Detailed analysis of games in the Konan universe

Good day! This blog acts as an ideological continuation of the text of Katerina Krasnopolskaya « Haiborian adventures: games about Konan and not only ». Here I will not affect the history of the world or the plot (except a little – a little) to save the time of readers, and rather go to the essence, because we have to cover a rather large time period.

What will be a blog?

This is a look of a person who did not play in the original games of a horseman with all the ensuing. Honestly, before that I did not have to deal with Dosbox and other emulators (Apple II, Nes and other programs to launch old games), but I wanted to plunge into this universe with my head and give out the result in the form of an article.

Why did I start writing this blog?

I write reviews of films, and when I wrote about the 2011 horseman (by the way, the film is not very), I unexpectedly became interested in the universe and began to absorb everything that was released during this time. Given the superficial story of Katerina about the mechanics themselves and feelings from gameplay, I had the idea to tell and share what I saw with readers Stopgame.ru

What is this article for?

First of all, to enlighten strangers with a series of players, it is possible to interest, and it is possible to scare away (who knows what type you will react to). Secondly, for lovers of brutality, violence and setting of the Dark Middle Ages. If you are at least a little interested, then get comfortable, and enjoy reading!

The first appearance of the horseman on the screens of the monitors was in 1984, and it affected a bunch of platforms that existed at that time. Apple II Series, Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS and Commodore 64-this is all that the platform about adventures came out Austrian Cimmerian warrior. Each of the versions differs from each other, but, as for me, the most memorable are two versions. The first for Apple II: Thanks to the title musical theme and a horseman, which is more like a Amazon from Futurama, rather than a wanderer hardened in battles. The second is a version for MS-DOS, as it is the easiest to launch today.

To play the project on DOS, you do not need to be a computer genius. It is enough to know the procedure, and you will succeed! For launch, you should download the DOSBOX itself, to find which it will not be difficult. Having downloaded the game you need, do not run to prescribe the paths or perform some other dancing with a tambourine-just drag the exe’hnik game on the DosBox icon and that’s it, and the combination of « Alt » + « Enter » reveals the game for the full screen. Play your pleasure!

Conan: Hall of Volta – This is an old school platformer, and when I say the « old school » – this means that the player will face a number of problems. These will not be platforms or enemies (although they are too), but the question: “Where is this &%$#^ Action button?! », Since looking for the same one, ugly, the task is non -trivial, and if you did it, now the game itself awaits you. The rules are very simple: jump over the obstacles, kill the enemies encountered in front of you, collect the objects you need for passing and defeat the owner of the castle, to which Conan unceremoniously broke. The platformer, although short (on YouTube, takes less than 20 minutes), but it will not be very easy to know the Zen Taimings of this game. Yes, the game is complicated-they will fit well as a way to test yourself in very old platformers, but I was pleased to touch it 34 years later from the date of release, and this means something yes.

The next next in line will be Conan with the subtitle « Kimmerian ». Conan: The Cimmerian – This is a full -fledged RPG with an open world, a dialogue system, the ability to buy supplies and equipment … as well as a insanely large threshold of entry.

A modern player who dared to launch the game will have to face a number of difficulties (no, not launching through DOS, or you were too lazy to open a spoiler?:)). The difficulty is that it is impossible to play this game without protecting a doctor’s logic of Konan Management. At first – nothing complicated: the player is released into an open world with a handful of coins and a sword. You go, talk with local residents, go to the houses and shops. So, walking around the city and going into one of the houses, you come across a robber. What to do? Get a sword, of course! How? From this moment, problems begin. Suppose that, frantically poking wherever, you still could get the sword and, without shaking the honor of your people, chop off the head of the fool, that dared to pounce on a mighty barbarian. Then you think that the sea is knee -deep? Nope. Now remove the sword in the scabbard. And so with everything in this project. I see that the game has many diverse opportunities, and this is a huge step for virtual entertainment on Konan, but it is too difficult to play the years later, since there are already more worked out RPGs (at least Ultima, which by 1990 had 6 license plates).

If there are those among readers who played in Conan: The Cimmerian and can explain by what principle management is being built in it and help to play it fully – I will be infinitely grateful!

Another platformer in the Konan universe, but this time – not for home computers, but for a Nintendo game console – Nes (she is also Dendy, or the thing that everyone was talking about). The main emphasis in this game is not made on the passage of the level, but to bring the player to a nervous breakdown. Here’s what a thing: in ordinary platforms on NES, the difficulty in passing is tied to the fact that the game checks your dexterity, the ability to defeat the enemy and other skills characteristic of the genre. Here, the game is trying to cunning to extend the plot of a rather short time, but this is useless, since the local enemies can cause anxiety to the player worse than the adversaries from the Souls series (believe me, I suffered).

Imagine that to win the first boss you need https://hustlescasino.uk/ to make a bunch of illogical actions. This is all this game.

The player should guess that the skeleton should be killed (from which the sword falls), flying a demon (from which a ball of fire will fall out), cut off the skeleton of the skeleton hanging on the ceiling (this will cause a demon with a pitchfork), kill a demon with a forks from a demon (from which the forks that can kill the boss fall out) and kill the boss to kill the boss.

