Charles Caleb Colton once said that “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.” If that is the case, consider Sony Santa Monica duly flattered and Nihilistic Software truly sincere. Conan rips several pages from the God of War textbook and almost seems to delight in the inevitable comparisons that will be drawn between the two titles.

However, Colton also said that “we ought not to be over anxious to encourage innovation in cases of doubtful improvement, for an old system must ever have two advantages over a new one; it is established, and it is understood.” This philosophy would appear to have been at the core of Nihilistic Software’s approach with Conan, as anyone who has played a title in the God of War series can jump straight in and be playing competently within the opening minute.

Combat is the primary task that your muscle-clad warrior will embark on during his travels and the button configuration and battle mechanics are almost identical to those in God of War. There is the same light and heavy attack system, with the block and parry method also being lifted straight from Sony’s title. The only thing that Conan lacks is the aerial attacks, but otherwise it is pretty much a carbon copy of God of War’s fighting system.

That is not to say that the combat is disappointing however, far from it. A great deal of what made God of War so great was the fighting mechanics and therefore, it seems slightly hypocritical to criticise Conan for sticking to that formula. Whether wielding one weapon or two, the range of attacks that are possible make killing enemies in ever more brutal fashion a highly satisfying experience. When this is coupled with the parry system, which rewards the player for timing a block of an incoming attack to perfection by disposing of the opponent in heartily gruesome fashion, it is hard to find many complaints.

Unfortunately, there is very little variety in the enemies that challenge Conan throughout the game. The majority of opponents are simply re-skinned versions of the same human enemies and after a while this does start to become slightly tedious. It is only really when other strange creatures start appearing that there is a need to vary battle techniques, but these instances are not frequent enough to halt the monotony that starts to creep into the second half of the game. Similarly, the Boss battles can be truly epic, but there are not nearly enough of them.