Customer Reviews

Conan

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This game is outstanding! It's way more brutal than God of War and Heavenly Sword put together! The game plays very smooth , the graphics are very nice and it has more nudity than most soft core porn shows. Little kids should NOT play this game! Heads roll, limbs are sliced off, arms are sent flying into the air , blood goes everywhere and even God of War button pressing is involved. The blocking system is way better than Heavenly Sword and you have alot of moves to master. The game is just great. I hope there is a sequel to this because this was just too good of a game. Best hack and slash game of 2007, hands down.

It is true that there is not much depth to the gameplay BUT this game is still very satisfying to play. sometimes you just need to play a mindless hack and slah game which is what this game is and is good at. I really like it and would encourage everyone to stop crying and give it a chance.

This is a very enjoyable game version of the classic Conan adventure. I am still playing and the type of demons and bosses are very entertaining. When fighting you can watch decapitation and cutting off limbs. Very gory and fun.

I'll preface this review by noting that I bought this game used for less than $20, and that has certainly colored my enjoyment of it. If I'd paid full price, I'd probably feel kind of ripped off.

Overall, Conan is a pretty fun game. Sure, it's a God of War knock-off, but it's fun to get to run around, sever people's limbs, throw crates at people, and rescue the occasional half-naked maiden. The level design is nice, the graphics are pretty good (nicely capturing the classic Conan comic-style art), the voice acting is acceptable (remember, this is Conan, not Hamlet), and the hack-and-slash aspect is very entertaining.

However, the major flaw in the game, as many others have noted, is the boss fights. You run around avoiding attacks, get one hit in, then run around avoiding attacks again. It's a slow, tedious process that's the same for every boss fight. Also, some of the boss fights are ridiculously difficult, and the hit-and-wait strategy only adds to the tedium. Oh, and you can't use magic to wound the bosses, which is really, really lame.

I'd recommend picking Conan up if you can find it pretty cheap, but it's definitely not worth paying full price for.

Before I give my opinion, let me preface by saying I am a HUGE fan of Conan. I grew up reading his comics, magazines and books (John Buscema r0ckx)I've been saying for years that Conan would be a great license for a video game and was overjoyed when I heard about the game. Here's what I thought:

The game was ok. Some of the moves and combos are nice, but they definitely came up short in the story department. The story was more than a touch boring, having us assume the role of Conan searching for magic pieces of armor(?!?). Developers, Conan very rarely wore armor and didn't wear it frequently enough to miss it if he lost it. This is one reason why he is such a compelling character; he'd take on armys with just a sword in his hand and a loincloth covering his area. Not to mention Conan hates magic, why would he be chasing magic items?

Another thing is Conan is supposed to be a womanizer that puts James Bond to shame. Yet throughout the game he frees half-naked women (and does nothing else with em, huh? A hug at least would make sense) pushing them aside trying to save some chick he just met??? Why wouldn't he just take the first three chicks he freed back to his place?

The combat was also ok. The boss fights were interesting and inventive yet extremely repetitive. How many times are we supposed to repeat the same actions to put down a boss, have them get back up, and repeat the whole process all over again AND have fun doing it? The final boss battle in particular sucked badly, the difficulty and monotony of it made me want to unleash a combo on my controller irl.

So in summary, if you want gore and boobies, this game won't disappoint...much. If you are looking for a compelling story that is faithful to the Conan mythos, go to a bookstore.

I hear people complaining that this is a GOW clone, well, it is I guess, but I've had lots of fun playing it. So, lets say its a clone, but its a good one ! Why should I hate it cause its a GOW clone, it actually has some original stuff that I enjoy a LOT, like not RETRACING.
Anyway, I do love GOW and love Conan, and if they keep making clones, they are welcome as long as they are good as GOW or Conan. Why should I wait years for every GOW game? keep giving me this kind of game I love !

This game is sorely under-rated. You can run up to an enemy, take his sword out of his hands, chop his head off with it, and then throw it at another enemy's face....AWESOME. This game has decent graphics, the music is great, and the blood....yes...the blood. I love this game and if you like chopping hordes of enemies into mince meat, then you'll love it too.

