Conan | DJcube

Embark on the adventure of a lifetime in the epic environment of the Conan universe.

EU release: 30th April 2005
NA release: N/A
JP release: N/A
Developer: Cauldron Ltd.
Publisher: TDK Mediactive
NGC Magazine Score: N/A
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

Conan the Barbarian is something I haven’t heard of in a long time, and I’m only vaguely aware of the Arnold Schwarzenegger film. It’s a series of stories that started in 1932. It’s about an extremely buff man that goes on adventures, saving people and performing heroic deeds. The game starts with an extremely long narration covering that he’s already had many adventures, but returns home to find his home village completely destroyed. The group that did it were after a sacred relic, and Conan must stop them.

Despite this extremely long introduction, the story all but vanishes once you actually start, with Conan trundling through different areas with seemingly no link between them, such as going from snowy mountains to a lush jungle being chased by people that were never introduced to you in a few moments. I get that not every game needs a narrative, but the extremely long opening is baffling considering the rest of the game.

The game itself is a basic hack and slash. You can unlock a ton of combos, but tapping B will let you stunlock pretty much any enemy – you just need to get a hit in first. The game is mainly just wandering forward and slashing enemies. You get other weapons, but these act the same as the sword. It’s all rather tedious.

There’s also some very clunky platforming, with a very delayed jump button. It’s so bad that I didn’t realise platforming was going to be part of the game – especially as the first area has a broken tree which I didn’t realise was the path forward. The camera also has a mind of its own as it swings wildly. Conan also likes to get stuck moving forward, refusing to turn quite often. It’s a dull game that’s immensely clunky to play.

Poor

Conan falls short in almost every category and if the atmospheric soundtrack is the best element of the game then you know that something is wrong. You got to ask yourself what Cauldron exactly wanted out if this game, because the end result is pretty bad.
Bas Oosterveld, Cube-Europe

Remake or remaster?

Perhaps in a collection.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to buy Conan.