Conan

Reviewed by John Burrell Jr.
March 19, 2008

Developer: Nihilistic Publisher: THQ Website: Click Here Platform(s): XBOX 360, PS3 Players: 1 ESRB Rating: M for Mature

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. This is the case the new Conan game for next-gen consoles. When playing this gore fest, you will almost instantly begin to start drawing comparisons between this and its bloody PS2 big brother, God of War. You’re probably saying “Why would I want to play a knock off version of some other game?” My response to that is, “ Why not?” Believe me, THQ knows what they’re doing. Conan and Kratos can be compared in many ways: attitude, problem solving methods, and approach to the opposite sex. Oh yeah, and they also like mountains (pun intended) in their games.

We’ll get the bad stuff out of the way first. The initial glaring blemish on this game is the horrid fixed camera. I died twelve times on one stage because the camera wouldn’t allow me to find where the next area to jump to was. The AI is relentless enough to give you a good fight, however on normal mode, some enemies may be too challenging for more casual gamers. The story is nothing revolutionary either. Also, the puzzles are pretty run of the mill. 

If you like ridiculous amounts of bloodshed in your game then Conan delivers. I mean seriously, you can slice people in half (at the waist or from head to toe), or you can take his arms or his head off. THQ was kind enough to give you a number of ways to take out baddies. The number of combos is quite impressive also. There are separate lists for the three different kinds of weapon types: single handed, dual wielding, and double handed. There is also a separate list for grapples. The finishes on these combos and moves are more often than not extremely gratifying. The graphics aren’t the greatest ever witnessed but are good enough to be called next gen. The controls are very similar to the God of War set up (there’s even button prompts during the finishing sequences in boss battles) so they are really easy to learn.

The game has its share of ups and downs, from the dreadful camera to the pure bloody satisfaction of dismembering your enemies. Though it was made in the spirit of “God of War”, it is no where near it in its story, gameplay or replay value. It’s a good game for mindless hack and slash fans but not on par for fans of a deeper experience. For these reasons I give this game a Medium Evo Factor.