Occasionally there are a few glitches and bugs, but every game has em', and sometimes they can be funny(i.e. Enemy corpses going noodle all over the place xD).

I was a bit disappointed to see that there was no multiplayer or some kind of "Challenge Mode", But over-all, this is a solid game and I recommend it to any action fan.

This is the first game that I have ever beaten in the PS3... and I would say, I did not like it very much. If you want a slayer game, get Heavenly Sword which takes advantage of the PS3 hardware.

Being a crossbreed of player and gamer I think I judge games in a balanced way. There's fun and than there is challenge and innovation. Taking a look at Conan all the elements are here in varying degrees except for innovation. It's a bit run-of-the-mill and a bit of it's own all at the same time, but I don't suspect the game will receive too much undue flack as it wasn't something too many were banking on being that unique.

Graphics -I like the graphics. I can see where some of the complaints about it could lie. The color palette could have been a bit more broad and the world looks awful dreary. Light effects are functionally there. Nothing spectacular, but I feel your almost too picky if you want to complain about it. Character models are nice and smooth enough to warrant their placement in this gens consoles. Movement is fluid and not jerky, which I feel is very important to action titles. The environments are nice even if suffering a bit from the color palette. I'll cover the gameplay environment limitations there, but ascetically they work for me. Violence and other adult themes are there and I think actually not over the top and doesn't pass the gratuitious line atleast with me and adds to the feeling of the source material.

Gameplay/Controls -the parry system is "ok" by me and it's not the mechanic that suffers as much as how it is implemented with the enemy AI. Enemies don't seem to like to attack until provoked and than they swarm you making parry and strikes difficult or placing you in a vulnerable position, this adds to the challenge, but it seems like you have to move about in an effort to make combat more interesting. I don't like that you have no camera control or the fact the map isn't free roaming and open, but it's nothing too frustrating. I can tell what I'm doing most of the time and where my points of interest lie. They don't exploit camera limitations by putting secrets off screen or in an area only accessible by a game guide or sheer dumb luck.

One thing that sort of "bothers" me a bit is that while Conan gets more powerful and flashy with his combat capabilities, your enemies also become more evasive and difficult and it seems odd you get no fodder enemies to practice on. I also find there isn't enough EXP to go around and I think it best to focus on a particular fighting style per individual run through the game (singular weapon this time, two handed focus the next, and double in another.) I feel dual and singular do operate very similar and if you only have time for 2 runs throughs try the heavy weapons for quite a different experience. Outside of primary combat the magic seems so so and "limit breaks" were difficult for me to attain and when I did manage it. It just ticked away whilst no enemies were around. I wish the player had more control over it like GoW's Rage of the Titans.

The environment borders are usually apparent and most areas you attain sequentially in a predictable way. Many areas you are unable to revisit with rocks crumbling to block paths and I think it's a bit annoying as I like to go through areas as things are cleared in the stage rather than commit to turning over every rock I find to look for secrets I might suddenly find myself unable to get now that I can't go back to them. I also feel secrets could have been more rewarding than just the general extra EXP and the weapons all function the same with no variance on damage or fighting finesse outside of the 1handed, dual, and two handed system.

Fun Factor -Conan is as fun as you want it to be in my opinion, but don't expect a complex story or combat system. The story is ok and the combat is as well. That doesn't mean Conan is a button mashing hack and slash, it's not, but it's not to the level of God of War or Ninja Gaiden. Conan is fun in it's simplicity and doesn't require the skill required of the Ninja Gaiden player, but it also doesn't require the time and practice to really get it down and is the friend of the more casual gamer and I feel for challenges more experienced players will like to try their hand at navigating the system on a harder difficulty level and with a two handed weapon. It's ackward to use, but fun. Conan isn't really acrobatic either, so don't expect any mobile complexities like flipping off walls or somersaulting off of objects. This of course limits cool and more subtle tricks that can make puzzles and level challenges fun, but on the plus side it curbs possible frustration if that sort of thing isn't your cup of tea. While on that subject the puzzles are few and pretty simple and not layered and head scratching like say the Legacy of Kain series or Prince of Persia. Many times it is simply push said switch a number of times or something like that, but the boss mini games are fun to figure out on occasion.

