the original game (while bringing a few fresh twists here and there), and what is also clearly noticeable is an added lighthearted touch to the world - with NPC spoofs on celebrities like Paris Hilton and then the whole wacky atmosphere surrounding the Area 52 in the Netherstorm.

Another thing worth mentioning about the expansion is definitely the inclusion of flying mounts. This is clearly more than a simple cosmetic addition to the game, as it adds a whole new dimension to world exploration. A clear downside to the flying mounts is that they cannot be used in the old world of Azeroth, but I'm guessing a change like this *might* eventually come in one of the subsequent content patches. As it is, I imagine it would be hard to rebuild the old world in such a way that all the zones that were previously inaccessible to people with running mounts, would be consistent with the rest of the game world and not prone to bugs/exploits. Point is, the world of Outlands was built from the ground up with flying mounts in mind. That's the biggest difference.

Overall, I am more than impressed with what Blizzard has done with the World of Warcraft expansion. They simply continue their great tradition of expansion packs for games like Diablo and Warcraft III. There are so many things that remain to be said about this game, and so many things all of us would like to see added, but that's the great thing about World of Warcraft. Part of the reason why it's so consuming is because of its incredible scope and complexity that draws you in and keeps you in the game world for a long, long time.