Aion takes place in a world that smacks of Nordic and various European mythologies, but it takes a distinctly Asian twist on things. The world Atriea once had a massive tower, called the Tower of Eternity, that stretched to the heavens and acted as the physical representation of the god Aion on this plane. Aion created a race of guardians called Draken that rebelled against his rule, becoming the race of demons called the Balaur and leading assault after assault upon the world of men. To combat this, Aion established a barrier and a group of 12 angelic beings that would fight the Balaur. Some humans that managed to harness to power of aether also joined in the fight, as they had ascended to become the immortal, wing-bearing Daevas. Eventually, the Tower of Eternity was sundered and the world was split into two. The lower part of the world, which was bathed in constant light, changed its inhabitants to be even more radiant and beautiful, and they eventually named themselves the Elyos. The upper part of the world, which was shrouded in darkness, changed its inhabitants to be clawed, dark-skinned raiders that called themselves the Asmodians. Both sides vehemently hate the other as well as the Balaur, and fight an eternal war.

As you can tell, the game definitely draws from existing mythologies to craft a new one. The Balaur are quite obviously the fallen angels in Judeo-christian mythology, and the Empyrean Lords are the popularized version of Seraphim. This is more obvious when the two groups split, forming the Seraphim Lords of Elyos and the Shedim Lords (Shedim being a demon in Jewish mythology) of Asmodae. The names of places and people often correspond with other myths as well, such as Baldur. Overall, it lends a sort of patchwork feel to the game's world rather than a cohesive one, which is fitting given the story and setting.

The first thing you do is create a new character, and the creation options are good, but not the best. You can choose from one of four classes (each of which splits into two possible specialist classes, more on that later) for either gender, and it is worth saying that the default characters look otherworldly pretty. There are no ugly characters by default in Aion. This is changed, however, by the great (but by no means Champions Online level) customization options available to the players. It is taken to a bit of an extreme, however, as you can do things such as make yourself impossibly small but with a gigantic head, which breaks the epic fantasy feel of the game world.

The graphics in Aion, powered by Crytek's extremely flexible CryEngine, are absolutely stunning. They do not scale quite as well as other MMOs, so a decent computer is definitely suggested if you really want to get into the game. The textures are very detailed, the geometry is smooth, and the overall art style is cohesive, which is more than can be said about a lot of games. The art is very reminiscent of Lineage, which is no surprise, given that NCSoft developed both titles. The sound, unfortunately, is far more generic, with a laughably generic metal theme that plays overtop of combat and otherwise boring and uninspired music and sounds. The game never makes you feel truly powerful, insofar as sounds go, and that's contradictory to the general theme of the game, which is jarring.

Upon creating a character, you are set out into the world as a member of one of two factions. You may only choose a single faction per server, and each has their own set of maps to quest in. For example, the starting Asmodae map focuses on raiding local farms and fighting off incursions into Asmodian territory. Each map has a selection of quests which boil down into two kinds:

• General quests are quests that do not pertain directly to your character's story arc. These quests can be anything from gathering a certain amount of materials to killing a bunch of enemies. They give average rewards in term of money and equipment, and serve as side-quests to your main endeavor.
• Story quests are tasks undertaken by your character that pertain directly to both their growth as well as the overall themes of the map it takes place on. For example, you will always receive a campaign quest upon reaching level 9 that will instantly propel you into level 10 if you complete it, giving you access to both your wings and your secondary job as quickly as possible.

Quests are generic fare, which is about as much as you can expect from an MMO. Go here, kill him, gather this item. Repeat. Aion does distinguish itself with some very clever writing in dialog and explanations, but chances are that you will be too busy leveling like crazy to see it.

As mentioned before, every class of the four general classes divides into two subclasses upon reaching level 10 which act as a specialization in a certain area. You have to take this specialization as well. In essence, the classes and their sub-classes boil down into whether the class is physical or magical and if it is an offensive or support-based class. The classes you can be are:

• The Warrior, which is a general "hit things with big swords until they die" sort of class. Very straightforward and relies on chain-skills to eliminate enemies.
• The Gladiator, which acts as the straightforward whirlwind of blades and fury that tears apart enemies with no subtlety at all. In other words, melee DPS.
• The Templar, which is the only tanking class, thanks to many great boosts to HP and base abilities as well as several self-buffs.
• The Scout, which is a stealth and subtlety-oriented class that can switch between ranged and melee hits on a whim.
• The Assassin, which is a further specialization of the stealth side of things. The Assassin would be a rogue or backstabbing melee user in any other game.
• The Ranger, which is the archer and non-caster ranged DPS of Aion. They do not get pets, of any sort, focusing on damage instead.
• The Mage, which is the generic offensive caster. Focuses on elemental spells rather than any light or darkness magic.
• The Sorcerer, which takes specialization into elemental spells one step further by making him almost entirely focused on ranged magic-based DPS.
• The Spiritmaster, which can summon a pet for itself as it hurls spells from afar. Not as powerful as the Sorcerer in raw damage output, but more versatile.
• The Priest, which is a healer and all around support class that keeps the party alive and powerful.
• The Chanter, which acts as a general support class thanks to a wide array of buffs, healing spells, and damage potential. Thanks to the jack-of-all-trades nature, not as good at any of them as dedicated classes.
• The Cleric, which is the definitive healer thanks to many healing spells and the capability to raise the dead. Comparable to a Priest from World of Warcraft or an Empathy Defender from City of Heroes.

Combat in Aion is generic, if fun. This is the same old deal from any other MMO. You and your enemy hit each other until one of you dies, and if you win, you take the loot. You have hotkeys that you can use to trigger abilities, as well as chain skills that lead to other skills that can only be used in a sequence. It deviates slightly from the normal gameplay behavior, but not by much. Perhaps the most interesting addition is the fact that weapons can strike more than once in a single blow, which is oddly satisfying.

Character growth is based on several different features. You have your inventory and equipment, which function like any other game; your Stigma, which act as a sort of magical, intangible equipment; your skills, which automatically level up when you do, depending on your level; and your titles, which preface your name as well as giving you distinct gameplay benefits such as greater health or higher accuracy. You can control all of these, but the one growth function that you can not control is the base attributes of your character. If you want to lean towards having more health but dealing less damage than your buddy as a Templar, you'll have to resort to gear. It's a very hands-off growth style that is popular in MMOs, but it also undermines the element of customization that the game seems to want to tout.

The overall experience of the first 11 levels of Aion is one of entertaining tedium. It does not seem to want to do anything particularly exciting, and even restricts one of the major selling points, the flight, until you reach the zone known as the Abyss. You can glide in any zone, but this rarely offers any benefits other than a very brief speed boost. It is certainly not ground-breaking, and feels less like a revolutionary new MMO and more like a patchwork of good ideas. Much like the story, really. We did not get into the dedicated PvP sections, such as the Abyss, by the time of this article, and there's a lot of potential there.

This is not to say that it isn't fun, though. Aion is easily one of the most entertaining MMOs to come along in a while. It has excellent graphics, a functional (and eventually moddable) user interface, rock solid gameplay mechanics, top-notch writing in quests and dialog, and a world that feels like an homage to every mythology ever concocted. If you are looking for a change of setting from your standard western fantasy fare, but don't want to go too far out of your comfort zone in terms of gameplay, Aion is a must buy. For everyone else, it's worth a try, if just for the way that it manages to bring everything together so well.