Aion

From the ashes I come to review another game, but this one has a new flavor. It is not a hack-n-slash, nor is it a platformer / adventure / puzzler. I speak of course of Aion, a new MMORPG from none other than NCSoft, the company behind such titles as Guild Wars, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Lineage I and II, and Exteel. Reviewing an MMO is particularly challenging, as you can never truly beat the game, and so you have never really experienced all there is to experience. That being said, lets begin!

If you have ever played an MMO before, you have come to expect that they are only average graphically. But the first thing you may notice upon loading into Aion is how sparkly new everything looks! More surprisingly, it doesnt take as beastly of a computer as you might expect. The truth of the matter is you could probably run Aion better than you could run older, less shiny games like World of Warcraft, Warhammer Online, or even Lord of the Rings Online.

Admittedly, the game can look rather dull on lowest graphics settings.

But even with all your options set to minimum, the gameplay is still gleaming with potential. Unlike many existing MMO's where you run around a fantasy world looking identical to two thousand other people on your server alone, Aion has a robust character customization that will leave games like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion feeling like Nickelodeon Monopoly. You can make your character small as a child (And actually look like one too!) or you could create a behemoth that towers ominously over the typical human player. Some people have even taken to making Celebrity look-a-likes, or recreating their favorite videogame / anime characters. The possibilities are defined almost exclusively by your patience and imagination.

The controls and interface are pretty much what you would expect from an MMO, as Aion uses the tried-and-true actionbar / health-mana / minimap configuration in use by so many other games. In this way, it's a breeze to jump in and start questing, powering through those early levels like a pro.

Let me go off on a tangent here and explain the quest system, which could be described as the bipolar schizophrenic evil mastermind after a late night at the bar. Basically, you have three types of quests.

There are campaign quests, which are roughly sequential, and are specific to each game zone. That is, you get a new set of Campaign quests when you enter a new zone, and in order to do the later ones you must first complete the beginning campaign quests in that zone. They arent always a straight chain of quests, but for the most part they follow a progression.

Then there are regular quests, which you pick up from various characters in various places for various tasks that really dont vary much at all, and tend to be your typical kill-this-many-creatures or collect-that-many-items or go-talk-to-this-guy-because-Im-too-lazy-to quests. Not too interesting, self explanatory, moving on.

Finally, there are work order quests. These are specific to your crafting skills. Basically, they are infinitely repeatable quests wherein the crafting trainer gives you a specific material, a temporary item recipe, and tells you not to come back until you have successfully crafted that item a half dozen or more times. At first, they supply you with everything you need to make the item. But later, those cheap little bastards only give the primary ingredient for higher level crafting quests, and you have to purchase / find / otherwise procure them in order to complete the quest. Nevertheless, they are a welcome addition to the quest log.

The campaign quests, it should be noted, follow a rather epic storyline detailing your character's hidden path, which by some twist of fate has been hidden from you. As long as you dont worry yourself overly much about how half a million other people are in exactly the same boat as you, it should give you a feeling of being rather special. Despite being cliche, the main storyline is very well created, and is a delightfully refreshing narrative aspect to an already shiny game.


It should be noted that gaining levels grows increasingly more difficult to do, and it isnt very long at all before it takes an interminably long period of time to even gain a level at all. Since levels mean much less in Aion than in other games you may or may not have played however, you shouldn't spend too much time worrying over your miserable lack of progress. As a side note, dying to regular creatures (Which excludes all forms of Player vs Player, and Player vs Player vs Environment) loses you experience. You cannot level down, and you can pay a small sum to regain most of what you lost at any major town.

Speaking of Player vs Player vs Environment, let me explain the epic Fortress sieges. On occasion, fortresses in the Abyss (The main PvP / PvPvE area) become vulnerable. This means they may be taken over by either player-controlled faction, or even by a third computer controlled faction, the Balaur. The Balaur enjoy raining from the sky in fiery clouds of doom foreboding death and destruction, playing blackjack, and roasting smores on fires fueled by the corpses of their enemies. Basically, the Balaur fight against whichever faction currently has the upper hand in the Abyss. While it's an uphill battle to remain in the lead, it provides the entire faction with reduced prices from vendors, and pretty much saves everyone hundreds on their car insurance. Well, maybe not car insurance, but it lets everyone keep just a little more jingle in their virtual pockets. The fortress raids themselves are of epic proportions, often with hundreds of players on either side frantically flailing away at each other to control the fortress.

