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Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

Age of Conan - hands-on

We gear up for some action-packed Hyborian Adventures

Conan. The name stirs images of ludicrously-huge muscles, furry pants, giant swords and the Governor of California gurning like a champ. It's a world, and a character, with an instantly familiar atmosphere. It's perfect for an MMO - a genre that lives or dies on the appeal and magnetism of its world. Let's face it, you can't go far wrong with a land populated by bloodthirsty warriors, evil sorcerers and vampy, buxom ladies clad in little more than a lick of paint.

Another natural thing to imagine when you think of Conan is the clash of steel on steel. It's your typical, David Gemmell-esque fantasy world, where men are real men and women are, as we've already mentioned, aggressively sexual. But in a genre rammed with orcs, trolls, elves and other non-human oddities, Conan's traditional fantasy approach becomes an unlikely breath of fresh air. For our money, felling another human character is noticeably more satisfying than slaying yet another ruddy Murloc.

Importantly, though, Conan's combat also takes a step away from the MMO standard. If you've never delved into the world of the massively-multiplayer phenomenon, then here's a quick lowdown on how the genre simulates combat - you click on your target once, and wait until it dies. That's a purposefully basic summary, of course. There are usually attack options to choose, magic to perform or ranged assaults to launch. But, effectively, your job is to choose a target and keep selecting an attack until it expires.

 
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The Knowledge
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures

Genre: Role Playing
Release date: May 20, 2008
Published by: Funcom
Developed by: Funcom
Min system requirements: 3GHz Processor, 1GB RAM (1.5GB for Vista), and a 128MB video card
Recommended system: Core 2 Duo E6600 or equivalent, 2.4Ghz, 2GB, 3GB, 512 MB DirectX 9.0c
Multiplayer Modes:
Online
UNL player MMO
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