Games Convention: AIM Impressions
Jaz, 2003-09-01

The Games Convention 2003 in Leipzig was significantly bigger than the first GC in 2002 - and what's more, this time a significantly larger amount of CRPGs (or games with RPG elements) were shown. Unfortunately, the two days I spent at the GC weren't enough to cover all of the RPG/like games - in fact, I was really glad I glimpsed as many games as I did, because sprinting from booth to booth, from award ceremony to press center and back while elbowing my way through hordes of gamers took a considerable amount of time.

I spent a considerable amount of time at the booth of Russian publisher/producer/developer 1C which occupied a space right between several big booths, stalls and stages. The advantage was obvious, many gamers stopped to watch the trailers of the 1C games displayed on two big TFT displays. The disadvantage: even though we found a somewhat quieter place in the ‘backyard' of the booth, the noise level was so high PR manager Anatoly Subbotin and I had to shout to converse. 1C had brought many promising games to the fair, four of which were either CRPGs or sported enough RPG elements to warrant coverage. The last one I took a look at was AIM.

A.I.M. (1C, PC)
In A.I.M., you - the player - are an AI incorporated into a glider (some kind of multi-purpose aircraft) which inhabits a militarized zone. You are one AI among many which have been created as test objects.

AIM is another action-oriented CRPG - or rather, an action game with RPG elements. A trailer was all I have seen of the game so I can't tell much about gameplay, but although it is supposed to offer quests and missions, character upgrading, trade and exploration, it looks as if the main focus was on combat (especially multi-player combat).

What impressed me most about the trailer were stunning landscapes with lustrous light effects and pixel-shaded water; gameplay as presented looked more like that of Terminal Velocity, but without having had my hands on the game it's quite hard to tell what it will be like.

First Impressions
Definitely a looker. I'm not certain if the glider theme will appeal to ‘regular' CRPGers, but a certain category of action fans will like it for sure.