As a final note, flying (with wings, not mounts!) is not just a method of travel. Each class has a different boost to stats while flying, whether it increases the healing they do, or their defensive power, or some other stat increase. Flying is as much a form of travel as it is a tactical choice, but beware; you only have a limited amount of flight time, and falling hurts. A lot. The sound that plays when you have low flight time will likely haunt my dreams for years to come. Aerial combat adds an entirely new dimension (literally!) to the battlefield, and it just means danger is that much closer behind.

Before I finish, I just need to clear this up in case anyone is still confused:
THIS. IS. NOT. A. CUDDLY. GAME.
If you want to dance around picking flowers and spreading love and generally being carefree and oblivious, you would be infinitely better off playing Hello Kitty Online. Whether you are just questing on your own, or braving the Abyss, you will die. Aion is a major challenge, especially compared to relatively caring, nurturing games like WoW, Age of Conan, or Star Wars Galaxies. It requires skill more than gear, and regardless of how good you are you will run into more than you can handle at some point. If you want a challenge with a side of zesty epic storyline and a hefty helping of solid gameplay that comes with shiny graphics and a fresh mythological perspective for a game all in a convenient little combo platter, then go pick up Aion. Now.

Trine

Ah, Trine. What is Trine, you ask? To put it plainly, Trine is a glowing example of how a game does not need to be complicated to be worth playing. Trine resisted the urge to overwhelm the player with thousands of customization options, passed up the opportunity to use the entire keyboard and then some for controls, and even left out what seems to be the holy grail of gaming these days: online multiplayer. What? You want details? Then you shall have them!

To begin, Trine was not what I had at first expected. Upon starting the game I was welcomed by a detailed artistic slideshow, with high quality narration, which dunked me into the story behind the game. There are three characters, and 3 beginning levels where they introduce you to each in turn. These serve as your tutorial to the game. But I get ahead of myself: the game is a sidescrolling fighting / puzzle game with beautiful 3d graphics and a stunning soundtrack. I should make a note here that the game utilizes an advanced physics engine, which makes the puzzles all the more interesting. Moving on!

A description of the characters is in order. To begin, there is the thief. She fights with a bow, and has a grappling hook contraption that can latch onto nearly anything wooden in the game (And there are a lot!) and swing around.

Then there's the wizard. He has no actual attack to protect himself with. Instead, he can conjure items of various shapes and sizes, and levitate such objects at will. His only defense is dropping these objects on the heads of enemies, a rather difficult endeavor. You can use his conjured items to build towers, bridge gaps, crush unsuspecting foes, or any number of nefarious tricks. He is quite a skilled mage...its just too bad he never figured out the fireball spell.

And finally, you have the knight. There isnt much to explain; he has a sword, a shield, and likes to smash stuff. His shield is quite handy for blocking attacks, protecting you from falling objects, and numerous other things. Its a pity he sinks like a rock in water.

Each character has three different ways they can be upgraded, using points you recieve for levelling up. All three characters level up simultaneously, as you pick up green experience potions. Basically, you use these three characters to fight and think your way through a plethora of levels and maneuver yourself around obstacles. You can switch between them with the touch of a button, making things even more interesting and opening up many avenues for puzzle completion that the developers probably never intended. In my experience, those are always the most fun solutions. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention you can find various items in the game that help you out.

The entire game can be played using the arrow keys, mouse, and 1-3 on the keyboard. Of course, you can customize the controls to your liking if these keys dont suit you. The game supports USB gamepads, so you can plug in your favorite controller and have a go with that. The controls are so uncomplicated, you'll probably be a master by the time the tutorial has ended.

But what's this? No online multiplayer? A shocking decision by the developers, to be sure! Ah, but all is not lost! The game supports local multiplayer. No, not over your network. Indeed, Trine has travelled all the way back to using one computer for multiple people. Personally, I hope more games will follow in its footsteps and bring this old form of multiplayer back into the open. The game even supports multiple keyboards, although I didnt see an option for multiple mouse inputs. This allows you to fight alongside your favorite videogaming buddy and use entirely new methods of puzzle solving to get you where you need to go!

Overall, Trine is a masterfully created game that hearkens back to platforming games of old, but also brings its world to life through top of the line 3d effects. My advice: bring out your favorite usb controller, sit down in a nice comfy chair, and get ready for some engaging adventuring, because Trine just rolled into town.

