From screenshots, Conan looks like it can be pretty enjoyable, but it’s not all that it’s cracked up to be…
I started playing Conan a while back but lately I’ve had a hard time finishing it. I’ll fire it up every once in a while and maybe get through a level and to be honest, it’s not a terrible game. But I think that’s sort of an issue for me these days – I seem to have less patience playing games that are simply mediocre or decent. Can I just play excellent or amazing games? Anyway, read on for my impressions on this game, and hopefully I will get around to finishing it at some point.
Conan is a “licensed” game since it’s based on the actual Conan IP, but it’s not related to any movie or media and has its own unique storyline. There’s honestly not much of a storyline, and in the game’s defense, you don’t usually need one for a game like this. Suffice to say, Conan just goes on a bloody rampage through each level tearing up dozens of humans and the occasional animal-like beast.
God of War Lite?
Conan is an action/adventure game that actually reminds me a lot of God of War, but with less production value. I almost feel like it lifts many aspects from the popular Sony franchise, and I guess to a degree that’s not a terrible thing for fans that need something to tide themselves over until God of War III releases next year. I personally was never a huge fan of the series. I played the first one and thought it was pretty good, but it still couldn’t touch Japanese developed action/adventure games in the genre as the gameplay mechanics just weren’t as fluid as I wanted. Then again, I’ve had that problem playing many Sony published games backdating to the PS2, but I don’t want to turn this into a Sony vs Microsoft rant.
Conan’s similarities to God of War include: unlocking combos and moves through the use of earnable red orbs, special moves that are awarded as the game proceeds, a combat bar that once filled allows the player to inflict greater damage, quick time button pressing events to defeat bosses or to get through certain areas, nude women that don’t really serve much of a purpose in the game, and a large amount of gratuitous violence. Well, maybe the nude women work to support the sheer amount of “testosterone” fueled through the game, but I can’t imagine any female enjoying their objectification in this game.
God of War’s Kratos primarily wielded the Blades of Chaos, small blades that were controllable with chains. Kratos also had other weapons at his disposal as well, and Conan does mimic this weapon & unlockable combo system to a degree. Conan doesn’t have a particular signature weapon, but instead, relies on his main one handed sword, dual wielding swords/axes, or using a two handed blade/staff. The fighting abilities thus break up into either sword/sword & shield, dual weapons, or two handed heavier weapons. Depending on your style of play, you can unlock combos through any of these fighting styles and all weapon types are plentiful since the majority of enemies you encounter in Conan are human enemies that drop either one handed or two handed weapons all the time.
Things I was Annoyed With
Lacking in Conan that God of War had was a sense of variety and interesting level and enemy design. Conan generally has a linear path as he plows through wave after wave of the same human opponents within locales that are forgettable. Each level I seem to encounter groups of enemies holding a sword and shield, some enemies shooting bows, and then some enemies holding spears. Then the cycle repeats.
In a way, the Conan game seems like it’s supposed to be about the gruesomeness of combat, but the ingame models need work. It seems like the game’s graphics look in-between last generation and this generation (and I guess maybe the tech wasn’t there yet since this was released in 2007), but I felt that the “blood and gore” wasn’t detailed enough to be shocking or entertaining.
There also appear to be several memory constraints as well, resulting in noticeable loadtimes. Not terrible, but you’ll be waiting 10 seconds or so if you die and you can’t skip cutscenes. Also, if you kill enemies and they all drop weapons, if you move forward and they are off the screen, most of the time the corpse and the weapons will be deleted immediately. There have been times where I’ll kill one enemy type and he drops his weapon, and then when I come across the next enemy type and want to go back to use that dropped weapon, I’m out of luck since if I backtrack, nothing is left on the ground. What is this? Weapons should never be deleted since players will want to switch to them, and at least keep the corpses around for a little while longer to illustrate the gore.
Even Conan himself sounds very dull and boring as he taunts his opponents. He seems as bored as I do when I play, which is not helping me enjoy the game any. Maybe he wishes he were fighting more varied enemies as well!
Parting Thoughts
To its credit, Conan is still a decent action/adventure game. I’m able to simply make my way through the game, slaughtering enemies with a couple weapon types, and learn new combos along the way. That’s a relatively tried and true game premise. The problem is that Conan doesn’t add anything fresh to the mix, whether it’s the presentation, storyline, audio, combat system, etc. I can’ t think of one thing that stands out and makes me think, “wow I really like this part of the game.” God of War came out years ago last generation, and this is what Conan has to offer after that?
The game could be worse I guess, but in this day and age, as I continue to outgrow gaming, I don’t know if I have the time anymore to waste with games that simply “aren’t terrible”. But with its budget price of $10-$20 these days, maybe it’s up your alley if you don’t go in expecting a stellar title. If you realize that it’s just a “budget friendly” God of War knockoff, maybe you’ll actually enjoy it for its worth.
