SpawnPoint

Age of Conan: The Hyborian Adventure

Today we will be reviewing the newest MMORPG to hit the market, Age of Conan: The Hyborian Adventure.
This particular title is set in a fantasy world, as seen through the eyes of Conan the Barbarian. Most of the storyline holds true to the many novels dedicated to one of the most storied warriors of all time. The graphics are stunning, and I have found that even my beefy system is put to the test by the hardware demands of this title. I would personally recommend a dual core system with 3-4 MB of RAM, as this game is optimized for dual core systems.
As well, I would recommend an upper echelon video card to properly display all of the stunning spells effects, and amazing terrains the game has to offer. This game will cost you a good 30 gigs to install, not counting more space for future updates. While the price in drive space is expensive, we are rewarded with a lavish game world in which to explore, and cinematic cut scenes that accompany the single player questing mode. Daytime quests consist of your typical MMO “bring me ten of these”, and go talk to Farmer John to advance type quests.
Nighttime puts the gamer in single player mode, in which quests are performed to advance the storyline, and grant better rewards than the latter daytime quests do. One can switch back and forth between daytime and nighttime at will, thus giving the gamer a choice of advancing the storyline on his own time, as he or she sees fit.
The combat system for this title is probably the most impressive this reviewer has yet to experience in any MMO. It consists of a battery of main attacks, which then must be followed up with a certain combination of the three auto attack melee keys (left, right and overhead slashes), in order to create a “combo”. These combos, when executed perfectly, can unleash hellish damage, and the potential for cinematic fatality scenes. Instead of the same old humdrum 3,5,7,2,4 key presses to execute 5 special attacks, some fights can consist of 20-30 keystrokes before an enemy comes face to face with the earth in a pool of his own blood.
While it is not rocket science, it does keep a player on his toes, as messing up a combination can lead to ones own early demise against some of the harder foes.
Melee fighters are not the only professions to benefit from combo attacks. Mage and healer types also have their own combo attacks, which can lead to punishing damage obtained from classes that typically and traditionally are used to playing support roles only. All in all, I am quite impressed by the combat mechanics designed for AoC, and it is a refreshing change from the gamut of cookie cutter MMOs that are currently available.
These mechanics also apply to defense, as one can block enemy attacks in a myriad of directions to repel incoming damage, thus making the balance between offense and defense a tentative one, also keeping the player on his toes throughout the entirety of combat. Ultimately, with the revamped combat mechanism, the intense graphics, and intriguing storyline, AoC has restored my faith in the MMORPG field.
Many recent titles have pretty much been copycats of the previous titles available, albeit with the change in the storyline. AoC almost makes this reviewer feel as if he is playing an entirely new genre of game. Kudos to Funcom for coming up with something fresh, finally. Let us hope that future titles will help to propel the genre even further, allowing for more of a dynamic play experience.