Aion is set on a ruined planet that appears to have been devastatingly cored by some destructive force, with a dangerous Void conjoining two continental poles populated by a pair of distinct civilizations. Players are cast in the role of a Daeva, some kind of angel-human hybrid, that can sprout wings and fly unhindered through the air for a limited period of time, like a built-in flying mount. And with angels as the primary humanoid presence, the world is appropriately heavenly. Imagine the most breathtaking area of World of Warcraft re-rendered in an improved engine. Now imagine that same breathtaking area varied in both theme and scope, spread throughout an entire world, and you can begin to grasp what NCsoft is striving for.

Using the CryENGINE, Aion presents a truly stunning landscape of lush foliage and mysteriously captivating cities. As is often the case with certain games, none of the screenshots have accurately captured what Aion looks like in motion. One civilization's capital city hovered in the air like an uprooted potato, whisps of cloud encircling its exposed roots and furling around the edges of the rocky mass. There wasn't much bloom at work, and yet every tree and mountainside popped with an aural permeance, leaving a room of jaded journalists looking pleasantly surprised. It's as if the developers sat down to paint a picture, looked at a box of a couple thousand paints, and decided to use them all. The American NCsoft employees were quick to credit their Korean developers, as the game is merely being localized in the United States. And though Aion does have typical Asian feel to it, its characters aren't hyper-stylized to the point of bug-eyed midgets. It's all quite palatable, in every sense of the word.

While player character design was nothing to speak of, the look of the creatures inhabiting the world of Aion was fascinating. Many MMOs get by with tired iterations of mundane animals, or enlarged versions of the same monster. Aion has taken that formula and turned it on its ear, producing a unique selection of fauna that seems fitting to each location. As a feminine angel swooped across an open lake surrounded by mountains, what can only be described as giant, mossy-colored elephants arched thin, disproportionate necks and enlarged, goofy heads to grab a drink. Later the player attacked a spiky crustacean, which waddled forward cautiously, its eyes hidden by an overbearing shell. While it's impossible to know at this point whether the designs will be repetitiously abused, an NCsoft representative did note that they receive a new creature design every few days from their overseas team. Every time the angelic avatar soared past another of the alien animals I was momentarily captivated, always left wanting a few more seconds to admire them, like a kid on the zoo train.

The flying tour through Aion was set to the music of Korean-Japanese composer Yang Bang Ean, known for writing music to anime series such as Juuni Kokki (The Twelve Kingdoms). Maybe it was due to the droning sounds of automatic weapons fire and jabbering press that dominated E3, but Ean's score stood out as one of the more innovative I've heard within the MMO genre. Sweeping, serene, well-orchestrated tunes played as the angel ran through grassy flowerbeds, segueing into a bombastic battle tune at the sight of an enemy. My only concern is related to the implementation of the music--so often a wonderful score is interrupted too soon by "Battle Theme 2," or an action cue lingers while the player has already moved on to exploration, and some of that was present in Aion's current build.

Of course, like humans rejecting a perfect Matrix, playing in an idealistic world might grow boring after a while. At one point the Daeva entered the hollowed out area of the Void, a chaotic, dream-like expanse that sits between the two floating continental poles. The game engine began to play out a pre-scripted cutscene, and NCsoft representatives explained that the background story of your character will be told in these scenes. The Void is an ever-changing reality, and can appear in any shape the designers choose, which seems an interesting way of justifying future zones without resorting to dropping in continents or moons by the dozen. Demonic enemies and darker environments will no doubt be par for the course here.

In the end, are pretty designs and soothing music enough to lull MMO gamers into another unwarranted monthly grind? In most cases, no. So while Aion certainly smells like a fresh spring tulip, it may yet turn out to be a stale weed. We'll know more when the game enters closed beta in the next few months. Long-term, expect a simultaneous release of Aion in Europe and the United States sometime next year.