Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Review

[GameBanshee News]

A very belated review of Age of Conan has surfaced, but heck, since MMOs are always evolving during their lifetime it makes sense to take a second look. The Gamers' Temple does, giving it a 86%.

One of the things that really sets Age of Conan apart from other MMORPGs is the combat. Battles are not your typical point and click, auto-resolving affairs in this game. First of all you must specify the directions of your attacks, targeting your attacks to either your foe's left or right side, or aiming for a high overhead attack. As the fight goes on you'll see shield icons indicating where your opponent is deflecting your attacks and where there is an opening in his defense. Attack repeatedly from one direction and you'll soon find that most of your attacks are being blocked. It's a good system for making the battles more interactive and participatory, but it doesn't end there. Most of the special or skilled attacks will require you to string together attacks from specific directions in a short time span - in short, special attacks are like combos. These increase in complexity with level, but when you pull them off you're not only rewarded with a special attack, but also with a cool and unique animation for the attack as well. Stating that the combat in Age of Conan is very visceral is almost an understatement. Not only are the animations of your attacks varied and fun to watch, the brutal results are as well. The combat is bloody, and the more successful attacks can even result in decapitation or a blood-spattered screen. Age of Conan is by no means an action game, but it comes closer to it than any other MMORPG out there.