Avalanche Studios developing 'open-world fantasy' AionGuard
by Ludwig Kietzmann 
{ Jan 13th 2009 at 5:55PM }
Open-world fantasy news now, with Edge's latest issue taking a first look at "AionGuard," a new Lord of the Rings-inspired project from Avalanche Studios. According to the British mag, AionGuard follows the exploits of an army intent on capturing land that is otherwise "occupied by numerous mythical and magical creatures." As any band of armor-clad warriors will tell you, that's by far the worst kind of land to capture.
It inevitably leads to violence, which is probably why narrative director Odd Ahlgren says it's like "God Of War, but it's a lot more open and you have lots more choice in how to tackle these situations." He insists that the game isn't an RPG, however, and allays fears that action will revolve around grinding. The folks at Avalanche, who previously parachuted into the jungle with Just Cause, have yet to announce a publisher for the Xbox 360 and PS3 title.
Not that they should have trouble finding one -- it says here you'll also be able to pilot dragons. We'd be
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Esat Dedezade @ Jan 13th 2009 6:03PM
Dragonlance game? Any one?
Pleeeease....I craaaves it. I want to wield the power of the staff of Magius whilst riding a dragon into a horde of draconians... whilst eating some of Otiks spiced potatos, dam those things sounded good....
ConMon @ Jan 13th 2009 9:21PM
seconded
goldeneyesoldier (noble prophet of rant and ownage) @ Jan 13th 2009 6:07PM
lord of the rings+god of war= hobbits vs sex minigame? *confused*
Temidien @ Jan 13th 2009 6:15PM
If were a Live arcade title, I'd play it. Hobbits are kinky...
Duke @ Jan 13th 2009 6:24PM
Does anyone else think its strange that these conquering worlds games always have a big fight involved. I would expect that there is some world out there were you land with your axes and they just hand you flowers and sprite and let you do whatever you want. I mean, didn't we see that in some star trek episode once?
Levi @ Jan 13th 2009 6:30PM
It's going to take more than "It's like God of War," and, "from the team that brought you Just Cause," to get me excited about this game.
Which reminds me, when is Just Cause 2 coming out?
Brodie-san @ Jan 14th 2009 9:22AM
Q1 2009
Apparently ...
Obie @ Jan 13th 2009 6:38PM
That cover art rocks! Get it? ROCKS!
Baaaw!
Strategy_Panda (The Sandwich Poisoning Crew) @ Jan 13th 2009 6:44PM
i don't get it
Levi @ Jan 13th 2009 7:34PM
Try as I might, I can't come up with a pun involving golem.
Friggin' Hebrew language.
Hyams @ Jan 13th 2009 7:43PM
I just want a developer to make an open world fantasy game; kindda like Oblivion only, you know, without the copy/pasted locations. Morrowind is the closest thing to this dream game that I can think of, but even that falls short.
I was initially hopeful that this would be that game (as I am everytime I hear of a fantasy game being made without knowing any of the details) but it sounds noting like that.
Alas.
Ihavepants @ Jan 13th 2009 7:50PM
Copypasting locations doesn't seem to be your problem, as Morrowind had that in great abundance. What you seem to be seeking is the mystical thing known to some as a good "atmosphere". What makes this up varies from game to game and person to person, personally I think Morrowind had it- Oblivion did not.
Hyams @ Jan 13th 2009 7:56PM
But Morrowind had slightly less of the copy/pasting, although you're right in saying it's still pretty bad. (And yeah, Morrowind's atmosphere was a lot better.)
Someone make Sony max out a 50GB bluray disk with an open world fantasy game, plz.
player66 @ Jan 13th 2009 8:13PM
Stop making fantasy games. PERIOD. WoW has MMO fantasy locked down. That crowd doesn't have the time or the attention span to play a 100+ hour open-world MMO-lite. Oh yeah, and it's not going to sell.
The Dark Wayne @ Jan 13th 2009 9:05PM
wait wait wait, the crowd that puts thousands of hours into leveling and gearing several characters doesn't have the attention for a 100 hour game? 100 hours is chump change to WoW players
Iwa @ Jan 13th 2009 10:56PM
Hopefully the game is much better than Just Cause. What a piece of crap that game was.
BananaBoat @ Jan 13th 2009 11:23PM
Should I just pay the hundred dollars to get Edge in my mailbox right now? It seems to be the only decent magazine left, and it's a shame that it is so damn expensive.