Conan

The Good
What a fantastic game. This is one of those games that get you hooked and pull you right to the end. "Just one more level", you keep repeating to yourself, and before you know it you've traversed a dozen and more levels and conquered evil and now you have to find some other game to play...or go back through on a harder difficulty.

The graphics in this game are great. They don't push the limits of cards, nor are they dated. I feel they're just right for the time. Great in most places, pretty good in all others. I can't really recall any part of the game I was disappointed with the graphics quality.

The cutscenes were fun to watch. The dialogue I felt was very well done. Governer Arnold didn't do the voice for Conan, but the guy who did did a very good job. Lots of emotion, lots of "might" in the voice. The animation was good in the cutscenes -- lip syncing was better than I expect from most games nowadays.

There are probably close to fifty different attacks and combos you can learn in the game. I loved experimenting with the different combos, and even though toward the end of the game there were only two that really proved to decimate my opponent, I still had tons of fun mixing others into the mix. Some of the battles I wish I could watch again. Like facing seven armored skeletons at once, swiping overhead with my sword and then down below, then turning around and swinging my sword in a 180 degree arc, smacking three others, then doing a criss-cross sword move, then thrusting forward, then jumping backward and jump-kicking one, then grabbing one's head and punching it square in the jaw. Heck, there were so many different combinations you could throw into the mix that every battle could be a different experience. And the animation is fluid and for the most part, monster targeting isn't a problem at all. And with four different weapons available to you at any given time (well, save for the beginning of the game when you really only have one), there's just all that much more to experiment with.

The game is of a fair length. I finished it in just two days, but I also put in quite a few hours in it. The levels are very varied, each one requiring slightly different tactics as you fight different monsters. The levels consist of mountains, ice caves, tombs, jungles, deserts, volcanos, towns, temples, and others. I particularly enjoyed the harbour level in which there is very little fighting. It was a temporary change of place that lasted just long enough not to derail what was a straightforward hack 'n slash action game.

Also something I really appreciated was the way the "continues" work. First, you can't save anywhere. You have to find "sacred stones" and use them to save your game, and let me tell you, these stones are sparse. So you could go literally forty-five minutes at a time without being able to save, and one would certainly be really PISSED to play that long and then die at the hands of a monster and have to revert back to the last savegame. Heck, that's enough to make one stop playing altogether and quit. But in Conan, you're given a second chance by fighting in an arena to prove to Crom you are worthy for a second chance at life. Each time you die in any particular battle (or perhaps it's a time limit thing?), these afterlife-arenas are harder as more and more monsters are there to try to thwart your attempt to appease the Gods.

The Bad
HOWEVER, Crom is real stingy sometimes and WILL NOT resurrect you if you die OUTSIDE of battle. Meaning that, say, a monster knocks you into a wall of fire and you die. Well, the fire killed you so game over. Or let's say you FALL THROUGH THE FLOOR AND INTO BLACK OBLIVION. Game over. Or maybe the camera suddenly changes just as you are walking accross a thin platform, causing you to lose your perception and you fall off and die -- game over. Conan is a buggy game. Surely the developers saw how Crom neglecting to resurrect you outside of battle is a bad thing when more often than not it's the game's bugs that will kill you, not your own idiocy.

The camera is okay only about 40% of the time. It tends to "lean" toward targets, sometimes targets that either aren't there, or aren't there yet. I've had occasions where the camera won't even look at Conan at all, but instead stares at some wall that to me seems absolutely insignificant. I had to walk pretty far away from the wall before the camera came back to me. Some locations, the camera will fly to a fixed location. I suppose this is for a more cinematic feel, but it plain sucks. It's hard enough to cross a bridge with swinging hammers trying to knock me off -- it's a real pain in the ass to do it when the camera is at an angle that you can't tell how wide the bridge is anymore.

A few occasions I've had Conan fall right through the floor and to his doom. Twice this was just on the cave floor. Poof! Conan gone. Another time was when trying to get on an elevator, and Conan somehow managed to fit his muscle-filled body through a two-inch crack in the floor and die. There was one particular jumping puzzle which took longer to beat than most parts of the game due to a whacky camera, Conan's unpredicatable jumping tactics, and a floor tiles that, when they fall, seem to spawn some sort of vacuum that sucks Conan down with it.

The very last part of the game is the most abnoxous horrible game-bug fest I've ever played. See, you have to fight about twenty of these monks. Now, these monks are REALLY DAMN ANNOYING because they will cast spells at you, slowing you down, and once you're close enough to attack, they run away. And cast spells. And then run away. And not only that, but there's a magical wall where, if you touch it, you die (and Crom will deem you unworthy). To make matters worse, there is an invisible nothing in the middle of the level that Conan will for some reason target and attack instead of what he SHOULD be attacking. This and the jumping puzzle really ruin what was a great game experience.

The Bottom Line
Despite a jumping puzzle, the last fight, a mean camera and some clipping issues, this was one of the funnest games I've played this year. This is a game that I enjoyed playing through every single level, and I wasn't really ready for it to end, yet. Most games, particularly hack 'n slash, I tend to grow bored with halfway through and finish it just for the sake of finishing it.

Fans of Conan lore and/or hack 'n slash games, or those who just like that RPG feel of earning points for killing monsters will enjoy this game. Also a great story that was gripping from beginning to end, with great cutscenes, great voice acting, great graphics...

A great game!