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Developer: Creative Assembly
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Adventure
Region: NTSC
Format:
Release Date: 25 Oct 05
User Rating
9.9 (24 votes) -
- Creative Assembly marks their foray into the action genre by bringing the intense realism of epic battle of ancient Rome right into your living room.
Overview
Hack and slash action games have always been a popular choice, and surprisingly they haven't changed much over the years. Sure these typical brawlers have gone from being 2D side scrolling adventures to immersive 3D, but the overall idea have not changed all that much. Today we are checking out one of these 3D Action titles for the Playstation 2 that takes us back in time, in Spartan: Total Warrior from Creative Assembly. So does this game bring the ancient times back to life? Read our full review to find out!
Gameplay
Creative Assembly has been known for making ancient-themed strategy game with their wildly popular Total War series. For whatever reason, they decided to try their hands in the action genre, which has you playing as a Spartan in Ancient Rome making his way from the bottom to the top. Does Creative Assembly make a smooth transition?
Well Spartan: Total Warrior is one of those games that just throw you right into battle and doesn't give you a whole lot of reason why besides the fact that you are chosen by the gods. So ok you are this stand-out Spartan Warrior, who really just wants to become the top warrior around. Once you go through the opening cut scene, you are instantly thrown into a gigantic battle with hundreds of warriors on screen. It is quite obvious that Creative Assembly decided to just throw huge number of enemies on the screen, instead of making them smarter. This is really what might turn some people away from the game, but those who persevere will be rewarded.
Spartan: Total Warrior is one of those games that if you don't mind battling mindless enemies, then you will enjoy this game. Because the action is so fast and so furious and there are such high numbers of enemies in the game, the battles are just downright amazing. Spartan just gives you tons of enemies at a time, and once you get through those you will go onto even more. So constantly throughout the game you are just over run with enemies.
When you are not fighting the huge numbers of Romans, you do have quite a few boss battles to take part in the game as well. These boss battles are really some of the weaker points of the game, as some of them are just not all that interesting and really lack any sort of originality. These boss battles pales in comparison with the likes of Shadow of Colossus and God of War. Sure some of them were entertaining, but none of those really had anything new to add to the formula.
What stood out about Spartan: Total Warrior for me was that its really fast paced and addictive gameplay. The controls in the game are easy to pick up, and continues to impress with more moves and even better weapons as the game progresses. Speaking of the weapons, you get some really sweet ones, including the hammer of Beowulf and the spear of Achilles. The game has a great variety of weapons, and to be honest, the game does a nice job of separating them throughout the whole experience.
I am sure some will find the repetitive nature of Spartan a little tedious, but in my opinion the great sense that the battles give you when playing this game is truly amazing. I mean you start at the beginning of a mission with hundreds of enemies and a few minutes later you will have disposed of them. The great sense of action that this game has is impressive on its own right, and this continues all the way to the conclusion.
Graphics
Visually Spartan Total Warrior does a fantastic job creating an experience that really stands out, with some of the most epic battles I have ever seen in a video game before. The amount of people on screen is truly impressive, and what is great about this is that the game never really has a problem with the frame rate, which is surprising for a game of this magnitude.
Total Warrior also has pretty good character models as well, with a good amount of detail and a decent amount of color. The biggest problem Total Warrior places in the visual category is the environments, which are really lacking detail and don't ever manage to really distinguish themselves. I found the whole time that the game never really tried to change the look of the environments, and thus things begin to look the same after a while. Overall Total Warrior is a good looking game that has a good deal of detail, but the environments spoils the overall presentation quite a bit.
Fun Factor
When I look at my experience of Spartan: Total Warrior, I think I was most impressed with the amazing sense of epic battles that this game gives you. Battling hundreds of enemies and end up being one of the last few standing really makes for a wonderful battle experience. Spartan: Total Warrior is a typical hack and slash action adventure that you will go through a number of enemies with a decent variety of mission types. Sure the boss battles are not overly exciting, but the core of the gameplay is what I found to be extremely impressive.
Overall
Spartan: Total Warrior is one of the most unexpected surprises of this year that really came out of nowhere with very little hype. Spartan is one of those games that may not appeal to everyone, but for those who enjoy the ancient Roman time period and like just hacking and slashing, then Spartan: Total Warrior is a great game. I definitely think is at least deserving of a rental, if not a solid purchase for your Playstation 2.
- Gameplay
8.0 - Graphics
7.0 - Fun Factor
8.0 - Overall
8.0
