By Staci Krause

Two years ago, I sat with much anticipation as Funcom tried to show me Age of Conan. It was still very early in development and their servers weren't kind to them, as they went up and down during the presentation. Fast forward to GDC to 2007, and their servers were much more cooperative as they walked us through a beautiful, polished and innovative game based on the very popular Robert E. Howard license. Watching the brand new combat system in action in a world filled with attractive flora, I sat in awe. Then I decided I definitely wanted to play this game when it is released.

The first thing they showed off to us was the character creation system. The nice thing about this is it can be as complex or as simple as the player desires. There are stock options for every feature of a character's appearance, but there are also more advanced options that allow players to change everything, from bone structure to skin tint. And there's the handy random feature that players can choose to use instead, to just quickly find a look they like. There are tattoos, scars and piercings available to further customize the appearance as well. And of course, they took a few liberties with their license, as players can play a female as well as a male. Even the staunchest of purists should be ok with this, since having the only females in the world being slaves and prostitutes, with the rare heroine NPC, wouldn't be all that much fun. All characters are human, but they come in three flavors, Aquilonian, Cimmerian and Stygian. Conan was a Cimmerian, for anyone curious. The Aquilonian's have a Roman influence and Stygian's are Egyptian in nature and appearance.

The tutorial and opening movie were kept secret from us, as Funcom wants to save some surprises to show off later, but what we do know is that somehow, the player will go from a slave on a galley to being washed up on a beach. The first portion of the game is single player, as they have been saying for years. However, a slight change from what we've been previously told is that players will encounter other players before level 20, but most of the content up to that level will be single player content. The players will not be making any important decisions before they have a grasp of the game, as their first choice, Archetype, won't be asked for until level 5. There are four classes in the game, with many sub-classes and customizations that will make each character unique. The four are the standard you find in any fantasy MMO: mage, priest, warrior and rogue. There are tradeskills in the game as well, but they didn't expand on that. There will be a cap of level 80 in the game, but it really looks like the game is equally about the journey as it is the destination, so worrying about reaching the cap shouldn't enter into the equation.

One of the most innovative features of Age of Conan is the combat system. It wouldn't be a Funcom game if they didn't try something different from the pack, and this is where they definitely separate themselves. It's a very interactive combat system, as least the melee part of it is. We didn't get to see casters in action, but we imagine they'll incorporate this into their combat as well. The way it works is that players have a choice of 8 different directions to attack, indicated by a compass on the screen. Players can use the mouse or keyboard to attack. The Funcom guys preferred the keyboard. Choosing a direction will attack in that direction, and some attacks will queue up a special move, indicated by the compass. Executing a special move will do a variety of different things, but my favorite was definitely watching a beheading. It had a cool factor that not many games manage from their death scenes and it's something I could watch over and over again. There will be other forms of dismemberment in the game as well, so it doesn't just stop there. We also saw a special move that involved impaling the enemy on the character's sword.

As for PvP, the first form players will encounter is …. drunken brawling! That's right, queue up those drinks and get yourself quite hammered, then smash some chairs over some fellow drinkers heads and blame it on the liquor. The other two forms mentioned to us are arena fights and guild battles, where guilds will face off against each other for the ultimate in grudge matches. There will be duels of course as well. Clearly, with prostitutes and drunken brawling already mentioned in this article, the game is not going for anything but an M rating. It won't be appropriate for 10 year olds.

I've already mentioned it's a beautiful game, but beautiful doesn't do the world justice. Anarchy Online was ahead of its time with its game features and graphics, and it looks Age of Conan will do the same thing for the newest generation of games. The PC version will release on Halloween this year, and they plan to release it on the Xbox 360, with a modified control scheme, sometime in 2008. Beta will be starting this summer, so get ready to try the game out and fall in love. Clear your schedule this summer and make sure you have someone ready to take your kids out trick or treating Halloween night! This may just be THE game to play this year.