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Published By: THQ
Developed By: Nihilistic
Genre: Action
Players: 1
Rated: M (Mature)
Release Date: October 23, 2007
Screenshots: Link
Amazon: Buy Now
Written By: Marcus Prunty

The folks over at THQ bring to you on the Playstation 3 a violent hack and slash game that�s a bit reminiscent of God of War. I will say this for those of you people who read this review this game is not God of War, I repeat This Is Not God of War. Okay, after saying that this game is a pretty good title and has a bunch of positives in it that will give you an enjoyable experience that will remind you of the feelings you had when you would play GOW.

In the game Conan, you play as the title character Conan who�s a barbarian who is searching for treasure in a tomb, when he encounters an evil magician who later we find out is named Kraven. Kraven beats Conan up pretty badly and steals his armor which is enchanted and makes Conan stronger. Kraven uses Conan�s armor and makes monsters that are incredibly strong. So the story of the game is about Conan getting revenge on Kraven and retrieving his armor. This next gen title has Conan battling evil forces as he hacks and slashes his way to the evil Kraven who is the main boss at the end of the game. This game is violent and bloody and very gory. You can cut enemies in half, disembowel them, even chop their heads, arms as well as legs off and leave them a bloody mess.

In GOW you gain experience orbs, in Conan you gain experience orbs that allow you to purchase combat upgrades. These combat upgrades allow you to purchase more advanced combos that you can execute depending on what weapons you�re holding. There are one handed weapon combos, two one handed weapon combos (dual wielding), a double handed weapon, and bare hands/grappling combos. All these varying combos allow you to attack the enemies in the game in a variety of different ways which keeps things fresh and unique to the way you choose to fight. There are also moves I prefer to call executions but in the game they are known as counter attacks, if you block an enemy attack a letter corresponding to a button will pop up, and if you press that button in the right amount of time you will execute that enemy in a cinematic method that is pretty awesome the first few times you do them. Learning how to press a corresponding button in the right amount of time comes into play in a few of the boss battles especially the last one against Kraven.

While Conan isn�t full of puzzles like GOW, it does have puzzles during Boss battles where you have to figure out how to attack the Boss, or in some cases evade the bosses till you get to a certain part. The environment plays a key component in the outcome of a lot of fights. Whether you�re picking up boulders to throw at the enemies, or grabbing a torch to set the enemies on fire. You will need to be aware of weapons racks and anything else you can grab and throw at the enemies to advance yourself in the game.

The video and sound designs are fairly decent for this game. The graphics are nice; they look good especially when you see the cinematic videos between levels. When you�re battling the enemies the fights look pretty cool, especially when you perform the executions I told you about they�re very visceral and bloody. The sound and music of the game is epic, it feels like a big movie production if you turn up the volume on your television while you�re playing the game.

Now with every game there are a few negatives that come along with all the positives that a game has going for them. This game is no different in that regards. The camera is a negative in this game in certain points. This game is a 3rd person hack and slash game, but unlike most games you don�t directly control the camera, meaning you can�t rotate it to get a better angle on a jump or to even look at something. This becomes a problem on certain levels of the game where you have to do a lot of jumping to evade falling to your death or even when advancing through the level because you can�t see where you�re jumping to. But there aren�t many instances where this lack of control will upset you too much but it can be frustrating in certain aspects. The sound design when it comes to Conan and some of the things he says can be repetitive and annoying after you hear the same phrases over and over again but once again this isn�t a major deal breaker.

The biggest problem with this game is its length. I finished the game in around 6 hours or so, playing on the normal difficulty level. Unless you get stuck majorly during a boss battle you should be able to beat it in around the same amount of time. There are no real benefits to replaying this title, although there are unlockables, there not all that great unless you�re the kind of player who likes unlocking everything. All in all this game is a good one if you�re like me and are waiting for GOW 3 to come out, this will tide you over and help you get out some of the bloodlust that�s building up inside of you. This game isn�t good enough to purchase at the original price of 50-60 bucks but for under 20 dollars it�s would be a good purchase to keep in your collection, or makes a great rental.

7/10

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