Review: Aion (PC)

Well now, who hasn't heard about NCSoft's new MMO Aion with all the press it has been getting lately? It certainly seems to have been a success in terms of pre-orders, but is it any good?

The story behind Aion is a simple enough one about good versus evil but with a different slant than usual. Here, the people lived on the inside of a hollow planet that received all of its light and sustenance from a tower that joined the poles. It was destroyed in a great battle and the planet broke in two, the bottom half getting the warmth of a nearby star and the top being in constant shadow. Can you guess which half belongs to the good (the Elyos) and which to the bad (the Asmodians)?

You can choose to be good or evil but the difference in characters is pretty much cosmetic-it all comes down to how you want to look and if you have a mean streak. Next you chose a character class-the usual choices apply (warriors, priests etc.), then it's on to the pretty nifty character creation tools (more popular with every RPG released every year).Spend some time messing around here and you can create a very personal avatar. The character detail is very good and the choice of body shape and size is extremely varied meaning some diverse player characters in-game.

The start of the game (as an Elyos) was-for me-a little underwhelming with plenty of grinding to beef up my character by a few levels, but it was made easier by the fairly wide selection of creatures to battle and a varied assortment of quests to whet your appetite. Flora can be collected alongside creature bashing if you fancy a change of pace (collection of which brings up a success and failure bar, each racing for completion) and even sold for a tidy profit if you use your marketing abilities and set up shop in the right places. Later on you see the collection process branch out, allowing the collection of anything from fish to Aether-the magical power that is very important in the battle to save the land.

I began my adventure in the idyllic countryside of Poeta, a rich farmland of real and ethereal creatures, the latter drifting or swooping through the skies, sometimes carrying other players to far off places. The majority of the players online seem only too willing to help out when you are in trouble with a tough enemy and it makes for a very good atmosphere in game. Some players of course, change as they level up. They do say power corrupts after all.

The further you delve into Aion the more beautiful it becomes, with some eye-watering vistas of fantastical beauty and design. It's very apparent that NCSoft has tried to create something visually different and by using a beefed-up version of the original Cryengine it has ensured a game that should run well on most PCs. Graphically, the characters in-game are nicely designed with plenty of individuality thanks to a strong character creator and the countless variations of armour (of which some of the female stuff is rather risqué).

Levelling up is a simple affair of completing quests, gathering various goods or beating beasts/baddies to gain experience points (XP). As you level up all of the fighting moves you have learned so far level up with you and stronger weapons and armour become available as you progress. Most weapons and armour have a varying number of slots with which to imbue them with extra power or abilities by setting a mana stone into the free slots.

The building of your character stats is handled by the game, leaving the power hungry veterans time to get on with levelling up as quickly as possible whilst the newer or more sedate can explore and saunter through the game at their own pace. I found very little in the way of balancing issues in-game and the difficulty level is just about right, although the usual group quests are available too, obviously nigh on impossible for one character alone to complete, forcing you to join others if you really must complete all of them.

Crafting is a lot more useful in Aion than in the other MMOs I have played, giving you incentive to create with the materials you gather by giving you XP for collecting and creating and even filling in work orders as you practice your skills, gaining still more XP. The end result of your toil sees you creating great works, as good as is seen in the rare loot drops and therefore making all that time and money you put in seem worthwhile.

There are more quests than you could possibly know what to do with in the early levels, ranging from the humorous to the heart rending. It shows that a lot of creative talent has gone into the writing, which for a game of this size is no mean feat.

Some of the quests involve flying (an ability you are given from level ten) and use the much touted flight abilities to varying degrees. For some bizarre reason you can only fly in certain regions and even then are stopped by invisible barriers, evidently something that had to be implemented to stop people from flying away from every fight or getting to areas not accessible until a certain character level had been reached (amongst other reasons I can think of) but it does rankle to hit a hidden barricade when soaring majestically through the skies. The further you get into the story the more use you make of your wings and before long you will be soaring through the skies for nothing other than the sheer joy of doing so.

PvP content only really kicks in at level 25 which is when you are allowed into the Abyss, where the flight mechanics really make a difference during a battle and timing your skirmishes is essential to prevent a nasty fall to your death. It adds an extra dimension of tactics to the fight for survival but will not be something everyone will enjoy. For me it's the PvE that shines even if my brief forays into the Abyss are a welcome distraction at times. Aion is not a big game compared to others of its ilk but what is there is highly polished and has plenty of variety. I am sure further updates will add to the content already available and rectify this before long.

The sound in Aion is good but not amazing. It does the job marvellously for the environmental audio, when you can hear it above the cacophony of battle noises from the myriad of characters duelling with NPCs or other players. The fighting can be quite chaotic at times and I found that I couldn't quite get the balance right and ended up turning the repetitive, cheesy background music off entirely to give me some respite.

Aion is a very worthy purchase in the saturated field of MMOs. It looks great, is colourful and well designed and plays well apart from the grinding (a curse of all MMOs) needed to ascend to the higher character levels.

Is Aion a WOW beater though? Too soon to tell. One thing is certaini; NCSoft's latest RPG has gotten off to a flying start and will be hoping to steadily gain altitude until it climbs to the lofty heights of long term RPG greatness.