By the way, things are raised by the “A” and “down” button, despite the fact that “down” is a long jump button. Now imagine that the item you need is on the edge of the cliff. I think the explanations are unnecessary.

Fuck (on the gamepad button « B ») – your best friend, support and hope for salvation. Use it sensibly, and the victory will become more tangible than without it.
I strongly recommend that lovers to buy their nerves and break their heads, I advise the rest to stay away from this game. This test can break even strong spirit.

Until the next coming, the players had to wait as for 13 years. Quite a solid period of time, is it so? And what did the developers show us in Konan 2004? Now the adventures of the Cimmerian have become a full-fledged spinal-brain mochille in 3D. You don’t have to steam with the search for objects – just travel through a beautifully drawn pipe and look after the adventures of a brave warrior.

The game begins with the fact that the raiders burned the native village of Konan, and now the barbarian cannot stay away without taking revenge on the offenders of his people.

History will abandon our warrior in the forests, snow mountains, bays, arenas and much more. The game is beautiful and even now looks quite suitable. Graphics do not cut the eyes, and competent design only emphasizes the charms and completes the picture.

Speaking of features, I would like to note that the developers were inspired by a series of games Resident Evil. No, zombies did not appear in Konan (they were already there), the developers borrowed a control scheme from the old parts of the monastery. Movement in the game is carried out as follows (using the example of a PC version): the “w” and “s” buttons work as always: “w” – go ahead, and “s” – go back, but “a” and “d” rotate the horseman around their axis, and if the PC is not at all a problem, then when playing a gamepad stick, this turns into a wild circus with horses. So bakers 1: 0.

In battles, everything is much simpler: there is a retention of the goal on the enemy until the victim turns into a bloody minced meat, so it is simple and pleasant to fight. There are 2 types of shocks (with further pumping) and block. In general, the tactics are simple: he repelled the attack of the enemy and hit;repeat to the complete devastation of the enemy life counter. There are traces of wounds and the blood of a defeated enemy on the hero, which gives brutality what is happening.

By the way, an interesting feature is connected with the battles. If the hero dies, then Conan is transferred to the other world, where he is allowed to show his valor in the arena. If successful, the player is transferred back to the enemy who killed the Cimmerian, with whom you can get even. Cool and simple!

As a result, we get a simple, but interesting slasher with a slight problem in management, history in style: “I will take revenge”, a variety of locations, a wide variety of enemies and customization.
For use is suitable!

Conan (2007) is an improved version of the previous part. With the advent of the game God of War From the Sony’s studio Santa Monica, a landmark appeared for the developers, which needs to be equal, and this Conan tries competently Swell Adapt ideas. What game turned out to Conan (2007)?

Judging by what I saw, a rather interesting game has come out that competently uses game elements noticed by more successful colleagues in the workshop. This is both the combat system, and QTE (Quick Time Event), and cruelty (by the way, there is much more tin in Konan than in God of War, which cannot but rejoice), and a half -naked embittered manner is also present. I can’t say that it is impossible to enjoy the game – it is possible, and what else, because the fights in the game are spectacular, chiller and cruel finish, the protagonist is still not dressed, which, by the way, is trying to fix Conan according to the plot of the game. The graphics are pleasant, although it looks slightly soapy. I want to say that this version of the game, about the adventures of the Cimmerian warrior, slightly less than completely parody the god of war, but is it bad?

In 2010, it came out Dante’s Inferno, which also borrowed all the game features of God of War – and nothing. She all came across in spirit, so that Konan 2007 did not come in to people from the people. With all obvious and not very pluses, the game did not gain the love of players, as hell Dante did. The game had every chance of becoming popular, as the market was not clogged with such projects … but did not grow together. What a pity.

I recall the time when everyone was pronounced to copy elements of three-dimensional parts of Grand Theft Auto and all games with the open world were then called-GTA clones. Time passed, and this term has outlined itself, and games with the open world have so tightly entered our lives that it is now difficult to imagine what the game industry would be without the so -called Open World. Apparently, there was not enough uniqueness of the game about Konan to live the same way as just CAUSE does it – one of those very clones GTA.

Maybe another factor was that the game came out only on game consoles, and in this regard, lost part of the audience. Now you can launch the game using the prefixes of the seventh generation (PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), as well as on their emulators. Fortunately, they are already there and are constantly being finalized.

I noticed that the developers who created games about Konan always tried to adapt to the desires of the market. In the 80s, the Cimmerian appeared in platformers, in the zero made his way to the action from the third person and, when the genre MMO was at the peak of his popularity, Conan also tried to prove himself. Such an attempt was Age of Conan: Unchained – The first MMO in the Konan universe.

The plot of the game starts from the moment when Conan is already the ruler of the land and sits idly on the throne. And at this time, the player, being a passenger of the ship crashing, will look for a way to become famous in the wanderings of complete dangers and adventures.

