Anarchy Online: Alien Invasion

Another solid add-on for one of the best MMORPG's currently on the market. This time the content is clearly aimed at organisations, but newbies and lone wolves are not totally forgotten either. [Feb. 05]

If you’re looking for lots of new, flashy graphics or big updates to the original AO, this expansion might be a big disappointment. But for my money, Anarchy Online: Alien Invasion is an excellent addition to the Anarchy Online multiverse.

While it may not do much to attract the new players, the more than welcome addition of player created cities will give wealthy Organizations a new way to flaunt their power.

But what Alien Invasion does so well is offer existing players a solid reason to keep playing. Those of you who left AO a while ago might want to pop back in to see what the fuss is about.

It adds an invaluable community aspect to the game, which was badly desired by the AO faithful and includes a special new kind of epic battle that gives veteran players an entirely new challenge in the land of Rubi-Ka.

From the majestic scope of the new buildings to the impact of seeing an alien mother ship dwarfing them from above ala Independence Day, all you are really missing is a few Will Smith wisecracks and you have the recipe from the late summer movie blockbusters: fast action, lots of eye candy and a good old fashioned sci-fi story best enjoyed with friends.

The latest expansion gives existing players a good reason to keep playing, but hasn’t brought the game up to the standards of the latest generation of MMORPGs.

Alien Invasion adds what seems like a lot of intriguing new content, but in practice, it's mostly for advanced players.

Rather than adding another landmass to explore or a new job class to bat around, this pack puts players on a united defensive—a rarely explored concept for an MMO expansion. If you’re not alienated from a guild, then Alien Invasion is an inviting option.

Overall, the expansion boasts great new content, cool weapons, fresh looking monsters, the massive cities and insane perks. However, all the old content is getting a bit aged, especially the graphics, and it still boils down to killing hecklers for your main way to gain experience.

Injects enough of a dose of excitement to boost fans' adrenaline levels for a while. You're bound to get a few more months out of the game.

The aliens are as challenging as anything the game has to offer, and the rewards have kept the game fresh for many. It goes without saying, though, that if you're a solo gamer who prefers to hunt alone, there isn't much here to make the investment worthwhile.

AO addicts should buy this add-on - solo-ers and MMO noobs, not so much. [Jan 2005, p.97]

Overall, this release tries to add a fresh spin to the Anarchy Online universe and succeeds to a certain extent, though it would have been better to open the doors of the expansion a bit wider to let more kinds of gamers through to experience it all.

Overpriced, under-content and thoroughly disappointing all around. [Dec 2004, p.102]