Review of "Spartan: Total Warrior"

Several weeks ago I was contacted by a woman with m80 Interactive Marketing. She had come across my written gesticulations concerning Shadow of the Colossus and asked if I would be interested in reviewing Spartan: Total Warrior. This is the first time I've ever been asked to officially review something and I've taken it very seriously. You have to realize that there is a part of me that would love to do this stuff for a living. So without further ado...


Introduction:
Spartan: Total Warrior was developed by The Creative Assembly and is their first foray into the console realm. Their "Total War" series for PC has earned several awards. It appears that they hope to repackage that franchise's success and bring it to the console world with their "Total Warrior" series. Spartan: Total Warrior is the first game in that series and is available now for Xbox, Playstation 2, and Nintendo Gamecube. It is rated "M" for Mature by the ESRB. My review covers the Xbox version only.

You play an anonymous Spartan warrior, who has been called to service, right when everything is hitting the fan. The Roman army is right outside your door and it's up to you and your allies to repel the invaders. With an assortment of weapons and the god Ares on your side, you may actually prevail.

The Good:
It's pretty much accepted in most games that the beginning is like a tutorial. It's a chance for you to get accustomed to the controls before the action ramps up. Not this game. It starts you off in the thick of it and you have to learn on the fly. You will get pointers along the way but this ain't training, soldier. The gameplay is intense and the fighting is very fulfilling. If you've ever played Dynasty Warriors or EA's take on The Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers and The Return of the King), then you have a pretty good approximation of what this game is like. Imagine you versus an army in hand-to-hand combat and that about covers it.

The graphics in the game are good but the character animations are fantastic. You have to see the swords swinging and the shields clanging to understand what I'm talking about. The combat is varied without relying heavily on difficult combos. You have a centered attack which is specifically for single enemies and a radial attack for multiple enemies. Combining these attacks and learning to love your shield will keep you alive. As you deal massive amounts of damage, your rage meter starts filling up. Once it's full, you can unleash a rage attack that really messes people up. Enemies get skewered and heads start to roll. The violence in this game is pretty profound and there is a certain satisfaction that comes from dishing out brutal vengeance upon the Roman hordes. The scale of the fighting is epic, too. You really feel like you're fighting a whole Roman battalion. It feels like every soldier has their own agenda, their own identity. This is magnified by the fact that every enemy has a name. Start attacking a Roman soldier and you will see a health bar pop up with their name in it. At first I thought that this was just their rank or title, but then I noticed it was something different for each enemy I fought. That is a really nice touch!

If you're looking for a challenge, then this game is for you. I'm playing it on normal and have only managed to get through about 1/3 of it. The battle with the Roman General Crassus is enough to make you throw your controller. I like the way they've added replay value to the game by including secrets that unlock additional items in the Arena Challenge. This will keep you coming back to levels you've already completed. In terms of difficulty, I don't know if it gets any worse than the Arena Challenge. It's basically you in an arena versus the whole Roman army. You have a limited number of items scattered about and it's up to you to defeat wave after wave of soldiers. The first couple waves aren't too bad but once they start adding more and more archers, it gets kind of ridiculous.

The Bad:
The manual for the game is sub-par at best. It's almost as if it was written by people who've never played the game. The manual assigns weird icons to the controller buttons and uses these icons to describe the attack controls for the game. The Y button for jumping becomes the D button and Draw Bow (white button) becomes an I. You're almost better off just jumping into the game and figuring it out on your own.

Although I praised the animation earlier, the game engine does need some tweaking. I found shadows falling at really weird angles and actually showing through objects. You'll notice this in the Roman camps when you and Castor climb up walls and walk on top of them. Not a deal breaker but just something I noticed.

The camera can be extremely frustrating at times especially when your character is facing you and all of the enemies are off-screen. I really wish there was an option to just keep the camera directly behind your character. I can appreciate the fact that they were going for a free-form approach but when you're dealing with 20 Roman centurions, you don't have time to screw around with the camera.

The game is fairly linear and there isn't much exploring to do. If you spend too much time dillydallying, the game will keep reminding you where you need to be. Castor repeatedly telling you which way to go gets old really fast. This is more of a personal preference than anything. Some people prefer open-ended, walk around town all day games and some people prefer a linear experience. You don't have to worry about getting lost in the game or not knowing where to go. The game is really good about reminding you and basically holds your hand through all of the activities you need to perform. Most of these additional activities are nothing more than stand in this spot and press "X".

Most of my complaints are minor and just things I noticed while playing. Keep in mind that I'm also still playing the game. Probably my biggest issue with the game though is the lack of any multiplayer elements. This game screams for co-op. It didn't even have to be anything fancy. Just being able to use 2 or more people at one time would have fit the bill. Of course, adding some Xbox Live functionality wouldn't have hurt either. Online co-op! I get goosebumps thinking about it. I hope the developers are listening.

The Bottom Line:
I think Spartan: Total Warrior has a lot to offer and I love the premise behind the game. It's so refreshing to have games set in that time period, and so far I like where the story is going. The mythology elements are great and I'm really interested in seeing how this will all pan out. I like the idea behind the franchise, too, and I look forward to future games in the series. Is a Viking or Samurai: Total Warrior too much to ask for? If you're looking for a fast-paced action game with great swordplay, then you should definitely check out this game. It's far from perfect but it does manage to do a few things really well. It looks like the game has recently gone down in price, if you're interested in picking up a copy. You may have trouble finding it at your big-name retailers but you can always hit up Gamestop and EBGames.

7.5 out of 10 (Good)