Spartan:Total Warrior Review
About two months ago, I was contacted by a lady by the name of Lauren on behalf of M80 and Sega because they had seen that I made a blog entry about Spartan:Total Warrior. I won't go into all the details, but in the end they wanted me to review the game for them and post it here, and after nearly a month of playing it, I'm finally ready to make my review. While I have never written a full review for a game, I will try my best now.
This game is incredible! It may not follow in the lines of the other games put forth by this company, Rome:Total war being their most succesful, but they made a fantastic leap from the pc to the home console with this title. Sure, the main character may look semi-cross-eyed, and they may look kind of blocky, especially in the hands, but when you're thrown into the heat of battle, none of that matters. Having upwards of 160 characters on screen at one time while maintaining the same fluid gameplay, with well-layed-out controls, is where this game truly shines.
You will definately feel the pressure as you're sorrounded by hordes upon legions of Roman soldiers, but don't worry, because you're the, pardon the pun, total warrior. Empowered by the gods with supreme strength and unmatched fighting ability, you have no need to worry, because there is always a way out for you, not for your spartan comrades however.
Not EVERYTHING about the game is top-notch, but it's a pretty darn good effort for being the first console game from this company. For instance, you can kill 400 men with no problem, but you can't grab onto a ledge? Hm, Must be those blocky fingers. Your friends may be able to fight along side you, but they can't lift a lever to save their life. While, it does make the game more "you"-centered, it takes away from the reality of the game. Not like fighting a minotaur, medusa, and *spoiler*the god of war himself*end spoiler* take away from the reality at all.
ya.
All in all, it's a good game. The blend of music styles makes the game not boring to listen to, like some games*cough*Prince of Persia:Warrior Within*cough*, and when the music cuts out, you KNOW something bad is going to happen. The game comes to a climax nicely, and makes you feel like you're important, in fact, the one soul person in this whole world who can accomplish anything of importance. The controls are great, unfortunately for me I didn't find out how to switch weapons until the last level, guess I should have read the instructions. The visuals are above average, not the best, but they feel right for the game. There's no multiplayer, which would be a nice addition for a sequel. Extra's only include scetch galleries and bonus pickups for the Arena Challenge Mode, so if you're looking for lots of bonus material, you're out luck. Replay value is so-so. If you want to go through the entire game, and it's a big game, just to pick up the sketch gallery content, be my guest. If I had a grading scale, I would give it an 8.5 out of 10.
There's my review, and now I have an entire list of other things to do today, so I should probably get on those.
~SpEnSe
P.S. I don't know how to LJ-cut, so bite me.