Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Preview
Finally, a game worthy of Conan?
by Marko Susimetsä
previewed on PC
Combat
The stories of Conan depict a savage world where lives are cheap. Thus, it is to be expected that the combat system in Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures will be bloody, but from what we've seen thus far, it is not much bloodier than in many other similar games. The developers have apparently had to remove certain more gory bits, such as decapitation and dismemberment that were still present in early trailers. But even so, there's still some impressive stuff in the combat system.
When fighting a melee combat with another character the player actually has to do more than just press a button to make the character attack. There are six different attack angles for weapons that the player has to control and the attacks can follow each other fluidly to form different kinds of combos. The ranged combat is more traditional, offering a view over the character's shoulder to aim and fire at the enemies. However, what makes the game truly stand apart from others in the genre is the mounted combat. You need good timing and practice to be truly effective in it; it is not just about riding at the enemy with a weapon raised high and clicking on an attack button. First, you must approach the enemy at a good speed in order to gain the full effect of the speed of the horse behind the attack. Then, you have to swing your weapon just at the right moment to hit the enemies as you pass them. This is naturally harder the faster you ride and is also affected by the weapon that you wield (anything from swords to lances).
The above-described combat techniques work similarly in single and multiplayer, but the multiplayer also offers the possibility to take advantage of attack formations combined with all styles of combat (melee, ranged and mounted). The formations will make it possible for characters of different levels to group up and attack an enemy force, while offering the weakest fighters some protection from the stronger ones.
And yet another new introduction to the genre is the so-called brawling combat, which takes place in taverns when the characters are drunk. The amount of liquid subsistences that the character has gulped down will affect his/her accuracy and damage in battle, but also give him/her more resistance to damage. What's more, in drunken brawl there are no levels, so all characters fight at the same level.
But is it really "Conan"?
Well, I must say that some aspects of the game seem to draw it pretty far from Howard's Hyborian world. These include some aspects that have clearly been copied from other RPGs and MMOs, such as healing potions, the many magic-wielding professions with healing spells and some other character classes, such as the bear-shamans. Also, to be nit-picky, the mage profession should really be called sorcerer if we want to be true to Howard. More critical differences are, for example, the introduction of gods other than Crom to the Cimmerians (in order to provide them with healing spells that Crom would not provide - being a god who doesn't listen to prayers) and the possibility to have a non-barbarian class for the Cimmerians and, on the other hand, barbarian class for the civilized Stygia and Aquilonia.
Likewise, the changes to the atmosphere admitted by the developers, such as the removal of sex and nudity can be seen as deviations. But one thing that the developers also report as a "change" is that they introduce strong female characters that have a will of their own. To someone who's read Howard's stories, it seems that the developers have not ever heard about Belit or other strong female characters that feature in the stories. Likewise, the developers have decided not to include certain racist qualities of Howard's stories, but seem to have forgotten that Conan spent years pirating the high seas with a black crew and that some of the main heroes were blacks as well.
Conclusion
All in all, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a very promising title that introduces many new aspects and new depth to online RPGs. It is very action-oriented, however, and may thus disappoint those who are looking forward to a good RPG set in the Hyborian world, given the developer's promise of an mature approach to game design. Still, I'm sure that no Conan fan should miss this game, set to be released in December this year, even if they don't like all the concessions that are supposed to make it more approachable to the generic MMO players.
