Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures: Crack Some Skulls
Written: Jun 01 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Amazing graphics, beautiful sound track, unique environments, interactive gameplay.
Cons: Typical launch bugs, slow tech support, $15 monthly is a bit high
The Bottom Line: The attention to detail in graphics, sound, gameplay, controls, engaging storyline shows. Absolutely immersive gaming experience matched by none.
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| ravynwolfe's Full Review: |
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is an innovative, unique, and incredible game. The typical launch bugs that most MMO’s (Massively Multiplayer Online games) experience only slightly dampen the fun. The biggest issue is the lack of prompt tech support, but that will be taken care of as the game begins to smooth out and issues are corrected. For the most part, the game had a very smooth launch, and I’m finding it difficult to be away from Hyboria long enough to write this review! (At the time of this posting, Epinions has the wrong spelling for the game. It should be "Hyborian" with an N, not an M.)
INSTALLATION:
Easy install, though with the two DVDs you should stick around to do the switch out. The disks take care of it all with very little input from you. Click past the prompts and depending on your processor speed, you’ll be chopping off limbs and severing heads in no time. The specs are very high, but well worth the upgrades to your system.
Rating: M for Mature (please do NOT ignore this rating!)
Minimum configuration (1024x768, detail reduced)
* OS: Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
* Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3Ghz or equivalent
* RAM: 1GB
* Video card: NVIDIA Geforce 6600 or ATI Radeon 9800
* DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
* Hard drive space: 32GB
Recommended configuration (Up to 1280X960, most features on)
* OS: Windows XP Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or equivalent
* RAM: 2048MB Dual Channel DDR2
* Video card: NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GTX or equivalent
* Video memory: 512MB
* DVD-ROM: Quad-speed (4x) DVD-ROM drive
* Hard drive space: 32GB
Enhanced for DirectX 10 & Multi-Core Processors
Supports Parental Controls on Windows Vista
HOW IT STARTS & WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT:
You are a slave on board a huge slave-vessel, stripped of all memory of your life before your capture. You know only the sound of the ocean, the crack of your master’s whip, and the pain of fatigued muscles from the constant rowing you’re forced to endure. When the ship runs aground, all cargo and passengers are thrown into the unforgiving sea. You sink, lifeless, to the bottom of the ocean where suddenly the invading spirit that has erased your memory is ripped from your body. You float to the surface and wash up on the shores of Tortage Island in the Barachan Sea, left to rediscover your former life and help King Conan annihilate those that would destroy all that he has built.
LEARNING CURVE and GAME PLAY:
You will wake up on the island with only your slave clothing and a pathetic weapon (a broken oar, or a broken bottle.) You have little to no memory of your former life, therefore all your skills are gone. Depending on class, you may have one or two rudimentary spells to begin with. The game provides you with a detailed in-game guide that will pop up at the appropriate time to teach you how to play. The island you’re on at first is a private instance (a place JUST for you so you can learn the game in peace.) Once you finish the tutorial zone and arrive in the city, you will be able to interact with other players.
The game guides you through each step, slowly opening up new skills, powers, spells, and abilities as you’re ready to handle them. For an MMO, this game has an amazing tutorial system, far ahead of most others. If at any time you have a question, you simply click the guide and it opens up to reveal the answers to nearly all of your questions.
I love the combat in Age of Conan. You don’t just turn on combat and watch as a passive observer, you ARE in battle. You MUST press the buttons at the right time to land your blows effectively. You’ll need to trigger your special moves known as combos, swing your weapon at the right time (there is an on-screen guide which tells you which way to swing next in order to activate your most devastating blows.) This game is bloody, violent, and a huge adrenalin rush. DO NOT let children play this game, it is rated MATURE, and has absolutely earned that rating. Trigger a fatality and you can slice off a head and watch the blood spurt from the neck, gut your enemy and watch the gore just pour out on your shoes, see limbs fly, phantom chains appear out of the netherworld to entangle your victims, blood splatter your screen. All of that coupled with the sounds promise to give you a treat with every swing.
GRAPHICS:
Absolutely stunning. The game world is breath-taking with vibrant colors, lifelike movement of vegetation, MOBS, and NPCs (monsters to kill and Non Player Characters) right down to the realistic shadows and beautiful water with reflections and all. I’ve never seen a game with such beauty. The developers have gone the extra mile here and given this game a wonderful atmosphere. Each region (once you finish your class quests and leave the newbie island of Tortage) has a different look, with landscapes, animals, and inhabitants unique to that area. Mountains, deserts, lush plains and forests, even the damp, dank marshes come alive with buzzing insects and a fantastic musical score. This is where you’ll wish you’d spent a little cash to upgrade your system. You CAN lower the graphics and sounds, but why would you?