In fact, describe the MMO-game is an ungrateful occupation. There is a huge project with a bunch of details based on a well -known universe that is trying entertain squeeze money out of the players right at the start of the game. This happens as follows: the developers put the store button into the interface itself, so that it was more convenient to buy intra -game objects. She reminds the player a couple of times about her presence, but this is not critical;Yes, and developers can be understood, because the game is completely free, and the only way to maintain life in the project is donates. In essence, Age of Conan: Unchained greatly resembles Dragon Age: Inquisition on its strengths, namely in: the vastness of the territories (which, unlike the Inquisition, are filled with quests and events), beautifully recreated locations, an unusual combat system, which arranges not thoughtlessly lugging on a hot one.keys, and to study it (beautiful finishing is also available and go plus to the game), the worked out history of the world, and a lot more.

It is worth stopping and warning: you need to be a fan of the genre in order to evaluate this project, because not every person wants to climb the vast world and look for adventures on the ass (even if you call a friend with you). The game is really worthwhile and if you are tired of the excessive caricature of Asian MMOs or the cartoons of the Western, then Age of Conan: Unchained is the very golden mean that you were looking for many years.

Well, now – a little mobile gaming. As you know, the Cimmerian could not get around this segment of the video game market. The plot of the game was taken from Robert’s story and. Howard is the “elephant tower”, and tells how Conan makes his way into the mysterious tower of the elephant, where a huge gem is trying to steal the “heart of the elephant”.

The game is an action with RPG elements. The view from the top that the developers chose, allowed to save forces on the development of the environment. Everything is drawn quite simple, if not minimalist – but this is not wise. You can understand the creators, because the project was developed for mobile platforms, and the resources of the iPhone then were “slightly limited, but the modesty of the platform cannot be an excuse for terrible management. It is extremely difficult to control Barbara. Not only does he get stuck in the walls, but also fights in this game are made as crooked as possible and do not cause any pleasure. The only good that is in this game is the KAT scenes made in the style of comic drawing. They are quite pleasantly painted and, thanks to this, delight the eye.

As a result, we get a niche product created in the year of restarting the movie version of Konan in order to earn a little money in the eminent franchise. The proof of my rightness can be that the game (coming out only for iOS) was subsequently drank from the store, and the only way to play it now is to flash your old iPhone or launch the game on the emulator. I do not advise either one or the other, since the game is not worth the time and time spent on it.

Conan Exiles – This is now the now popular representative of the genre « Structure, steal, kill ». The game begins with the creation of the character, and lovers to “stretch” the time in the character’s editor will clearly find what to do with themselves. What can be created in the editor, and why I concluded the word « stretch » in quotation marks? This is not because in the game you can make a unique character and then play it. No! It’s all in the complete absence of censorship, and any person who bought the game can increase the genitals that Anastasia Ivleeva will definitely like, or not, because you can spite the “secretive killer” or completely play for the girl. Here, as they say, tastes and color … (in general, the mechanics are quite unusual, and I do not remember the project in which you can create such … pieces).

And when we played enough of the character’s editor, we will find an extensive sandbox, full of enemies and secrets that can and should be studied, because, having looked at the construction and engaging in banditry, then you need to children somewhere, and you can’t find the best opportunity in this game. By the way of construction: it is made at a fairly high level. You can build, both small lups and huge avantists, although for the latter you will have to kill more than one hour in search of resources, but you knew what you were going to, buying a game of such a genre. But what you definitely could not expect was a terribly executed battleship. The player can neither control his avatar, nor feel the attacks on the enemy, nor adequately dodge, since the game is tied to the competent use of Stamina, and if you do not be able to use it, then you will have problems. Of course, the ability to handle the endurance counter will not help to feel the pace of battle or enemy, but as a way to fight off from raids and move around the world will not be superfluous. It’s more fun to play it with your friend, who can share all the pain from the purchase with you. A friend is known in trouble, so to speak.

At the exit, we have a strongly unfinished game with great potential for development, and further popularity depends solely on the developers. Where will the game lead the time? Maybe she will gradually begin to forget how Age of Conan will become popular. Bugs are not a sentence, but laziness of developers may well put a cross on the interesting embodiment of the Conan world in the genre of multi -user survival.

And in the end – the most unusual project. Indie-developer named Rodrigo Martin (Rodrigo Martin) makes RTS in the Konan universe. Rodrigo did not start any exact release dates, nor the company on kickstarter, but only posted a teaser and 2 gameplay videos with a demonstration of the prototype of the game (which can also be tested). But you just want it? At this stage, you need to have remarkable willpower and unlimited love for the universe in order to devote time to this prototype, since, with the exception of the extractive graphics, there is more to catch more and nothing. How the developer will develop it, and whether the copyright holders will allow him – time will tell, and we can only observe his activities. Suddenly, that the practical will come out.

Here, in general, is all. We watched all the games that have come out at the moment. Some of them were good, some-not very, but the video game of the Konana universe is constantly developing and lets the devoted fans of Robert’s work and to test. Howard is new emotions. And you can feel them if you have not played earlier in any of the projects I have listed. I also strongly recommend that you get acquainted with original books about the Kimmerian barbarus-this is how you can better understand the hero, and with this to increase the involvement in what is happening and get the maximum pleasure not only from the games, but also to look at the films in a new way. I hope you had a good time – and thank you for your attention.