Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Reviews

Several more reviews of Funcom's Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures have surfaced on the web. The first is at GameSpot with a score of 8.5/10:
Age of Conan has plenty of room to grow and a number of issues that need fixing, but even now, it offers a rewarding adventure abundant with character and fascinating backstory. The combat system perfectly suits the adult nature of the quests, and is the finest one yet seen in an online RPG. In spite of its current bugs and glitches, Age of Conan is a remarkably entertaining journey through a dark and mature world of beasts and brutality.

The second is at IGN with no score (yet):
Of course, as should be expected, the 1 to 40 experience isn't exactly bug-free. Tortage is fairly stable, but some of the quests in the Wild Lands of Zelata are busted and mob behavior occasionally bugs out. It's still very much playable, though. The quest lines in those 20 to 40 zones have some interesting narrative threads that connect multiple dungeons, which at keeps things more engaging than if you were doing random kill quests. NPC quest-givers interact with you through cutscenes, letting you select from dialogue options like in a single-player RPG, which at the very least lends a little more personality to the process of scooping up a zone's quests. If only the cutscene camera didn't so often bury itself in the grass or in the back of another player's head. There's also the main story quest, but it becomes largely fragmented after the initial Tortage arc. You can't pick it up again until level 30, and at that point it's only a single quest into a mountain cave dungeon (for Cimmerians, at least). After that, you need to wait until level 50 for the main story to resume.

The third is at Hooked Gamers with a score of 8/10:
If you let these hiccups in the launch of Age of Conan stop you from trying it out, you will be doing yourself a great disservice. Even with the aforementioned issues, Age of Conan is one of the most compelling gaming experiences on the market. Once its faults are corrected and new content further enhances the already phenomenal experience, Age of Conan may well be the most engaging MMO available for many years to come.

The fourth is at Gamer 2.0 with a score of 9/10:
Age of Conan does all of the major things right. Like any MMO in its early days, Age of Conan has had its share of technical hiccups. Funcom has been working hard to iron out problems as they arise. Updates have been coming out nearly every day since the servers went online. It will be interesting to see how things develop after six months or so, but as it stands, Age of Conan is off to a great start and it can only get better from here.

The fifth is at Play.tm with a score of 84%:
I would still recommend buying Age of Conan if you're after a new MMO. It is great fun despite its quirks and flaws, just don't try rushing your way through the levels too quickly. Take your time, getting there is half the journey as they say, and don't expect a polished final product like World of Warcraft, it's still a work in progress but will hopefully develop into a great alternative to Blizzard's opus.

The sixth is at Crispy Gamer with a score of "Buy It":
Shortcomings notwithstanding, whether you're new to MMORPGs or a longtime fan in search of a new alternate reality, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is one of the most exhilarating PC releases to debut in a long while. While we've just scratched the surface of this ambitious fantasy world, it's easy to see that its strong community features, many diverse missions, and high presentation values should all ensure long-term commercial and critical success.

And the last is at TrustedReviews with a score of 7/10:
A stunning and satisfyingly visceral fantasy MMO, though one that will suit the hardcore veteran or the action gamer better than the new or more casual players who embraced LOTRO or WoW. Quest design could be stronger, and grinding and griefing can make the experience frustrating.