Aion is suppose to the be next breakthrough MMORPG. With the best graphics
ever seen in a MMORPG, a deep player-driven storyline, an amazing flying system
and unlimited customization for your characters. While these are true, these
features do have a couple of faults – but its no reason that Aion still
cannot be the next breakthrough in the MMORPG genre.
Aion has the best graphics seen in a MMORPG to date, with every character,
NPC and all the terrain fitted together with nice, crisp animations that can you
occasionally become distracted by just to pan the scenery. Although this does
not alone make Aion a brilliant game, it still is a nice touch to finally see in
a MMORPG. Attack animations look nice, and large spells looked great when casted
onto a group of enemies. The HUD is also easy to follow and learn your way
around, and it just uses the simple Mini map, Skill Bar, Chat and Target
Information boxes.
The story has had a lot of thought put into the game and is easily
followable, but it is a;sp very linear. And since the game has only just been
released, the ‘player-driven’ side to the game has not made any changes to
the game yet, and the players are just not high enough in the game to do such
quests.
Character customization is one of the stars of Aion. You can design your
character to any shape and size imaginable. You can pick a from the large amount
of default avatars and make minor changes to it, or you can use the advanced
options to create the perfect character, with options ranging from eye color to
chin size etc – but this can also be the games downfall. The characters look
great in the game, but a large amount of players make ridiculous looking
characters just for kicks. In a group great looking avatars awesome looking
hairstyles and armor sets, you can sometimes spot out stupid avatars like people
with tiny bodies and large heads fit with a green Afro – this can ruin the
beauty to the game sometimes, and it just takes the seriousness away from the
game every so often. But like i said, it is great to finally have such freedom
when designing your avatar.
The main feature of Aion is definitely the ability to spread your wings and
fly across the world of Aion. With many different wing styles to purchase that
will increase your flight time, it can look very nice seeing some well designed
characters enhanced even more with a cool pair of wings sprouting from their
back. There is only one real problem with the flight system though. You are only
limited to fly freely in some areas of the game. In other areas you can only use
the ‘glide system’ which is also handy, and can help you cover a lot of
ground in a short time but it still defeats the purpose of free-flight. When you
reach a ‘no-fly zone’, your character will bounce back and make a ripple in
an invisible wall which can look nasty and ruin the fun of freely soaring
through the skies. But, this still is a great feature to the game, and is a lot
of fun – especially considering you can even fight other players and NPCs
while in mid-air.
All in all, Aion is a very good MMORPG and has lived up to his hyped in most
aspects, but is still quite a far way away to being the ultimate MMORPG – but
I'm sure after a few patches to the English version, it'll surely end up being
the main game you'll be playing in your spare time for months to come.
