Anarchy Online: Alien Invasion

Expands the entire world, though the focus in this one is on community involvement. Players not part of organizations can still participate in the invasion scenarios, but this is definitely targeted toward in-game organizations.

It adds an invaluable community aspect to the game, which was badly desired by the AO faithful and includes a special new kind of epic battle that gives veteran players an entirely new challenge in the land of Rubi-Ka.

While it may not do much to attract the new players, the more than welcome addition of player created cities will give wealthy Organizations a new way to flaunt their power.

Alien Invasion adds what seems like a lot of intriguing new content, but in practice, it's mostly for advanced players.

The aliens are as challenging as anything the game has to offer, and the rewards have kept the game fresh for many. It goes without saying, though, that if you're a solo gamer who prefers to hunt alone, there isn't much here to make the investment worthwhile.

AO addicts should buy this add-on - solo-ers and MMO noobs, not so much. [Jan 2005, p.97]

The insanely high upkeep costs involved in maintaining new cities, coupled with the dubious payoff of repetitive alien attacks, will probably drive more than a few entrepreneurs back to the friendlier phantasmagoria of "Shadowlands." [Jan 2005, p.67]

Attention: There is a chance Funcom will freeze your account and demand image files of yourself, your credit card, and your ID (passport if you have nothing else) as the only solution for you to get your account back, even if there is no issue with your credit card and no suspicious activity on the account. If you're not willing to trust Funcom with your identity, they will keep the account frozen forever with no alternate solutions. All your time invested in the free account will be lost. There are several discussion threads about this, on Reddit and elsewhere if you want to look them up. Some of you may not realize what a huge deal it is to send that kind of personal information to a third party in a foreign country - a company that recently had their forums hacked and is struggling financially. Don't do it. Sending that kind of information to a third party is illegal (for good reason) in some countries, and even if it's not illegal in yours - your proof of identity is more valuable than any game account, and the fact that Funcom wants it so badly even though they could verify your ID in other ways should give you pause. For the record: this happened to me, and others. I've had no issues with my credit card ever, I had a different account that was paid without issues with the SAME credit card as the frozen account, and I didn't share the account with anyone nor was there suspicious activity. The fact that one account (by the same player) gets frozen but the second account, played at the same time and paid with the same card, does not, should tell you all you need to know about Funcom's 'security' system. Avoid this game if you don't want to risk losing all the time you invested.