Quick, quick! Before something happens, let me get this review started! Truth is Aion was one of the unluckiest game I have to review. So many other problems occured while I was playing, that my experience with the game is limited. Yet, I will still write this article, for two main reasons: I think I've got enough for a certified opinion, and on the other hand, I don't like it that much to keep playing for now.

I know... this is a weird one... Aion: The Tower of Eternity has everything in its favor, every aspect from the impressively looking fantasy graphics to great sound and music, a complex character editor and a solid game engine based on Crytek's CryEngine 1, used in the first Far Cry game.

Yet somehow for me, the sum of its parts doesn't make the cut for me. I gave the game a few shots. You can't say I've been my usual stubborn, naysayer self. Plus I've seen some people really loving the game in the process. Everything is so much more difficult because I really can't recommend you the game or advise against it. Instead, I will try in the following lines to give you the good and the bad just as I see it and leave you there, so you can make your decision...

The lore as expected in these MMORPGs is complex and complicated. What you need to know is that the world of Atreia was created by the benevolent god Aion. Then, humans were created, and the Draken to watch over them. But some Draken rebelled, wanting more power from the creator. Calling themselves Balaur, they tried to take control of the Tower of Eternity, the source of Aion's power. Thus, Aion created  twelve Empyrean Lords in order to protect the tower passing through the middle of Atreia.

In time, some of the humans learned to harness the magic energies that passed through the Tower of Eternity, the same energies that gave the Empyrean Lords and Aion their powers. Such special beings, demi-gods, were called Daevas, and helped the Empyrean Lords in their epic struggle against the Balaur.

As even the mighty Empyrean Lords became divided, the world of Atreia was shattered in the great Millenium War. Two major factions, the Elyos and the Asmodians became mortal enemies, and yet they both were fighting against the same foe: the Balaur.

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If the Elyos were lucky enough to live on the northern side of the planet Atreia, thus enjoying a warm climate and a lush vegetation, the southern Asmodians live in a world of eternal darkness and rougher conditions.

Their physical traits suffered transformations as a consequence of the zone they live in as well. Elyos have whiter skin, and look more like regular humans, while the Asmodians have darker skin tones along with red eyes and claws instead of their feet. They also have an extra set of hair on their back.

Your story begins when you wake up from a vivid dream, and you can't remember anything that happened to you till that moment. You slowly begin to search for answers and regain some of your abilities.

Initially you can start the game as a Warrior, Mage, Scout, or Priest. By level 10, you regain your wings, and remember you are in fact a powerful Daeva. Once the ascension quest is finished you will gain limited flying abilities in certain areas as well as a specialization in one of the two available specs from your class of choice.

Aion is a classical MMORPG in every way, meaning Lineage and WoW fans will be instantly familiar with the controls, skills, gameplay and, why not, monthly payment style. This however doesn't mean it doesn't bring tons of new ideas. Furthermore, its one year previous experience in Korea resulted in one of the most polished and bug free MMO launches in the history for the Americans and Europeans.

You get to enjoy every aspect of it right from the beginning, including the fabulous yet non-demanding graphics, artistic animations, good looking characters, NPCs and monsters.

But when you pass the more tutorial like levels, things start to get devious. Take crafting and gathering for instance. Every crafting skill in the game can be learned, and you can gather anything and everything. This creates a rush for "natural resources" and encourages everyone to get them.

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In Aion, there's an enormous emphasis on money, i.e: gold. If you have money, you can have everything. It is not like in WoW, where you get different currencies for everything. This encourages two things, that I will suspect we will see more and more in the months to come: grinding and gold selling.

Indeed, grinding is a predominant part of the game, and it is not sugar coated like in other MMOs. Long traveling distances between quest objectives, paired with the inability to fly in some vital regions and clumsy flight controls prevent you from having more fun killing, and force you to travel ( read "auto-walk" ) more.

I suspect this method of gameplay will please Lineage fans as it is closer to their hearts from what I know. In truth, you can see a progress from almost anything you've done in the game, being a piece of armor or a custom title.

Combat reminds me a bit of Vanilla WoW. It is much more slower paced and if you fight with more than one mobs at a time you can get in trouble. Long spell casts and even longer cooldowns force you to wait between battles and time your skills instead of "unleashing your full fury" every time.

The Asmodians and the Elyos are in a constant conflict as expected, but the player versus player system adds a new layer of combat, as you also fight the Balaur. This new system is called PvPvE, and it rewards you with Abyss Points. Abyss ranks can be won or lost depending on your general standing in the server rankings. Only an elite top players will be able to get wicket fancy PvP armor.

Furthermore, PvPvE battles and the Abyss unlocks only at max level, a long way to go for sure. You will be almost unprepared for combat until you reach that zone - no, dueling a lot doesn't help much.

Up to six members can join a party, and attempt to take on harder foes in specially designed dungeons, but instances are only available starting with level 25, so a lot of boredom and grinding till then.

An alliance of 24 members (4 parties) can be formed to face greater challenges, bigger instances and bosses.

A pleasant surprise was the casting system, that manages to free the user from a lot of clutter and tens of bars with tons of abilities. It is called the skill chain system, and it is decently simple to master. If you cast an ability like flame bolt for example, it will do its regular effect on the target the first time. If cast again in short time, it will do damage over time. A third cast could knockback or stun the target. This is only an example, I'm not saying Flame Bolt has all these abilities.

Skill chains can also have a proc rate (20% to be able to cast stun, for example), or they can be like a tree: if you cast damage over time instead of stun in a second stage you will be able to cast a big blast of damage instead of knockback in the third stage, and so on. Again, a great idea, but for me combat is a bit too slow and especially frustrating in the beginning when you start with just a couple of abilities.

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Conclusion

NCsoft attempts to combine the more dynamic and action driven Western market MMORPG elements with the more artistic, visually appealing and progression oriented Oriental elements in Aion: The Tower of Eternity. Early numbers tell us many people all over the world enjoy this highly polished MMO, but there are some that find it unappealing just because some of those elements were used. And unfortunately, I find myself amongst them.

Gameplay: 78

Aion offers a very polished yet slow and grindy experience, at least during the first levels (read until level 25 at least). While its artistic side will be much appreciated by some players, the slow progress and some graphic decisions may be frowned upon by others. Bottom line is: you either like it, or don't, there's no way in between, and you can't say it grows on you in time.

Graphics: 84

There's no two ways about it: Aion is one of the prettiest looking MMORPGs on the market to date, and the developers did an incredible effort to make it look good and run smooth. The CryEngine is exploited to its best.

Multiplayer: 80

Player interactions and PvP seem fun enough, and the community appears to be closer and warmer than in other MMOs but of course only time will tell where it will go from there.  

Sound: 84

Other than some FMV cutscenes where female characters have porn movie voices and just scream and shout while battling, music, sound effects and voices are nice and pleasant.

Hardware: 88

Developing such a game on the CryEngine must have been a real challenge for the developers, but it paid off, proof that nothing is impossible. We've got a nicely done game, easy on the resources and with very few bugs.