Allods Online, a much anticipated game from Astram Nivul, the creators of Heroes of Might and Magic V has started its Closed Beta Test #1! With a budget of $12 million dollars and 4 years of development the game revolves around Astral Space with floating islands that are called Allods. With 6 races and 28 classes to choose from, players can level from level 1-10 for the duration of the first test. And they can explore the content for these levels. Closed Beta keys are easilly found and are given away from sites like mmosite.com. 

There are two sides to choose from, The League and The Empire. The League that you might consider as the good side, consists of Kanians, Elves and Gibberlings. While the ambitious and ruthless Empire consists of Xadaganians, Orcs, and Arisen. There are the usual and unusual archetypes you can choose from such as warriors, paladins, summoners, psionicist, wardens, healers, mages and the scouts. However, some classes are bound to specific archetypes, for instance, the Gibberlings can only choose between being a warden, scout, psionicist, and warrior.  

The game starts out with your character in total immersion meaning you will feel very involved in the very first part of the storyline. After having done this part, you will now be free to explore the world of Allods on your own. This is where your quests will be given too. To further describe the game, here are some of the nice features I have encountered while playing this game: 

1. The tutorial is one of the most unique tutorial in any MMORPG game. This is found in the initial part of your game.

2. The game's character features does not look like the usual anime/eastern MMORPG.

3. User interface is easily learned and adapted in the gameplay.

4. The game is not a grind fest, quests comprise most of your character's experience.

5. Quests are more challenging than usual.

6. The game's engine runs fast and smooth.

7. Character stats are numerous but very detailed. The game highlights specific stats that are helpful and beneficial to your class. They are also very specific. This makes your character not only focus on one stat alone.

8. Maps are not actually bounded by invisible walls, when you reach the ledge, you can actually fall and die!

9. Another cool feature is the Purgatory, this is a place your character goes to and rest when he dies.

10. One of the classes you'll surely fall in love with are the Gibberlings, they are the small furball creatures that always goes by groups of three. You can customize each of the three Gibberlings and name each of them.

11. If you stopped playing you will gain bonus Exp which you can redeem from a Inn keeper once you go online again. This gives a players a reason to take a rest. 

Personally I enjoyed my time playing this game. It took some time to familiarize my self with the game but after that it was all fun. Leveling is quite slow but the process of doing quests for experience is quite enjoyable. Killing monsters takes time too and you will really feel that you are fighting something with effort. There are quite a few challenging quests as well. For example before leaving the first allod you can choose to do a optional quest where you must kill a boss for a great reward. But in order to kill this boss you must organize a party consisting of a tanker, a healer and damagers and the group must make a strategy to defeat the boss.

This weekend I tried playing The Empire's side. The campaign at the start is really fun and will really get  you going. You will start at a galactic spaceship type area. You must defeat some League bandits, some really cool aliens, and a GIANT space monster that does not sound cool when being described but once you get to see the actuall scenario you will get blown away! Once you finish with all that you will be in their town, that looks like a Industrial type with lots of big buildings, sewers, smoke and lots more. Playing The Empire will surely give you lots of fun and a unique experience.

So far there arent much bad things about this game yet. Some people complain about not having a mini-map while some complain of having a hard time finishing quests because a lot of people are killing the same type of monster. But all in all this game is pretty decent for a free to play game. Top notch in my opinion.

   Overall rating: 9/10