FutureFive New Zealand - Consumer technology news & reviews from the future
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Fri, 1st Feb 2008
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Brutal, it is the one word that sums up the world of Conan, from Robert E. Howard’s fantastic novels through to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s amazing films – who else punches a camel? I mean how badass is that? – Now THQ brings that patented sense of brutality to the next generation systems.

Any review on Conan has to mention the ten-thousand ton giant of the hack ‘n’ slash genre standing in the corner, God of War. Luckily Conan doesn’t ignore the industry standard but merely seeks to provide more of the same; even going further than that iconic series in it’s portrayal of token nudity and the severing of limbs followed by fountains of blood.

The standard medieval story is placed upon the game, drawing from the characters rich and established storyline, meaning the game is almost instantly familiar to anyone who has even heard the name Conan before.

The combat system is familiar to any who have played the God of War series, but is a little bit more reliant on parrying and counter-attacking, especially when the challenging boss battles come into play. But Conan can also change up (or down) his weapons and acquire the swords and axes from his enemies, giving the game a great variety of play styles for the hardcore.

All in all, Conan is a good use of the license, while not reaching the levels of God of War 2, it does provide a nice meaty distraction for those that like a little hack in their gaming diet.