Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Preview

[GameBanshee News]

Shacknews takes a close look at the upcoming MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures.

Age of Conan uses an unusual melee combat system. Drawing from more conventional action games, it features three directional attacks, executed with the 1-3 number keys. Icons superimposed above enemies indicate from what angles they are most vulnerable or best protected. As you level up, you gain access to actual melee combos, more powerful sequences of directional attacks; these can be complemented by skills from a more traditionally MMO-like skill tree.

This combat system does succeed in adding a more active element. Most MMO combat is not particularly engaging for brand new characters who are not yet stocked with interesting abilities, so Age of Conan's system deserves special credit for being a distinguishing factor right from the start.

The earliest parts of Age of Conan are technically single-player. Initially, it was reported that the game would remain offline up until level 20; that has now been scaled down to level 5, which corresponds with when you get into the city.