I'm a big fan of Conan the Barbarian. I was made so by - yes, I admit it - not by the comics but by that campy movie starring our own favorite Governator. Ah, for the days when Arnold kept his nose out of politics and spent most of his time flexing his biceps and haranguing Krom... When I saw that movie, a part of me secretly wanted to enter that dark, sweaty world and now Funcom has answered my prayers. In Age of Conan - Hyborian Adventures, gamers like me can enter that world and finally test their mettle in the gritty, brutal setting of Conan the King.

The game has a hyper-real look to it; everything's very sharp and crisp with a minimum of stylization. Sort of the Anti-World of Warcraft. Much effort went into giving not only the environments but the characters and the animations a feeling of realism that makes the story feel like something out of our own history rather than something fictional. The downside of this adherence to realism is that the game risks being less interesting than it could be, at least visually. For instance, the character animations whether for running or combat or mounting a horse, feel sluggish and lack visceral punch.

While it might be realistic to take a while to clamber atop a horse's back and it might take all your effort to swing a big two-handed sword, it isn't really that interesting in a game to wait through long, slow animations. In this case, realism might not be doing much for the fun quotient.

These, and the fact that all the characters have really crappy looking hair that looks like it's made from broom bristles, (yes, I know they're barbarians but does everyone have to have helmet hair?) are the potential drawbacks but there are some really fun features too. Players can engage in mounted combat, and in a very Conan-ish way, can ride past an enemy and after gaining good momentum, increase their attack power. Yep, that means once you get the technique down, you can send enemies' heads flying off their shoulders left and right from the comfort of your saddle.

The other standout feature of the game is that although it's an MMO, it has an element of RTS gameplay. Players can fight to gain control of villages and then defend them; once control is gained, structures can be used to produce NPC soldiers that can then be lead into battle. One thing in particular that deserves mention if only because it made me cackle madly is that players, once they control a village, gain access to a trebuchet that lobs giant boulders at the approaching enemy. There's something so satisfying about firing off a huge rock and then hearing the soldiers it's aimed at, screaming faintly in the distance seconds before being crushed flat. Yes, I'm a sicko. So sue me.

The folks at Funcom seem to be aiming at broadening the MMO market by trying to make it easier for players to have fun early on as well as making early leveling easier. The first twenty levels of the game are single player, allowing the player in a newbie area to gain skills without the threat of gankage. After they've gained enough skills and equipment to hold their own, they're brought into the larger multiplayer game. This helps minimize the ramp-up time and maximize the fun for both long time MMO enthusiasts and players new to the genre.

I came to E3 excited about Age of Conan and after seeing the demo I came away even more so. The game looks to be a solid contender for the MMO audience, offering a distinct experience from what's already on the market. Now if they can just work out why everyone in Hyboria has broom-bristle hair, I'll be one of the first people playing the game when it hits stores later this year.