Age of Conan – Hyborian Adventures Hands-on Preview

It only seems like a handful of weeks since Lord of the Rings Online went global and proved that there was still plenty space in the market for a new MMO based on a vintage fantasy licence. But it is somewhat surprising to find that another classic brand with a heritage stretching back to long before the time of consoles and circuitry is preparing itself to stride into the crowded world of the MMO.

Conan the Barbarian has previously been most popular in comic book form, with his graphic adventures enjoying unrivalled popularity in Scandinavia. Yet despite good sales, and a series of well-loved films starring Arnie, the muscular warrior has never quite achieved the mainstream success he might have hoped for on UK shores.

Nevertheless, the fearsome fighter is advancing on the PC audience undeterred, and will likely be welcomed with open arms, as he epitomises the kind of character popular in online worlds, but what of the game that holds aloft the mighty Conan?

The first good news is that, by MMO standards, it is already looking very nice. It may not be too concerned with photorealism, but at this stage in development there is a rich, sumptuous feel to the game’s visuals. Happily, the team at Funcom have also done a grand job of capturing a feel for the world of Conan. For those unfamiliar with the comics, the barbarian’s universe is surprisingly considered and brooding, defying the stereotype it projects with its imagery – which generally focuses on butch men and pneumatic women in scanty fur thongs.

Hyborian Adventures has reproduced not only the look of Conan, but the atmosphere too. With the style of the game looking on track, that leaves the more significant issue of the game’s substance. With internal Beta testing just into its first year, and an external Beta about to begin, Conan is in a reasonably developed stage, giving Pro-G a chance to tuck into the game for a substantial hands-on.

Starting on a sizeable island called Tortage, that functions as a training level and is dwarfed to a speck by the game’s enormous world, the first thing that is apparent is the unique approach to combat. Rather than using the MMO’s typical ‘click and watch’ system, there is a distinct action-adventure feel to the melees. Firstly, you have to face the NPCs you battle, dancing and moving about them to dodge and strike your blows, and second, direct keyboard inputs effectively work in the same way joypad buttons do in a beat-’em-up.

The Q, 1,2,3 and E keys appear on the HUD, mimicking the arc formation they take on the keyboard. The Q is used for swings from the left, and the E for swings from the right, with the numeric keys reserved for central blows. Combos also become available as your player levels-up, again aping the formula of the classic beat-’em-up, though there does not appear to be the depth of a modern fighting game, which of course is not needed in this context.

Though far from instinctive at first, this system seems workable and accurate, and certainly adds a sense of drama and action to a genre usually dominated by statistics, text and strategy.

Starting out as an unnamed slave with severe memory-loss, there is the predictably extensive character customisation tool at the game’s outset. Though Hyborian Adventures only concentrates on the Human species, there are three races in the form of the Aquilonian, the Cimmerian and the Stygian. At a fairly early stage in the game, which allows players to upgrade to level 80, you are also given the choice of becoming one of 14 classes, which dictate the type of character you become. Guardians, for example, are orientated towards close-quarters combat, while the Demonologists are focussed towards skills with magic and spells.

The spell system in the game’s current stage of development seems to be a fairly traditional one, which accompanies a similarly archetypal quest set, which is apparently vast and varied, including both solo missions, and adventures for guilds and clans. A currency system is also in place, to allow trading of various objects and items at Conan’s various auction houses.

Alongside these more proven gameplay elements are some rather novel inclusions, such as a city building tool which, while held closely to Funcom’s chest for now, is looking likely to borrow from classic god-game models, and focus on asset management and development. Hyborian Adventures will also include a siege system, effectively adding huge multiplayer quests. Again these are heavily guarded secrets, but will evidently require groups far larger than ordinary guilds to lay siege to enormous castles and fortresses.

Traditional PvP multiplayer is also included, which has its own distinct levelling-up system, and blood money currency, but perhaps more interesting is the ‘drunken brawling’ feature, which challenges players to experiment with different alcoholic combinations before taking on an equally inebriated opponent in a bloody battle. Though this may sound as irrelevant as it is irreverent, it is worth remembering that Conan’s world is an adult one indeed, filled with brutality, erotic suggestion and violence. Capture the flag PvP, for example, is replaced by a game of ‘capture the head’.

Of course, a true appraisal of an MMO takes dozens, if not hundreds, of hours of play, but even with a morning spent with Hyborian Adventures, it is clear that it is both accessible and absorbing. It is without doubt vast and, while traditional in many respects, undeniably strives for originality and innovation. Its biggest challenge, however, will be luring in the MMO fans already committed to Lord of the Rings or the massively popular World of Warcraft.