It's always a painful and futile experience to try reviewing an MMO. For instance, there are problems with credit cards and the inevitable fact that we forget to cancel the subscriptions after the review is done, therefore inadvertently charging a couple of hundred pounds to company credit card.

Most of all though, the review very quickly runs out of date as the game is constantly updating and how much anyone enjoys the game is massively dependent on the calibre of gamers they end up gaming alongside. That means you're going to have to take any conclusions we offer with a pinch of salt -- ok? Just so we're clear.

That said, //Age of Conan is a lot of fun once you get into it -- the proviso mainly being that you do have to make an effort to get into and jump over the initial few hours of boredom.

Game designers seem to be labouring under the impression at the moment that MMO games as a genre have only one aim; to topple //World of Warcraft as Lord of the Pings. To do this, they seem to think that you need a certain gimmick or hook -- PvR gameplay or genre blending MMOFPS action for instance. So far, that tactic doesn't seem to be doing to well -- so it's refreshing to see that //Age of Conan bucks the trend and instead focuses on creating just a solid and persistent world to play in.

//Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures doesn't bring anything hugely new to the table and the only real gimmicks it has going for it are the franchise behind it all and the fact that you can't take two steps without faceplanting into the second biggest pair of boobs you're ever likely to see. It's a fun and accessible RPG though, and on that front it can't be faulted.