Mike Bantick
Saturday, 25 July 2009 11:44
Entertainment
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For the past few weeks, I have been wandering the beautiful landscapes of Aion, a soon to be released (into the West) online world that has already garnered a huge following in Asia. Is this the one to give Blizzard a run for their money?
I will start off by saying, I have no idea whether Aion has the power to remain a long-term viable product in an increasingly crowded market, let alone take on World of Warcraft.
This is because, as a game reviewer I see hundreds of interactive entertainment titles every year. As a result I rarely have the time available to dedicate to any one particular game. Investing in or even trying out a Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) game is extremely rare.
So rare in fact, that I have yet to kick back with World of Warcraft to any extent. So let’s not compare Aion with any other MMO, let’s just talk first impressions of Aion as it stands alone.
A little daunted, I downloaded the AION beta code and logged onto a server. Almost immediately I logged off again and decided to consult more information (at the
beta wiki here ) about the game and what if offered, not that the character creation is too daunting; it’s just nice to have a bit more background before making decisions about what character you will devote time to.
Story wise, the Aion universe is convenient, with the world of Atreia having catastrophically been divided in half, a shattering of the Tower of Eternity (which obviously did not live up to its name) that connected the two halves of a planet turned in on itself.
One half of the idyllic world was plunged into twilight -the home of the Asmodians- , whilst the other more illuminated half became the abode of the Elyos. Essentially the only difference between these two groups of humans was aesthetic and differing outlook on life.
From a game purpose, choosing either an Elyos or Asmodian opens up the same starting character classes, the classic Warrior, Scout, Mage and Priest of so many other fantasy based games before it.
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