If you remember our E3 coverage you might remember that John and I were both pretty excited about Conan from THQ. Sure the game was a God of War clone but the graphics were great and right now there`s not a a game of it`s type available on the 360. The game also played well and had some very violent and gory ways to dispatch enemies. Who doesn`t like cutting the arms off people or cutting them in half with a giant sword? It was with those thoughts in mind that I purchased a copy of the game.

Unfortunately the rest of the game didn`t live up to my expectations. Sure the combat and graphics where there but the game really lacks the heart and soul of the God of War series. I wonder why THQ didn`t call the game or God of Hyboria as the game cribs so much from Sony`s game. It`s like the developers took their notes directly from the game and used them as their design specs. They didn`t even change the colors of the orbs you pickup during the game (green for health, blue for magic, red for experience) which would at least have differentiated their game a little bit more.

There are a few differences thought. Instead of spending the experience you gain during the game on new magical abilities you can spend them on new weapon combos. There are five main combat areas for Conan: unarmed, single sword, sword and shield, dual weapons, and double handed weapons. Each of these areas has different combos that you can spend your experience points on. Once you buy a combo and use it you will gain experience with that combat level until you master it and get a bonus every time you pull it off. Each of the styles is best suited to a certain type of enemy and as you progress through the game you learn which weapons work best against which enemies. Facing a bunch of small enemies without shields? Mow through them with both swords ablazing. Facing dudes with shields? Then grab a two handed weapon and break through the shield. It`s a decent system but honestly I played through most of the game with the dual weapon combo because I liked cutting guys arms off and you can pick up a really cool move later on in the game that allows you to decapitate enemies with ease.. Sure it wasn`t always the best decision but that`s how I got through the majority of the game.

The plot of the game has Conan working to rectify a problem he creates in the first level of the game. Like a blundering idiot Conan accidentally releases the mage Graven from his magical jail and onto the world. Graven strips Conan of his magical armor and now Conan must get it back and stop Graven from re-shaping the world. The armor is magical and each piece you get back grants Conan magic...errr..."Armor powers". Seem familiar at all? Yah, I know...let`s keep going. The armor powers are decent but you only get four of them. The first allows you to turn enemies to stone, the second allows you to unleash a meteor storm on your opponents, the third creates a plague of birds that take out enemies around you and the fourth allows Conan to rip a whole in the time and space to send enemies to Mt. Olympus...err...into the void. I seem to remember the classic Conan character having a bit of an aversion to magic of any shape and sort but I guess this isn`t really magic as it`s part of the armor he wears. I really only used the armor power through the game and that was to take out some of the bigger enemies that I was too lazy to take out with my swords.

Graphically the game is excellent. The art directors eschewed the photo-realism look for a more comic brushed look and it really works for the game. The levels are lush and rich and have a style all their own. There`s a nice touch in that enemies bleed like you would expect them to so after a large battle with lots of enemies you`ll notice that the nice clean forest area now looks like it`s been re-painted in red. Character design is also solid and the ...