Not what I expected
There have been a lot of Sword Art Online games that have come out over the years. It’s a recognizable brand being not only a game series but also a manga and anime, so it’s interesting when you find out that Echoes of Aincrad is actually set within the same universe. I only knew of the series because my son watched the anime, so I was thinking this was going to be an action-adventure anime game with some dope combat. Alas outside of the “game within a game” concept there wasn’t a lot that I found dope about this one.
MSRP: $69.99
Platforms: XBOX (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $14.99
In Echoes of Aincrad players will begin by playing the beta test for the in-game MMO Sword Art Online, (the game within a game part) this is a good way to mask a tutorial and I appreciated it being a noob to this universe. The opening hours is really the longest tutorial EVER though. Seriously, pacing is a huge problem in this game, setting the opening hours in what is the beta test of the inworld game is neat but I was really getting bored with the generic character that I was in control of. The game does eventually allow players to move on to the launch of the Sword Art Online MMO where I was able to create my own avatar but the fact that they were silent really killed it for me. I am not a fan of the silent protagonist, I know… sue me.
Echoes of Aincrad is essentially a retelling of the series events but from a fresh character’s perspective, ten thousand players end up trapped in the VR MMO were dying in the game means dying in the real world; and the only way out is to make it to the final floor. Yep, typical anime stuff. On paper I was interested in this set up but I don’t know what happened but something felt lost in translation to me. This carries over to the many side quests the game has to offer as well. MMO’s are known for big epic quests that take players across it’s big and interesting world, and that’s something that Echoes of Aincrad is missing.
Unlike most MMO’s that have wide open interconnected worlds for players to enjoy, Echoes of Aincrad’s version of one sees players queue up for a quest in a hub and then be teleported to semi-open areas/dungeons. This is problematic for a few reasons, the first of which is that it severely hampers exploration. That’s a HUGE part of playing MMO’s, being able to explore the world, discover its secrets and more. Players will be met with invisible walls anytime they dare venture too far off the beaten path in this one. The other is it limits the environments in the game, and because of that everything in Echoes of Aincrad just feels generic at the end of the day.
In the end I was disappointed by Echoes of Aincrad, the pacing of the story combined with what felt to me like a dull world were the major reasons as to why. Buried under all the menus and minutiae of the game is a halfway decent combat system, it’s just too bad I can’t recommend for you to take the time to dig down to it, especially when there are so many excellent games dropping now.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.