- Jan 12, 2004
- 11,078
- 11
- 81
I've played through and compelted the game on the X360 and played about 1 hours worth on the PS3 just so I could compare the two look and feel-wise.
Gameplay
God of War fans rejoice--well, for the most part. To say that this game is derivative of Kratos and his adventures through the greek mythos would be an overstatement (minus the greek drama). But hey--if you're going to make an action adventure game and are going to borrow concepts from a franchise, it might as well be from one of the best out there. Though this game might not be as good the GoW series, I think that it's probably the best attempt out there to mimick the game in it's attempts to capture the raw, visceral feel of the action.
It's a button masher for sure. But, not in the way that a 3 year old could master, for the amount of moves and combos that are available to you do rival most other games of this type. So, you'll slowly trickle in new combo moves throughout the game, but by the end of the game I found myself really only using 4 or 5 of the dozens and dozens of combos available to you. See, the game breaks the combos down even by catagories like "Grabs", "One-handed", "Two-handed", and so on. So, some moves are only available when you have, say, a shield in hand--like a sheild bash.
You start the game out with a few basic moves and as you progress, you unlock new combos with red orbs (the currecy in the game). Red orbs are gathered by killing off the baddies, slamming or kicking treasure chests, smashing pots, or a host of other barbaric actions.
Graphics
I really dug the art style and graphical presentation of this game. It has the, sort of, chunky think-lined artistic style of the Golden-Age Comic book series. It's just oozing of John Bucema ( http://www.dynamicforces.com/images/conan5.jpg ) style and though I dont really prefer his art in my comic books--I can deffinitly appreciate it in this game.
Technically speaking, the game has all the bells and whistles that are standard fare in games of recent release including HDR and specular highlighting. It's, my all means, not a BioShock blowing you out of your seat. But it does its job well.
Sound/Music
The famed God of War composer, Michael Reagan, created an original score for this game filling it with deep drums pounding away in the background. It's fitting and enjoyable for the settings. Loved it.
Most of the sound FX are fine, but what really stuck out for me were the randon quips Conan would make randomly after performing a brutal action, killing someone. Some times lines were repeated, but there seemed to be enough in there that it was always enjoyable--some even lead me to a chuckle. He's a barbarian saying barbaric things--it's fun.
Etc (the stuff that needs to be heard, but doesnt have a catagory)
Boss battles are fun! There are too many games out there that have boss battles that are just plain boring. You know the type--were you just can't wait for it to be over so you can get back to the fun part of the game. Well, I'm glad to report that there are some fun boss battles in this game that will have you squeezing your toes. I know, WTF does that mean, right? It's funny because I found myself squeezing my toes intensly during some boss battles. My health was just so low and the boss was so close to death--I couldnt take it!
The auto-save system works well!
Because I died a lot during most of the boss fights, I can vouche for this. Most of the boss battles mimic the Nintendo 3-layered-boss design, so they tend to be long fights and a death is pretty much inevitable.
Cheap bastard!
One thing I want to bring up, and really feel needs to be pointed out, is the cheap boss battles. Most of them are fine and don't feel cheap. But there are two that come to mind right now that actually made me yell at my TV--"OH THAT'S SO FREAK'N CHEAP!". In particular, the final boss has some of the cheapest moves I've ever expereicned in a game! One move, in particular, has him thrusting his arm into the ground and his hand resurfacing below you--no matter where you are. At one point in the fight, I was several feet (in the game) away from the area where his hand surfaced and Conan basically teleported into his hand. WHAT!? It only happened a few times, thankfully, but it still felt cheap and had me pissed. There is another one, and it's beyond cheap, but I dont want to spoil any more of the game. But it had me waving my arms in the air, calling for my wife to witness the craziness.
So, overall, I really enjoyed the game. I beat it in about 7-8 hours and for me for this type of game--that's a little short. I'm not going to recommend or not recommend this game for anyone--I'm just going to let you guys judge for yourself. I'll just present my expereince here for you. I just want people, specifically GoW fans, to at least consider it for a rental.
