Conan Hands-On

There's a real problem with being a gamer these days. We find ourselves in an age when mediocre console games based on successful movie and novel franchises dominate the industry. Although the idea seems hackneyed, it's nice to see an old fantasy franchise come back to life in a computer game. The development team at Cauldron with publisher TDK Mediactive have attempted to reinvigorate the comic-book based character of Conan, whose popularity rocketed into the annals of Hollywood cinema with John Milius' epic movie Conan the Barbarian, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Full-fledged fantasy worshippers already acquainted with R.E. Howard's inspirational Hyborean setting, are about to embark on a journey with their favorite character in Cauldron's third-person action adventure, Conan. We've spent the last couple of days fiddling around with the final build of the game (that was released in Europe) and are now prepared to give you the lowdown.

Nice doggy! I have a juicy bone for ya! Come here!

Hey, who keeps dropping this powder on my head?

The narrative follows the adventures of a lone warrior who returns to his homeland only to find his uncle's village devastated and its inhabitants slaughtered. Resolving to hunt down the group of lethal mercenaries from the nasty Vulture Cult, Conan sharpens his axe and sword, marching forth to seek vengeance for the destruction of his home and the total annihilation of its dwellers. Many challenges await those who are valiant enough to lead the main character through the vast and dangerous places of the Hyborean world. During his quest, our hero finds the Vulture Cult is guarding a deep secret which could endanger the safety of the entire world. For what it's worth, the storyline is quite straightforward for this type of game. But what really impressed us is the developers' attention to details thanks to which the game rings true to the popular fantasy license. Read on to find out...

During our time with the preview build we got a chance to visit a bunch of locations such as, Cimmeria, Stygia, and Fortress of the Ghosts, all of which should be familiar to Conan enthusiasts. Generally, each backdrop and character was clearly inspired by R.E. Howard's descriptions, while certain sections resemble those portrayed in the movies. We got vicarious joy of slashing hordes of fiendish monsters through a classic third-person hand-to-hand combat system. Fighting is easy to master, so we think it should appeal to any gamer out there regardless of experience with previous action/adventures. Our sturdy, long-haired male protagonist possesses a fair choice of razor-sharp melee weapons bestowed upon him for slicing foes. Throughout most of the game he can swing large battle axes, spiky maces, and massive two-handed swords (much like those we've seen in the movies). The developers obviously tuned the controls to match the PC keyboard/mouse standard. Although the automatic camera system is a bit jerky and treats the player to occasional sudden movements. (To say the least, but let's leave that for the review... - 2Lions) With all due respect towards the development team, we hope they tweak this issue before the final version hits the North American territory.

The most recognizable thing about this title is the simplistic gameplay perpetuated throughout most of the levels. Like we pointed out earlier, the game itself revolves around chopping any monsters, skeletons, or other nasty-looking baddies that come your way... until you encounter hideous and tough boss-creatures. Striding through the snowy hills of Cimmeria we exchanged blows with a bunch of baddies while at specific points we met with a couple of bosses. One segment of this level puts Conan against a colossal worm-like ice monster that crashes through a huge ice-patch. Thanks to the weaker range of foes we came across earlier, we were able to upgrade our fighting skills and unlock a few combos which in turn proved mighty useful against the hideous ice monster. Killing this glacial abomination left a large gap on the ice patch. Our hero jumps through it, bravely continuing his journey. Apart from the almost constant action, there are many parts in the game where players are required to solve a number of jumping puzzles (which we observed to be a bit confusing and difficult to pull off due to the occasionally irksome camera movement).

Which one of you nerds snatched my wrist watch?

There’s bound to be a way outta this one...

The simplistic form of gameplay is maintained practically during the entire game. Saving games is slightly different than what average gamers are used to witnessing in today's console and PC games. Each time Conan falls victim to his gruesome enemies, he'll head to a place similar to Valhalla where the God Crom willfully brings him back to life - provided he died by the sword and not by falling off a ledge or something, like a little sissy (in that case, you respawn from the latest save point). The whole concept of dying by the sword has a somewhat interesting twist in this game, which is sure to appeal to any player. Upon your arrival to, um, Valhalla, Crom must test your faith and war skills before sending you back, so you always must fight several opponents up there to prove your worth. Once you pass this little trial, you'll be respawned back to the place where you fell. The thing is though, if you die again, Conan is then left to face an increased number of opponents before Crom. Steering away from the common save game system the developers managed to incorporate a rather refreshing gameplay element, improving the overall atmosphere and making the gameplay a bit more challenging.

Even though the game still has certain issues that need to be polished, we were quite pleased to see what the designers have done with locations, character and enemy models, as well as the animation (though we still don't understand why they insisted on beefing up almost every single surface in the game with so many reflections - from our viewpoint, this seems a bit tacky for today's visual standards). Conan, for instance, demonstrated commendable character animation, and there's a few cool-looking cinematics to see.

We must also hasten to remind you that we didn't get a chance to try out the game's multiplayer mode. We do know for a fact that the console versions will allow you to participate in 16 unique arenas along with 16 different characters, fighting in deathmatches, body count matches, and the time challenge. For starters, it was unveiled that the game will be shipped with Xbox live support as well as Internet and LAN play for PC users. We'll see...