Hands on with Aion, the WoW killer?

Mike Bantick
Saturday, 25 July 2009 10:44

Entertainment

Aion has been released for some time now in Asia, and the programming polish is evident even in this so called beta stage, in fact, all the beta test is seemingly looking for are possible English translation quirks in the mountain of reading required.  Aion is a little quite on the vocal front, but so far I haven’t found too much wrong with the text side, apart from the speed of presentation during the pivotal cut scenes, which seem a little fast for my liking.

So far I have only had a taste of what the world of Aion has to offer, the beta test has only just opened up the areas that introduce the third race of AI controlled humanoids, the Balaur as well as the Player Versus Player (PvP) and PvP versus environment area known as the Abyss, where the two halves of Atreia meet.

And it is only now, that parties are forming to take on the challenges of quests and more powerful mobs. 

Everything from the interface, to the game options and back story are well thought out in Aion, this is a complicated and deep experience that so far has only been scratched by the beta testers.

Whilst there are some slightly awkward inventory management processes and limitations, once you are in the swim these minor niggles retire to the background. 

It is well that the geography variety is evident, as there is much back-tracking to be had during the initial levels of Aion, and much of this will be as a solo adventurer because there is just no need to form parties until at least ascension to Daeva at around level 10 and above.

Despite the samey nature of the early level “quests”, the lore of Aion is constructed well.  And while its Asian style betrays its roots, that is, lots of beautiful people battling it out with exaggerated exclamations, there is plenty to like about canon that is being created here.  Once the Abyss opens up, and guilds/groups begin to form, the interest level here will ratchet up even further.

Aion will be available for PC as of 23rd of September (Australia and New Zealand).