On 26 May something amazing happened. No, it wasn’t the predicted rapture a few days late, it was the newest offering from Ignition Games, Faxion. The game is based on Catholic afterlife mythology, and set in Purgatory. You, as the recently deceased, must choose your side and battle for the Lord of Hosts or the Prince of Darkness.
The concept of using religion in gaming is hardly new, but Ignition did something not done often and rarely done 
successfully with Faxion. Their research so far (only made it to level 25 of 60) is impeccable. There are many tongue in cheek references including L. Ron Hubbard, and Davidians that are out of control and need to be exterminated. Contested realms are instanced and named after the seven deadly sins after a fashion, for example Fields of Hunger is where the gluttons are relegated. There is so much familiarity with this game that I felt right at home. The keyboard controls are pretty standard, the UI is standard for the industry as well. The developers seem interested in what the community has to say, and respond frequently on the forums. The community itself is pretty helpful, commenting (sometimes aggressively) their true thoughts on suggestion posts and encouraging people to firm up their ideas and do their math appropriately.
The multiple class system isn’t exactly new, but it works really well. Once a toon has bought enough skills in it’s main spec, it’s able to choose a secondary spec and use those skills for slightly more money and experience points. Leveling up gives attribute points which one can spend to cater to the abilities that they choose.
The game is a free to play micro-transaction model that does not require people to pay to get everything out of the game. There is instant return on tokens, however, with armor sets, skill queuing slots, decreased skill up times, and various and sundry items that are extremely helpful when you want to have money available for buying skills and things you might need at the beginning of the game. That being said, appropriate leveled armor does drop in the correct areas and although one might not need to buy anything, there’s a point where it’s clear that armor does have to be upgraded before one can continue.
Skill leveling is currently an issue. Skills take 10 hours to level, and only one can be leveled at a time. Lag is another problem, even when the server has green light low population there are times when skills are simply unusable due to too many attackers. Take it from me, folks, don’t try and kill the wolf cubs. It’s a mistake. Honest assessment: I don’t think this game was quite ready to come out of Beta testing, but it’s a lot of fun, and you can’t beat the price.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGPZSfrOyxw
