Games, games, games.. ESPV loves video games for entertaining escapism and the team is always debating about what new release to review next. Mostly we are into sci-fi, shooters and action strategy games that offer a lot of game life - but these days, there is a pooload of games out there which kick ass. So, this week we have settled on a fairly new third person action-adventure hack-and-slash (HnS) game that derives from a classic character.. Conan, AKA Conan the Barbarian!
Developed by Nihilistic Software and published by THQ in November (Asia), Conan follows a similar HnS concept to The Lord of the Rings and Spartan: Total Warrior with button mashing and mofo slashing action packed game play. This game took ESPV about 9 days of casual gaming to complete on ‘normal’ difficulty and was a pleasure to play. On ‘hard’ difficulty it’s very challenging… we still haven’t finished it on this setting.
For most of us who were addicted to action films in the 80’s as kids, there was a lot on offer to entertain. Rambo, Predator, Aliens, Terminator and Chuck Noris to name a few.. but Conan was a dude who stuck out for being a hugely masculine hardass with poor English (in the movie anyway), in an ancient mystical world, wielding a sword with his barbarian style and freeing the helpless slave girls from their captures.. highly entertaining! Originally Conan came from novels and comics and was made famous thanks to Arrine’s 80’s films of Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Conqueror which, as usual, did not quite do the character justice but was still an 80’s classic.
Set with a simple storyline (help the girl kill the evil king and massacre everyone in between) Conan excels in simple bloody sword slashing entertainment with a few cool embellishments. True gamers will like the varied attack combos and unlockable new skills as well as the wide range of weapons Conan can carry for one-handed, two-handed, or weapon-and-shield attack styles. And don’t be too quick to judge.. while this game is great fun for cutting your enemies in half and fighting 10 dudes at one time, you cannot breeze through the game simply by button mashing and brute force. Some timing, blocking, weapon skill and combo mastering is a must if you aim to get anywhere. Trust us, we know..
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Each level ends with a classic boss fight and Conan has to doge and attack whilst exploiting the boss’s weakness at just the right time. As you progress from level to level, fighting in truly amazing scenes and backdrops (the graphics are sweet) you travel to various contents fighting new foes with different fighting techniques and styles. As Conan wins he achieves new skills, weapons, amour and techniques for increased killing ability and oh yes, and there is plenty of blood in this game.. oooh yes.
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For a HnS game on Xbox.. ESPV most deff recommends Conan.
(Images from Google Images).
PS – stay tuned for seriously poo-your-pants worthy reviews on games for Xbox360 including – Assassins Creed, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Ace Combat 6, and more!
