Alien Adoption Agency (PC)

Alien Adoption Agency has been around since 1997 and boasts almost 30 thousand players. Figuring that they must be doing something right I’ve been meaning to give it a go for a long time and finally I found some time this weekend.
AAA (as it’s known) is an online, multiplayer game that is primarily text-based. I’ve been a fan of adventure games long before computers could handle swanky graphics, so being text-based doesn’t phase me at all, in fact they generally encourage you to use your imagination (which can only be a good thing methinks!).
The first thing that hit me when I visited the website (www.alienaa.com) is the sense of style from the artwork. It’s very well done and gives the sense that what lurks inside is definitely worth the effort. Likewise I’m similarly reassured by the welcome page which tells me that I need no downloads (it’s all browser based), and more importantly that it’s free. That is to say you can become a trial player for free but if you want to join then there are subscription fees – monthly is $4.50/ half a year is $27/year is $54. Or instead of cash you can earn ‘bytes’ to pay for the fees – a one month subscription is worth 70 bytes and these can be gained by signing up at various websties listed on AAA. The benefits of subscription are that it allows you access to more game features. (Note if you become a trial player and your account is inactive for a couple of weeks then it gets deleted)
So what do you have to do to join? Well adopt an Alien of course :) They come in a variety of funky colours and once you’ve signed up and activated the link that arrives by email you can enter the site. The objective of the game is to make your alien the most powerful it can be. This is done by gaining currency (credits), gaining experience (you can train your alien at the gym to become stronger, faster and gain a higher endurance ), buying weapons and other items, and finally by battling with other aliens.
It all sounds great and I was eager to get my Sea Blue Yozden into the fray of things. I started off in my house which is really a place to view your little alien’s stats : Level , Experience (the more experience points you have the higher your level), Life Force ( if you battle this is what goes down rapidly!), Vitality, Karma, Motivation, Effort (for some activities you need either motivation or Effort points otherwise your alien won’t do them), Alignment (good or evil), Social Class, Allegiance, Age, Attack skill, Defence Skill, Speed, Strength, Endurance, Panic, Confidence and the number of battles you’ve had. Suitably satisified that my little yozden had a bright future I left the house in search of fun.
Sadly this is where it all got a bit disappointing. The main town that aliens can visit is called Georgetown and I was faced with a wide variety of choices. Should I go down to the gym and flex some muscles? Go Fishing and earn some credits?, Perhaps go to the University and learn something. This is where the game play let the whole thing down. For instance if you go fishing, you start off by buying some fishing equipment – all makes sense, but fishing is basically clicking on a small grid reference and you either get fish or you don’t. Not much fun to be had there.
Next I went to Executioner’s Square – sounded promising I thought but in the end I ended up playing Hangman, yep the same game you end up playing when you get a group of bored people locked in a room!. A bit disheartened I went to the Casino – surely some gambling will settle my little alien down. True there were a range of games, Blackjack, Slot machines, Dice Poker, and Pick 3 (a kind of lottery) but again really it’s just a case of deciding how much to bet and clicking a button and seeing if you win or not.
To be honest this wasn’t what I was expecting. Roleplaying games can be inventive in the way you explore the world and how your character interacts. Normally you get a range of commands to muck about with but my little alien was restricted to plodding from place to place and not doing much at all. Even the battling was a bit dissapointing. True you get to pick on anyone you want (assuming they’re not already dead), but the outcome really has nothing to do with your gameplaying skill just if your alien is bigger than theirs.
The way AAA thrives I believe is through the community aspect. Players can chat with each other, use messageboards and post messages to each other. And that’s great, it’s just not what I was looking for. If I chat in a game I Iike it to be at the same time as playing, as in Atomic Poker. The game itself is not enough for me to want to come back and chat with people.
It’s a shame because the site is really well produced (you can see the effort ouse from the pages), the artwork throughout the game is great and the concept is fantastic. It just doesn’t deliever on the gameplay I’m afraid. This might be for you – the only way you’re going to really know is if you log on and play, but sadly my little Yozden is not due for a long life…