MMORPG's (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) have been around for a while now, but the Daddy of them all would really be World of Warcraft. They might be quaking in their nattily designed virtual boots though, as the Age of Conan is due to be released on the 20th May. The game's not even available yet, but already has over 1 million beta subscriptions and is eagerly anticipated by gamers worldwide. This game has been 5 years in the making and draws inspiration from the Conan books, written by Robert E Howard in the thirties, as well as a multitude of comics and other related items. Characters from these will pop up along the way (my favourite so far is the chestily enhanced Valeria).
Read on for more info!
You can play with any four character subsets which are Soldier, Rouge, Priest and Mage, and each comes with different skills and abilities. The great thing about the game is that every time you play with a different character you get a new game, with different tasks and scenes- so it's four for the price of one! The visuals are stunning, with an incredibly realistic backdrop and really intuitive playability. Every scene can be explored, whether you want to climb rooftops, swim or look in different rooms.
You star the game in single player mode, which is a sneaky way of really getting you involved in the action, as in this mode you can affect the landscape, which you can't in the full on MMO version ( think about it, every tree you cut down would soon create a virtual desert and ruin the world for everyone).
'It's feels more like an action game, a console game', says the Morten Larssen, VP of Funcom Sales and Marketing; and indeed the range of motion involved seems a lot more playable and less complicated than expected from a PC game. You don't need to memorize any combo's, and the fighting options are incredibly varied. As well as multiple choice of weapons you have to take into consideration weak points and shield strengths, as you can attack from differing angles. Mounted combat is also available, as no longer does your horse poof away when you enter combat. You can choose from a horse, a war mammoth and a rhinoceros, and each mount provides you with different battle skills.
Your avatar can be personalised to your exact specifications, since as as well as altering hair colours and dress you can even change bone structure!
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*yawn* Good luck Eidos. Eidos has been on the skids since they pissed 50 million dollars away on John "Diva" Romero's POS Daikatana. Somehow I doubt this will be their salvation.