Somewhere, buried beneath the flying limbs and the naked ladies lies a story, and you're welcome to enjoy it, but Conan's all about senseless violence. Playing as the muscle bound destroyer, you explore a rich 3-D fantasy world populated by marauding baddies, then use a plethora of weapons and moves to eviscerate them. You always have a broadsword handy, but you can also use staffs, axes and other blades. Not only can you dual wield some of them, but you can also throw them at enemies, impaling their carcasses on the nearest wall. And while you slice and dice your opponents, blood shoots in all directions, heads fly, bodies get cleaved in two and torsos say goodbye to their legs, revealing pink intestines. You may also use points acquired during your murderous rampages to purchase moves such as the pile driver, which automatically decapitates your foes, sending their heads rocketing towards the screen.
At first, we disliked buying maneuvers, as it felt like a cheap gimmick, but we grew to love it. Whereas most action games grant you access to a hero's moves from the get go, Conan keeps the excitement level high because you never know what horrible things will happen from performing a grab or combo. More often than not, the non-player characters suffer, since THQ dreamed up so many ways to kill them. With that said, the artificial intelligence is more than capable of defending itself. Not only do enemies block like it's their job, but they have a tendency to gang up on Conan and score lots of cheap hits. The developer, Nihilistic, deserves a slap on its wrist for punishing us, sending waves of bad guys to kick our ass before introducing some ridiculous boss character that whittles away Conan's life bar. It's an old school method of design that we'd like to forget.
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