Review | Aion

But I could almost weep about the lack of an interesting story. The world itself, while amazing to look at, is depressingly linear. In most MMOs, at any one time, you could have up to four or five different zones to explore and – let’s face it – grind in. But Aion doesn’t have this; you just go from one zone to the next, with no real choice in the matter.

Meanwhile, horrific queue times plague the servers, sometimes up to three hours. The last time I queued up for three hours was at Disneyland. Three hours is just not acceptable. Even with the launch of a new game, you’d expect those behind the scenes to have some inkling as to how popular their title was going to be, just from the beta and pre-orders.

And once in, having to spend the first few moments of your gaming session blocking the streams of gold sellers, who constantly spam the chat channels and send you private messages flogging their gold, gets old very fast. More than once I immediately logged back out of the game to go do something else – it annoyed me that much. Of course, as with any new MMO, there are going to be teething problems. Solving these issues first would go a long way to creating a much more enjoyable game.

//En-armoured
Until then, there’s still a heap of variety in almost every aspect of the game, from classes and skills to crafting – it’s all here, and turned up to eleven. And there are subtle differences from other MMOs, ones that spread as far as your character’s armour. It’s fantastically designed and rather extravagant, but what’s different from other fantasy MMOs is that you actually start off looking pretty good. No walking around in dirty rags for the first few levels here. And then there’s the rather unique soundtrack. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything quite like it before. It mixes epic orchestral music with folky stuff and even the occasional chugging of electric guitars. To put it mildly, it’s awesome.

It’s not all bad in terms of the gameplay, either. Combat can be quite satisfying and tactical, with an effective combo system in which certain skills can be activated, leading to other, more powerful, skills opening up for you to use for a damage bonus.  The player vs player gameplay is quite good too, and again refreshingly original, and you get to fly around with angel/demon wings sprouting from your back fighting for control over the Abyss. Flying is the equivalent of mounts in other MMOs. You learn to fly at level ten – only for a minute at first, but still. At least you don’t have to wait till level 70 like in World of Warcraft.

At its best, Aion is genuinely impressive. Certain sections of the game are truly spectacular – like the first time I visited the capital city of Sanctum and was blown away by it. It was like something from my wildest dreams. The flora and fauna of each zone are a delight to behold, with some of the most imaginative creature and plant designs I’ve ever seen.

I just wish the world was a bit more open, the story more exciting and, well, everything a bit more interesting. It’s a real shame, because Aion provides a spectacular setting, but never really follows up on it. The aforementioned teething problems are being worked on, and will hopefully be sorted out soon enough. But the game still needs more zones, and needs to encourage more exploration of its world. Its quests and story need fleshing out more.

It just doesn’t feel complete, somehow. But there’s still a lot to be enjoyed in Aion. It’s a brave new world.

6/10

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