"Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his sandalled feet."— Robert E. Howard (Phoenix On The Sword, 1932)
Ever since Robert E. Howard wrote these immortal words that introduced the world to one of its first low-fantasy heroes, the interpretations and portrayals of this hero have been varied and many.. The one that has most notably stuck in popular culture is the unfortunate Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle that was loosely based on some of Howard's works.
Developer Nihilistic seemingly has hit much closer to Conan as conceived by Robert E. Howard than any game, comic or movie to date. Conan is voiced by Ron Perlman, who has done much voice work of late (Halo 3, The Outfit and Justice League: Heroes) but is better known for his movie roles in such films as "Hellboy," "Blade 2" and "Enemy at the Gates." Despite his voice being more and more common in video games, he approaches Conan much more as Conan was written: intelligent, confident and tough. While his voice isn't quite a fan of the literature might expect, the dialog is much more in line with the original short stories.
The game begins with Conan in the midst of an adventure, searching for treasure in the tomb of a dark sorcerer. Instead of finding the treasure, our hero unleashes the sorcerer Graven from his tomb. When this happens, Graven strips him of his armor and, thinking him dead, leaves Conan, A typical villain making a typical villain mistake sets the stage for the game.
When Conan comes to, he finds himself paired with A'kanna, a combination of Conan literary creations Valeria and Belit, which to those unfamiliar with the lore, means she is independent, strong-willed, dangerous and a perfect pairing for Conan. The two of them set out to recover Conan's armor and kill Graven, as each of them have reasons for wanting Graven dead. This part of the story unfolds through cut scenes at different places during the action.
Gameplay is a traditional hack-n-slash affair, in much the same vein as the God of War series. There are different combination attacks, but all of them are based on either a heavy attack or a quick attack. You'll find yourself doing plenty of blocking in various boss battles as well. As we come to find when Conan starts recovering his armor, various pieces are imbued with magical powers, which are extremely useful in fights. As lore aficionados will know Conan is averse to magic; Nihilistic plays this off well, as Conan wants to get rid of the magic powers - a reasonable compromise between lore and is enjoyable gameplay.
Whether killing scores of pirates, legions of the Stygian Army or myriad of beasts — both real and legendary — Conan always finds new and gruesome ways to dispatch his foes. Combination moves culminate in a variety of bloody endings from the chopping of off arms to beheadings. Rest assured that Conan lives in a violent world, and he's doing his part to add to that violence. To that end there are little touches, like the need to remove an arrow with a bumper button when Conan has been shot, at which point, you'll see the erstwhile hero reach down, grab the arrow and rip it out. The game actually keeps track of these details, so at the end of an area, you can literally see how many parts you have dismembered and add that to your overall tally. While I'm not sure it adds much to the gameplay, it does demonstrate how much the developers wanted this game to be brutal and bloody.
Conan starts the game with a single sword but has the ability to pick up a second light weapon and dual wield or go with a larger two-handed weapon that might be slow but does immense damage. This concept doesn't change, but the style of weapons change depending upon location, and the detail that goes into them makes picking up and trying new weapons fairly enjoyable.
As you go progress you'll be destroying pretty much everything you come in contact with; some chests and barrels may have health replenishment and others runes. These runes help you learn or unlock new combinations, and you'll want to unlock combinations that work with your preferred fighting style and weapons, be it heavy or light.
During his search for Graven, Conan is offered numerous distractions, such as a damsel in distress (topless usually) behind trees or down a semi-hidden path. Despite being able to rescue her, these little sidelines don't do much to advance the storyline and don't provide much to the game, except to try to make the game feel more "Conan-esque." I was able to breeze thru the entire storyline on the medium setting in just under seven hours. And I tried to go everywhere, do everything that I possibly could, so this is not a very long game. I'm also not particularly adept at the hack-n-slash genre in general, so I suspect that those who are would run thru the game much quicker.
I really enjoyed the musical score, the general presentation. No matter where I was at, I felt like I was in the Hyboria of my imagination. The game takes huge liberties with the lore but less so than other licensed books, movies and games. It presents Conan in a manner that I think Robert Howard would have deemed acceptable (especially considering Arnold's work), even if Ron Perlman just isn't the voice I'd consider for Conan.
I wasn't bothered by the gore. Although in some cases, it's over the top, and I'm sure it's a draw to other people. Being a parent, I don't think I'd let young children pick up the game to play, as I feel the Hyborian world is very definitely an adult setting. I do wish the game was longer and had more to offer, because for $60, I was disappointed to play only seven hours. Since I'm not sure how this stacks up to the rest of the genre, I'm not sure how normal this is, but I do know for my dollar, more entertainment is better. While this game isn't what I'd call perfect, anyone who is a Conan fan will enjoy this brief ride through Hyboria.
