Yes, it will remind you of God of War but that's not necessarily a bad thing. There's plenty of bloody action to be had!
GAMEPLAY (9) - Most of Conan's gameplay is simply one melee attack after another against a variety of enemies. However, the combat does have a surprising amount of depth. Conan can equip himself with the weapons of fallen enemies, and they will be what you would expect: Swords, both one and two handed. spears, torches, axes and even shields can be used as weapons. Where the combat gets fun is in using a parry attack, much like Assassins Creed. In fact it pretty much becomes necessary to learn this as you'll generally be blocked time and again if you simply hack at your enemies. By calling a block just before getting hit one of the letter buttons will pop up. Simply hit the button and Conan will unleash a devastating parry attack, of which there is a decent variety. The game will temporarily go into slow motion, reminding me of the combat from the movie "300", as Conan pulls off fantastic moves that results in severed limbs, decapitations or sometimes even bodies split in two! A bit surprising for Conan fans there is also magic use, again inspired by GOW, though personally I did not use it too often unless I was really getting into a bind. By defeating enemies, finding treasure chests and freeing "maidens" Conan will receive red orbs that can be used to purchase special combo attacks. There will be a fair number of boss battles that will require strategy and generally involves using the environment against them. There is also some puzzle solving but in most cases it will be very obvious as to what needs to be done. Finally there is some platforming, and fortunately most of it is very basic though there will be an occasional frustrating jump or two that has to be attempted a few times before timing it right.
GRAPHICS (7) - Visually Conan is definitely a mixed bag. On the one hand there is a nice variety of some truly fantastic environments, but at times they seem to be lacking a bit in textures and detail. However the character and enemy models do have a nice amount of detail to go along with the ridiculous amount fo blood you'll be spreading. Unfortunately the game uses a fixed camera perspective but fortunately in almost all situations it did a competent enough job.
SOUND (8.0) - Conan features an above average sword'n'sorcery style soundtrack along with some decent voice acting by Ron Perlman (Hellboy) and Claudia Black (Farscape). Sound effects, both weapon clashes and dismemberments, were done well.
VALUE (7) - Conan took me just over 10 hours to complete, not great but not bad for a non-stop action game. There is no multiplayer but of course there are the more difficult levels to play at, and some will be tempted to play it multiple times in order to receive the numerous achievement rewards. This game should now be available for a decent price, I bought it for about $25 and I think it's worth it for a sub $30 purchase.
SUMMARY (8) - Conan's story certainly isn't deep, it's pure sword and sorcery fantasy that's perfect for an action videogame. I should mention that in addition to the over the top violence there are also numerous topless maidens to be rescued. This game deserves its M rating. Overall I do recommend this game to anyone that's a fan of the God of War games and can keep their expectations a bit lower, or to anyone else that's interested in trying out a game of this genre.