Peering back through the mists of time to the age of Atlantis, a time of endless battle, sorcery and steel, lived an era in the hearts of man, and a moment long lost in legend. In a world troubled by Gods and men poisoned by turmoil, stood a hero of greatness, a man who would be King, a conqueror known only as Conan.

Adapted from the artistic stories of Robert E. Howard and the twin feature length films of the Eighties, comes this tale of revenge, power, and heroism. As your classic action-adventure in the spirit of Golden Axe and perhaps even the Vinyl Goddess from Mars, Conan will see players embark upon a journey across vast locations, reaching ice filled tundra's, cavernous valleys, ancient kingdoms, and perilous cities of long ago. Yes, Conan's scope is vast and great, and fans of his adventure will be pleased to find that much of it has been lovingly interpreted.

Setting out, players witness a devastating attack upon Conan's home village by a malicious dark army riding from the north. Consumed with rage, and forever destined to be haunted by the tragic slaughter of his family, Conan sets out to seek revenge. During a quest across the five epic regions of Hyboria, players will face endless barbaric hordes of wonderfully varied enemies, including club hugging cavemen, crystallized ice warriors, spirits of fallen foes, and many other brutal beasties.

Enemies come thick and fast and gamers will need their wits about them if they are to survive; for survival in this game is a certain challenge. Fans of boss-battles should look no further, for this game has them in spades. Fortunately, they are reasonably challenging and may even require more than a moment of forethought to locate their defensive weakness.

Combat, for better or worse, is largely a potato-and-parsnip mashing affair between buttons 'A' and 'B'. Fortunately, the chaps at Cauldron have incorporated minor RPG elements that allow players to acquire skill points upon the defeat of enemies. Points are used to upgrade and uncover new moves from an inclusive list of over fifty deadly combos.

In addition is the ability to upgrade a discovered selection of three distinct weapons classes consisting of axe, mace, and the standard sword. Weapons are found throughout the course of the game and some are more illusive than others. One in particular is the Atlantean Sword, where players must locate four hidden sections of the sword to release a weapon of formidable destruction ' Girlymen need not apply.

Now you will probably not hear this stated very often, but death in Conan offers an interestingly novel twist. Upon corporeal dismemberment (Ouch!), Conan is ethereally transported to the battle fields of Crom. Here our hero is bestowed a second chance to redeem favor in the eyes of his blessed warrior God. Players will battle using nothing more than the sword of Conan's deceased father to bring wrathful justice against those who dispatched him.

Be sure not to die too often on any one enemy, for Crom will make every additional encounter a great deal more challenging. Favorably, this element adds a great deal of tension to the game and gives players an incentive to hone their battle skills. In the universe of Conan you surely can die twice.

Unfortunately, the limitations found within Conan can be identified in several key areas, which to be honest are rather surprising. The most significant of which is the game's quirky relationship between clunky, awkward controls and its fiendish camera angles. Unfortunately, not only will players be required to battle endless hordes of relentless, A.I deficient, yet brutal foes, but they will also be required to master the obtuse meanderings of senile control settings.

The games horizontal axis is inverted, which for any gamer may cause a few moments of unfamiliarity. More problematic however is the quasi-automated positioning of the camera, and while at times this works, frequent instances will find gamers moving in conflicting directions. Overall, handling is a little clunky and while it can be managed it can make maneuverability at the height of battle quite painful.

Another mystifying oddity includes the ability, or the lack there of, to save. 'Sacred Stones' that quite frankly require little 'romancing' must be found throughout the game in order to save your progress. While the avid gamer will be able to stay on top of this, the lack of any save-points, or the ability to save whenever a player desires, will result in copious amounts of repetition and a guaranteed general-anxiety-disorder for life.

Visually, Conan is an interesting mixture of third-person aesthetic appeal and characteristic chunkiness. Conan himself looks like he spent an unfortunate night at the local curry-house and was too embarrassed to excuse himself. Regardless, he's all manly-man and has the tree trunk extremities and loin cloth cladding to prove it. Let's not forget that yet again this season, mullets are in fashion, and fortunately our in-style guru will compliment his washboard, Total-Gym, abs with export-quality snow-lion skins; which players will have the fortunate opportunity to watch being carved right off the bone. Fashionable and functional, players will witness Conan explore the deeper style elements of his flamboyantly fashioned psyche.

The Hyborian universe for the most part is well designed and while the visuals are not earth shattering, they do push along accurately and at a steady frame-rate. While the eye-candy doesn't propel the title into the outer realms of 'GFX' greatness, it does retain a strong sense of authenticity. The environments suitably appear like something out of the chronicles of Conan and the addition of slight elemental contributions makes it all that more believable.

It is great to see that Conan's character model has adopted the use of detailed layers-of-damage and the spattering of enemy blood will be apparent during the course of battle. Cut scenes also add an illustrative touch and for the most part are handled well. Considering that Howard's tale is more commonly remembered for its Schwarzenegger interpretation it is great to see this game has retained its cinematic zest without falling back on the Muscles from Brussels.

Aurally Conan hits its stride with the inclusion of the theatrical score found from the well known movies. It is raucously triumphant and boasts a sound inclusion of heroism. The sound effects themselves do the job, however they are little more than the usual suspects. While voice acting didn't really appear to be a strong focus of this game it does include some nice narrative and even a few choice words from the barbarian himself. Overall with Dolby support it works well, however like the complementary visuals you will not be screaming with overt delight 'well, maybe a fisted arm-pump or two!

Conan is a succinctly linear game, which for the most part is not that surprising. Don't expect a single ounce of choice or stratagem, simply strap on your brute might and feel the ferocity that is Conan. Fortunately, the game does boast local system-link and Live support for online multiplayer. Unfortunately, the functionality of such online elements was not tested by this reviewer due to a general deficiency of broad-band support ' 'By Crom!' However, if arena battling and 'voice' capabilities are your cup of Hyborian broth, Conan may yet offer a little more cold steel. Although locating finding someone else in Australia with a copy of Conan to play against might prove harder than finding a copy yourself.