Do have a co, nan.
Massively Multiplayer Online role Playing Games are en vogue at the moment. World of Warcraft has been a huge success, and developers
seem to be wising up to WoW’s victories and failings. Last week we covered Richard
Garriot’s action-oriented MMO Tabula Rasa, and now
we’re looking at another online starlet with Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.
Fresh from Funcom, the folks behind Dreamfall, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is an
MMORPG with that ingredient that’s always been missing from the genre – massive furry
Y-fronts. In all seriousness though, the steroid-infused, barbarian-based Conan brand has
been around for donkeys years in comic, cartoon and Arnie film guises, and its Hyborian
setting is a no-brainer for a fantasy role-playing game.
In that sense, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ axe-swinging, spell-casting,
quest-taking approach is nothing new, which my lead you to wonder what exactly Age of Conan
offers to drag devotees away from Azeroth. Be assured, however; despite the familiar feel,
there’s enough fresh gameplay features in Hyborian Adventures to make WoW fans quite
envious.
Hulking brute battles
The big one, like Tabula Rasa, being
real-time combat. Unlike the third-person shooting of Garriot’s game though, Age of Conan:
Hyborian Adventures adopts a close combat engine, with the Q, 1,2,3, and E keys enacting
slashes (left, three central and right-sided, respectively) with whichever weapon you’ve
got equipped.
At first it seems somewhat slow and cumbersome, but with practice and improved character
abilities Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ combat should make for epic battles between
hulking brutes; bobbing and weaving, and lopping off limbs with surprising balletic
grace.
Yes, limb loss. The Conan brand is a graphic one indeed, and Age of Conan: Hyborian
Adventures is, unusually for an MMO, a rather bloody affair. It’s also an impressively
detailed one, rendering Hyboria in bright colour and with considerable scale. Armour
detail, rich foliage and spectacular lighting combine with a sensational draw distance over
Hyboria’s picturesque terrain, making Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures one lovely looking
MMO.
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is an MMORPG with that
ingredient that’s always been missing from the genre – massive furry Y-fronts.
And a highly innovative one. The Age of Conan team’s experience on Dreamfall is being
well used, with the first 20 levels of Hyborian adventuring set to innovatively mix
multiplayer and story-driven singleplayer content. After creating your character with an
impressive sliding scale system to define size, shape and looks, you’ll be washed up on an
island and start talking to none-player characters and taking missions in the vein of an
action adventure.
It’s only an hour into Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures that you’ll get to your first
town, Tortage, and meet other players. Even here there’s a distinct playstyle
schizophrenia; the daytime lets you party up, go on quests and general MMO it up with other
people. Rest at an inn, however, and you’ll wake up at night with no-one around and more
singleplayer story stuff to savour. It’s a unique way of luring players into an MMO world
and should see Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures’ learning curve be rather welcoming.
By no means is Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures an MMO-lite, though. Guilds are being
catered for, and will even be able to build their very own cities – then defend them from
other guilds in spectacular player vs player battles as factions war it out with armed
combat, catapults and more.
Huge ambition
Speaking of PvP, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures boasts its own separate level-up
system, currency (called Blood Money) and PvP-specific items. There’s also a feature called
Drunken Brawling, in which you can stagger into a tavern, drink yourself stupid, and fight
other inebriated Age of Conan players in skill-based combat with level and items
disregarded.
All in all, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures boasts an impressive list of features, and
should deserve to do well. It’s a game of huge ambition, with a massive fanbase in a
monstrously popular genre. Whether WoW's denizens will
pay it attention remains to be seen, but for anyone looking to make the leap to a fresher
fantasy onliner, Age of Conan could be the one.
Preview by: Mark Scott
Preview Published: 26.10.07