Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures [PC]

To many people, Conan the Barbarian is a goofy bit of Schwarzenegger's early career. But the rich world of Robert E. Howard's classic pulp fantasy series hasn't been used much lately. Dark Horse Comics is publishing a series of graphic novels and the company that holds the Conan license has been actively working to get a movie deal underway. And then there's the next massively multiplayer online RPG from the creators of Anarchy Online at Funcom.

Age of Conan brings a few promising twists to a genre that these days seems to be all about trying to be more like World of Warcraft. The first twist is similar to something attempted in Uru: Age Beyond Myst. It begins as a single-player game to establish the world, and then segues into an MMO. But unlike Uru, the basis for Conan's single-player game is character development.

You don't play Conan, of course. The game takes place near the end of Howard's mythos, once Conan has become a powerful king. You begin by choosing which of the game's countries you come from: Cimmeria, Stygia, or Aquilonia, which are three of the lands in the world of Hyboria. When you reach level five, you choose whether you'll be a priest, warrior, mage, or rogue, which will affect the storyline and how you transition into the rest of the game.

When you hit level 20, once you've moved into the MMO proper, each class breaks down into three or four additional subclasses. At level 40, you'll get to choose from a set of secondary skills, which determines whether your character is adept at crafting, party organization, or sieges. If none of these appeals to you, you can opt to get a full-time NPC squire. Finally, at level 60, there's a whole new system of character development that game director Gaute Godager described as becoming "entwined with your God", adding that Conan fans will know what he means.

Another twist is the way you fight in Age of Conan. "We've finally solved a riddle in online games," said Funcom's product director Jorgen Tharaldsen, "and that's how to do direct combat."

He explained a real-time fighting system where you can be surrounded by monsters, taking on all of them by yourself as if you were playing an action game rather than a typical MMO. The area around your character is divided into six sections. You choose into which of the six areas to swing your sword and it happens in real time.

This will allow situations like being attacked by a pack of wolves and standing your ground to fight them off rather than running away when you're outnumbered. Battles are fleshed out even more by allowing you to combine swing directions for different kinds of attacks. It's a dynamic real-time combat system that Tharaldsen said will be intuitive and flexible. It even works when you're riding a mount.

This also works with their grouping system, in which characters can band together into formations for travel and combat bonuses. You might set a line of pikes to counter charging horsemen. Or maybe set up a wall of shields similar to a Roman phalanx. You might have your own horsemen on your flanks. You can do this with a band of player characters or even with NPCs controlled by the AI. The idea is that a party leader sets the formation, which determines how much freedom individual members have. It's a completely different party dynamic from what you're used to in MMOs.

Similarly, there will be siege combat against AI cities, which will also mount their own sieges against your cities. As with the Alien Invasion expansion for Anarchy Online, it seems like Funcom is building into Conan the idea that this is a world with hostile creatures who will make a concerted effort to come to you rather than patiently waiting for you to come to them. And, of course, Conan will have PvP combat, which can range from one-on-one fights to battles between human-controlled cities.

Although a Conan game might seem like a typically limited fantasy setting, Godager distinguished it from other fantasy by calling it "magical realism," in which the real and the fantastic exist side-by-side. You'll fight dinosaurs one moment, and dragons the next. He explains some of the variety they expect to build into the game world.

"One of our main goals has been to let the players experience the variety of 'Conanesque' locations," he said. "You travel through some 30 large regions of the world, each with their own story and setting."

Tharaldsen hinted at the magic system, which he claimed will also be distinctly Conan-esque. "It's not just a red glowing particle system," he said, wiggling his fingers together as if he were crafting something in World of Warcraft. "It's more like you're calling up demons from hell."

Funcom is working very closely with ATI on bleeding-edge special effects and graphics. "We want to make sure when we launch that nothing that's come before us looks as good," he said.

Tharaldsen showed some of their early models and how they were built from elaborate concept art. There are orc-like beasts called picts, vultures, a wolf-like beast, and giant mammoths being used as mounts. There's a mock-up of a battle, with a lovingly captured decapitation.

"Of course, it's Conan, so you can chop off heads," he smirked. "We'll be making the whole thing dark and brutal. We're definitely expecting an M rating."

With some great new concepts and a rich setting, Age of Conan is well worth keeping an eye on. We'll be sure to report on more of the gory details as we get them.