Defense Grid: The Awakening

When I first saw this game I had to stop and think for a moment. How many retail games are there that are solely a tower defense game? Possibly born from the conglomeration of tower defense maps that litter Warcraft 3's battlenet, Defense Grid: The Awakening takes the idea and transforms it into something even greater. The controls are simple and intuitive, gameplay is exactly what I would expect from a solid tower defense game, and the graphics are shiny and attractive to boot. There's even a mild flavor of narrative in the game, giving it just a little bigger spark of life.

Simple and convenient, that's just how I like the controls. The designers created a system that allows for both scrolling the view and select things by centering the camera around your cursor. While it takes a few minutes to truly get used to the idea, it eliminates any frustration brought on by having to use the arrow keys (Or sidescrolling with the cursor!) to move your camera view. The build menu is also very simple, allowing for quick construction without having to dig through menu after menu to find what you want.

As you start the game off on the first level, you are only given some of the tower types, supposedly to ease you into the game. It felt a little slow to me, as there are 9 tower types and only one or two were unlocked in each of the first few levels. You must complete one level to unlock the next. Each level has a distinct playing field, some allowing for more 'mazing' than others. You can only build towers on defined locations, which at first struck me as a bad idea. As I continued to play, my opinion changed to respect for the additional strategy involved in making efficient use of this tower real estate. In order to maximize the strength of your towers in this limited space, you can upgrade them. Each tower has 3 levels, and each upgrade gets increasingly more expensive than the last. For your convenience, all the towers are color coded based on their upgrade level. First level towers are noticeably green, while second level towers are yellow, and third level towers are red. This applies to enemy strength as well, so you can know what's coming your way. It allows for quick identification of weak points in your defense, or immediately recognizing a need to upgrade for that next level of enemy.

The graphics in the game are suitably polished. While they may not be extraordinary or hyperrealistic, they do provide plenty of eye candy without causing your computer to explode in agony. Overall, its a beautifully crafted game, and I have no regrets about purchasing it. Not once was I frustrated by any design element within the game, and with a $20 pricetag it's hard to go wrong.

Golden Axe: Beast Rider

As an obligatory introduction, I want to say these reviews will be perfect in every way, giving an unbiased and universally understandable conclusion. This is probably not how it will turn out. I only promise to give my own opinion, and share my experiences while playing through these games. You have been warned!

Now, on with my first game review! Today, I will be talking about the latest in the Golden Axe series, Golden Axe: Beast Rider for the PS3. I will begin by saying that almost every aspect of Beast Rider irks me. The battle system is simplistic at best, the controls are clunky and often sluggish, and the graphics are less than mediocre. The story is developed only as far as it needs to in order to give you an understandable objective. I dont know how long they spent in development, but it clearly was not nearly long enough.

You might think a simple battle system could be nice since it would be easier to learn, right? Sorry, not in this case. You have three basic attacks at your disposal. There is a quick attack, a slow power attack, and a knockback move. They can be chained together with some decent timing to make fairly powerful combo attacks. The enemies also have three special attacks for you to contend with. One attack makes their weapon glow orange, and must be dodged. Another causes their weapon to glow blue, and needs to be blocked. The third causes their weapon to glow green, and can be either blocked or dodged. Some enemies have a fourth attack that glows a color which is virtually indistinguishable from the orange attacks, and cannot be blocked or dodged. In order to dodge it, you need to jump. Despite being a fairly simple fighting scheme, it becomes increasingly frustrating as you constantly get overwhelmed by numerous enemies, and you cannot possibly dodge/block all their attacks.

The controls also suffer from a similar lack of quality. Blocking especially has a slight delay before your block takes effect, and lasts mere moments. Good timing is required to successfully block an attack from a single enemy, let alone half a dozen at once. Couple this with an infuriatingly squiggly camera control, and it makes for some very difficult fights. Top it off with their clunky aiming interface when throwing the golden axe to break statues (a rather gimmicky attempt at gameplay depth, if you ask me) and you have yourself a game that is nigh indistinguishable from the myriad of rushed movies-turned-videogames on the market.

In my opinion the graphics are one of the least important part of a game. If it has solid gameplay and a decent plotline, it has plenty of entertainment potential even if its graphics are subpar. Golden Axe: Beast Rider has neither solid gameplay nor a great plot, and the graphics are subpar for the PS3 to boot. In fact, the finely rendered cutscenes are about what one could expect from a higher end retail game, and the actual game graphics are several notches down on the eyecandy scale. A game can be excused for having one of these three elements be of low quality, but when all three are lacking, you might wonder whether the development team was taking any pride in their work at all.