Conan (2007 video game)

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Conan
Developer(s)	Nihilistic Software
Publisher(s)	THQ
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date	September 28, 2007 (Europe) October 23, 2007 (US)
Genre(s)	Action Adventure Hack and Slash
Mode(s)	Single player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Mature (17+) BBFC: 18 PEGI: 18+ OFLC: MA15+

Conan is a 2007 third person action-adventure/hack and slash video game, based on the literary character Conan the Barbarian. The game was developed by Nihilistic Software and published by THQ and was released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on September 28 in Europe and October 23, 2007 in North America.

[edit] Storyline

After raiding a tomb and unleashing an imprisoned entity known as "The Black Plague", Conan is knocked unconscious and stripped of his magical armour. He finds himself floating in the sea a while later and goes on a quest to find out what happened to him and what the monster he unleashed was.

On his travels, he meets a warrior maiden who is also looking for Conan's armour as it holds the magical properties that can stop the Black Plague from destroying her lands. Conan agrees to help her on the condition that he wears the armour as he does not want it falling into the hands of wizards and sorcerers.

[edit] Gameplay

The game is entirely third-person and plays similarly to Spartan: Total Warrior for the Xbox, PlayStation 2 and Gamecube. The game employs a simple but effective weapon system. Conan can hold a single blade with a shield, he can also use two blades simultaneously, or he can use a two-handed sword. Each method allows for a number of skills to be mastered, including "Swift Blades" and "Skull Crusher".

As Conan moves around the world he finds differently coloured Runes. Green runes restore health, blue runes charge up Conan's magic armour (after he has found it) and red runes allow you to learn and master new combo moves. These combos that are accumulated can be strung together to cause more damage to enemies. ^[1]

Other than the battle system, the game also employs a rune system, by which runes of different colors are dropped by enemies or collected. Green runes restore health, red runes give the player "experience points" to spend towards learning new skills, and blue runes, not available until midway through the game, give the player power towards special moves revolving around recovered pieces of Conan's armor. Green and blue runes can often be found by smashing object and killing enemies, while red runes are found by killing enemies, bashing open treasure chests, or rescuing maidens, women naked from the waist up who are trapped in hidden locations throughout the game. Rescuing maidens is not only rewarding in terms of rune output, but it also gives the player an oppertunity to see these women without any clothes on except for small artices around the waist.

[edit] Reception

Upon release Conan received mixed to favourable reviews, with an average critic score of 70% at Game Rankings.^[2][3]

Much of critics praise was aimed at the brutal combat and combo system. GameSpot said "good deal of craft went into making all of the game's over-the-top violence look so great, and it's the kind of guilty pleasure you'll want to savor",^[4] while Game Trailers called it "deep and rewarding".^[5]

A common criticism was the game's graphics, with IGN calling it an "average-looking title that has a handful of nice animations to go along with some lackluster visual design."^[6] Eurogamer also found the short length of the game to "not really enough meat on the bone to recommend an immediate full price purchase".^[7] Many other critics like GameSpy found it to be "very derivative of God of War".^[8]

In GameSpot's Best and Worst Awards, Conan was nominated for "Best Use of a Creative License".^[9]

[edit] References