Virtual Worlds: YHN tries out Allods Online

Every once in a while your humble narrator espies an opportunity to visit an entire other plane of existence, and executes a brisk recce into that world to see if it will be his cup of tea, as in recent sojourns to BLUE MARS and an earlier visit to the spaces around EVE ONLINE. So it was with ALLODS ONLINE, a new, free 'massively multiplayer game' that recently came to his attention. Allods, run by a company called 'gPotato' of all things, is a game set in an odd mixed steampunk and fantasy universe that describes itself as "Space Opera", but that is perhaps a stretch. It is more like Star Wars than Foundation, if you understand the reference. YHN didn't think of it as being remotely a traditional SF setting. Before YHN continues, the reader should be aware that this is NOT the open universe he or she is used to with Second Life. There is a firm backstory and setting, and the player has no tools to alter this. This is not a world to create in, it is a world to play in. There are several player races-- many traditional fantasy types, a couple of cutesy, anime style critters, and basic humans. For his participation in the "Open Beta", YHN selected the equivalent of a regular plain jane human being he has dubbed "Benbow".

The results were mixed, but overall, quite pleasantly surprising. For starters, this game has the look and feel of WORLD OF WARCRAFT-- it appears to be structured that way on purpose, although it is hard to tell, YHN has not ventured far into this new plane. The graphics were fast and efficient, and quite workmanlike. From what YHN has seen of WOW, maybe even an improvement. YHN found the interface a bit difficult to pick up at first, but managed to hobble around after some frustrations and trial and error. There is a tutorial that runs in the game, but YHN found it to be of limited value (far too terse). Still, this is not Aether Science; YHN eventually found out what he needed to find out.

Here are some screen shots (click to enlarge and see more detail):

"Benbow", YHN's character on Allods Online.

Benbow having a pleasant chat with an onlooker.

Overall, YHN enjoys his first impressions. The client is quite large and slow to download, the interface needs some tweaking, and perhaps some more explanatory help would be useful. With all that said, Allods is a fun little extraplanar experience. If the casual reader does not value creation and the chasing of the almighty linden too highly, Allods may be a nice alternative. If the casual reader desires the ability to make things overall, than Allods will never be your main diversion-- it is too locked in to the interface and story choices. So, in the final analysis, a simple "if one likes this sort of thing, one will like this sort of thing" will do splendidly for a one-line review of Allods.