Sound -I'm not the best to judge sound, but nothing here stood out to me like say Halo, which has it's obvious merits, though nothing frustrated me or seemed overly repetitive ...other than Conan's one-liners voiced by Ron Perlman. The music seemed fair as well as the combat sounds. Ron Perlman didn't seem the right choice to voice Conan in my opinion, but he didn't do a terrible job. The dialogue is very straight-forward, but the story is as well, so it fits the general tone of the game.

Overall -I like the game for what I bought it for $25, but I'd been a bit disappointed if I paid the original $50 price tag of it. I think people with a "Conan background" will enjoy it more than hardcore players, this seems like a good game to gear towards the fans. Sure it isn't spectacular and mixing it up a bit with the story would have been nice for them, but the spirit of the character and world feel like they are here. I rate it a bit above average as this isn't the button masher it could be, I think the developers were trying to deliver something a bit mindlessly fun for the casual gaming crowd and a touch of creative combat for gamers expecting a bit more out of it. The game is generally likable and at no point seems to take itself too seriously, but I see that annoying some players. I think to compare this game to God of War, Ninja Gaiden, or more sophisticated games is a bit unfair and they shouldn't be used as a measuring stick for the game if you just want to get lost in hacking away at people for an hour or so before turning off the console to do homework or something. I hear a lot of people saying the game takes 5-6 hours and I think that number applies to people just booking it through the game so they can stick it on their "gaming resume." If your not in a hurry I think you'll see more of the game than just looking at it from a moving vehicle and see something there worth stopping for a bit to experience, but think of it more like cool fruit stand and not an amusement park.

7 out of 10

Summary:
This brutal button masher features the legendary character Conan the Barbarian, who stumbles upon an evil wizard whose soul is sealed in statue and finds himself once again on a mission to save the world. Conan is a straight forward button masher, with comfortable, easy-to-learn controls and a story that doesn't stop moving. Add to that a massive array of weapons, moves, naked Amazonian women, challenging enemies and more naked Amazonian women, and a used copy of Conan is a game well worth it's weight in gold. Unfortunately, there's nothing to separate Conan from other button-mashers (God of War, Ninja Gaiden); the graphics are sub-par for a next-gen system, and at under 10 hours to beat this game will take only a few days to play through.

Gameplay:
Like most button-mashers, Conan has a quick learning curve. In fact, you'll be hacking and slashing from the moment the game begins; save learning strategy for later. A fast-paced story keeps you in the game, while several challenging enemies, bosses, and puzzles wait to prevent you from continuing the journey.

Even though the layout of the game is somewhat linear (one path to follow), the designers added tons of secret walkways and hidden rooms to make things a little more immersive. Keep your eyes peeled; finding the secret runes, hidden ability point chests, and naked damsels in distress is well worth it and helps tremendously in completing the game.

Conan also features a massive list of combo upgrades for several weapon types, enough to warrant a couple of play-throughs to collect all of them. The upgrade system is intuitive and fast, you only navigate one menu to display all of the moves you can learn at that moment.

Unfortunately, the action doesn't last long. This game takes an easy 10 hours to beat, and honestly by the end that seems like plenty. Conan is just a little too repetitive, with not a lot of wow-factor.

Graphics:
Conan's graphics aren't bad, but for a next generation console title they are definitely sub-par. The environments are well-designed and the animations are fairly crisp, but there's not much differentiating Conan from a run-of-the-mill Playstation 2 game. Since this title is older and was released early in the life of next-gen consoles, it gets a mulligan for graphics.

Sound:
Conan is backed by an epic and thunderous soundtrack similar to the movies. The sound effects and voiceovers are reasonably high-quality. Every gut-wrenching hack and the following blood spatter can be heard crystal clear. The voice actors do a great job moving the story, and Conan's harrowing taunts as he decapitates his enemies are golden: "I will cleave your skull to the teeth".

Fun Factor:
The thing about button-mashers is they let you mindlessly pound away your aggressions on your controller. In other words, they are always really fun. Considering the story, massive list of killer moves, entertaining dialogue, and the naked Amazonian girls this game is definitely worth at least one quick weekend play through.