Hope this helps some look at the game now and maybe consider buying or at the very least renting it, becuase I dont think it's getting enough attention.
Gameplay
God of War fans rejoice--well, for the most part. To say that this game is derivative of Kratos and his adventures through the greek mythos would be an overstatement (minus the greek drama). But hey--if you're going to make an action adventure game and are going to borrow concepts from a franchise, it might as well be from one of the best out there. Though this game might not be as good the GoW series, I think that it's probably the best attempt out there to mimick the game in it's attempts to capture the raw, visceral feel of the action.
It's a button masher for sure. But, not in the way that a 3 year old could master, for the amount of moves and combos that are available to you do rival most other games of this type. So, you'll slowly trickle in new combo moves throughout the game, but by the end of the game I found myself really only using 4 or 5 of the dozens and dozens of combos available to you. See, the game breaks the combos down even by catagories like "Grabs", "One-handed", "Two-handed", and so on. So, some moves are only available when you have, say, a shield in hand--like a sheild bash.
You start the game out with a few basic moves and as you progress, you unlock new combos with red orbs (the currecy in the game). Red orbs are gathered by killing off the baddies, slamming or kicking treasure chests, smashing pots, or a host of other barbaric actions.
Graphics
I really dug the art style and graphical presentation of this game. It has the, sort of, chunky think-lined artistic style of the Golden-Age Comic book series. It's just oozing of John Bucema ( http://www.dynamicforces.com/images/conan5.jpg ) style and though I dont really prefer his art in my comic books--I can deffinitly appreciate it in this game.
Technically speaking, the game has all the bells and whistles that are standard fare in games of recent release including HDR and specular highlighting. It's, my all means, not a BioShock blowing you out of your seat. But it does its job well.
Sound/Music
The famed God of War composer, Michael Reagan, created an original score for this game filling it with deep drums pounding away in the background. It's fitting and enjoyable for the settings. Loved it.
Most of the sound FX are fine, but what really stuck out for me were the randon quips Conan would make randomly after performing a brutal action, killing someone. Some times lines were repeated, but there seemed to be enough in there that it was always enjoyable--some even lead me to a chuckle. He's a barbarian saying barbaric things--it's fun.
Etc (the stuff that needs to be heard, but doesnt have a catagory)
Boss battles are fun! There are too many games out there that have boss battles that are just plain boring. You know the type--were you just can't wait for it to be over so you can get back to the fun part of the game. Well, I'm glad to report that there are some fun boss battles in this game that will have you squeezing your toes. I know, WTF does that mean, right? It's funny because I found myself squeezing my toes intensly during some boss battles. My health was just so low and the boss was so close to death--I couldnt take it!
The auto-save system works well!
Because I died a lot during most of the boss fights, I can vouche for this. Most of the boss battles mimic the Nintendo 3-layered-boss design, so they tend to be long fights and a death is pretty much inevitable.
Cheap bastard!
One thing I want to bring up, and really feel needs to be pointed out, is the cheap boss battles. Most of them are fine and don't feel cheap. But there are two that come to mind right now that actually made me yell at my TV--"OH THAT'S SO FREAK'N CHEAP!". In particular, the final boss has some of the cheapest moves I've ever expereicned in a game! One move, in particular, has him thrusting his arm into the ground and his hand resurfacing below you--no matter where you are. At one point in the fight, I was several feet (in the game) away from the area where his hand surfaced and Conan basically teleported into his hand. WHAT!? It only happened a few times, thankfully, but it still felt cheap and had me pissed. There is another one, and it's beyond cheap, but I dont want to spoil any more of the game. But it had me waving my arms in the air, calling for my wife to witness the craziness.
So, overall, I really enjoyed the game. I beat it in about 7-8 hours and for me for this type of game--that's a little short. I'm not going to recommend or not recommend this game for anyone--I'm just going to let you guys judge for yourself. I'll just present my expereince here for you. I just want people, specifically GoW fans, to at least consider it for a rental.
Hope this helps some look at the game now and maybe consider buying or at the very least renting it, becuase I dont think it's getting enough attention.
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