SOUNDS and MUSIC:
Every region has a different sound track that only adds to the amazing atmosphere. You get the feeling of actually wandering through Conarch Village, can almost feel the crisp mountain air nipping at your face with the haunting, beautiful voices echoing off the mountainside. Walk through Khemi and get that hot desert feeling with the very Middle Eastern sound. Animals sound as they should, right down to the exotic birds singing on Tortage Island and the distant howls of wolves in the valley, or the dry slithering of snakes and clattering legs of giant scorpions in the desert. I think one of my favorite creature sounds is the crocodiles. They have a reverberating, deep roar as they aim for your face or try to rip off your legs.
Everything sounds as it should. Walk over gravel and you can hear it crunch under your boots. Walk across the sand or snow and it sounds right. Step in a puddle and you’ll think your feet are really getting wet thanks to the realistic splashing. And who can forget the meaty thump of your war hammer smashing into your foe? THAT is an amazing sound with my Bose speakers! Swords sing and clash, hammers thump against skulls, magical fire sears bodies and singes the air, electricity crackles causing the hairs on your arms to rise. And the death rattle. Oh yes, the death rattle makes my blood pump. It’s not the same sound over and over. No, you know very well that this nameless guard you just eviscerated is far different than the one you beheaded two minutes prior. Did he just scream with an Aquilonian accent?
CUSTOMIZATION:
Creating your character is a lot of fun. You choose gender, race (Cimmarian, Aquilonian, Stygian), occupation (assassin, barbarian, bear shaman, conqueror, dark templar, demonologist, guardian, herald of Xotli, necromancer, priest of Mitra, ranger, tempest of Set) , and then move to the next screen to customize your look. You can change your height, your weight, your fitness (muscled or flabby) and any space in between. Choose a basic look with the many choices available for each race, only to be further refined in the next screen. Body and face markings range from none, to small tattoos, huge tattoos, and various scars. You can even customize down to the angle and color of your eyes, the crookedness of your nose, how long or short your face is, how wide, deep, or shallow your cheeks. The list goes on. I’ve taken up to an hour perfecting my look, I know others who have taken much longer.
The customization does not stop with your appearance though. You get to choose where your skill points go at each level. As you increase levels, you get more options of places to put the skills. Eventually you get to choose feats as well as skills. These further refine your character into your ideal killing machine. Like to sneak? Dump a ton of points in Hide and you’ll be able to walk right up to the mobs and bash them upside the head and they’ll never see it coming. Like to climb? You better, because the higher your climb skill, the more quests you’ll be able to do. Some of them require very high climb skill to get to the highest mountaintop or tower just to lay your hands on that massive gem. And if you later decide you hate the choices you’ve made, you can respec all of your skills for a very small amount of coin.
REPLAY VALUE:
I can’t stop playing. I’ve tried. I just can’t stop playing. I’ve gone into starvation mode, digging around my desk for leftover chips or the last swallow of soda because I don’t want to get up and get a snack. Going to the bathroom? What’s that? I don’t even remember what my bed looks like. To say I’m addicted is a gross understatement of facts.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
It’s easy to see why this game took five years to complete. The attention to detail in graphics, sound, game play, intuitive controls, engaging storyline shows with every step further into the game. An absolutely immersive gaming experience matched by none. And trust me, this little gamer chick has tried them ALL! Instanced zones makes for a very pleasant and less-crowded gaming experience, private zones for you or your whole group ensures you get to play the game as intended. Want epic? Just choose that option when moving into a new zone. You prefer a single-player friendly environment? Choose normal. Even under normal mode though you’ll be challenged at every turn.
RECOMMENDED FOR:
ADULTS!!!! I cannot stress this enough. Don’t be a moron, people. Do NOT buy this for your children and then complain because there are boobies and blood and violence. It’s rated MATURE because it has all the elements that a lot of adult gamers have been asking for. If you want a safe little baby game for your children to play, get World of Warcraft and leave Age of Conan to the people who pay taxes and vote.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
ravynwolfe
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Member: Optycal
Location: Washington
Reviews written: 89
Trusted by: 28 members
About Me:
Mother of 3 homeschooled girls, author, dog breeder. http://www.almostnakedpups.com
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