Written By: Henry Nolan
D&W Reviews Editor
Funcom’s highly anticipated sword n’ sorcery MMORPG, released in North America on May 20th, is a complicated game to review. First of all, it must be made clear that like many just-released online games, it still has a lot of bugs. More than most others, actually. I’ve encountered bugged quests that are impossible to complete, a UI bug that prevented me from advancing my crafting profession, (until I found a helpful workaround on the forums) and texture glitches that caused the vast deserts of Stygia to look like a giant, surreal checkerboard. These flaws are so significant that they’ve caused a lot of players to leave the game, labeling it as still being in the “alpha” phase.
That being said, this game has huge potential. The graphics, for one thing are beautiful, provided your rig can handle the hefty system requirements. I bought a shiny new laptop partially for this reason. The combat system is interesting and significantly less monotonous than the auto attacking and clicking of special abilities found in most other MMORPG’s. One especially cool element is the game’s “fatalities” – animations that have a chance to occur every time you get a killing blow on an enemy. They also give you a short buff to damage and stamina regeneration. There’s something very special about seeing your character lop off the arms of some poor b*****d while he screams, only going silent when your third swing decapitates him. Incidentally, the game boasts a pretty strong M rating.
Apart from the combat, the basic game design concepts are great. The classes are interesting and unique - I play a Herald of Xotli, a melee/mage hybrid that can transform into a Cthulhu-esque demon. There are a lot of very fun quests and the world is lush, brutal and faithful to Robert E. Howard’s original Conan stories. However, the game is seriously hindered by glitches and balance issues and requires significant improvement to reach its full potential.
