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| | Title:
Spartan: Total Warrior
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System:
Gamecube
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Genre:
Action Adventure
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Publisher:
Sega Corporation
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Developer:
Creative Assembly
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Release:
10/27/2005
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Online:
No
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ESRB:
Mature (M)
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I wonder…would the historic Greek play-writer, Sophocles, be proud of Sega’s mythic (and fictional) tale of a Spartan warrior from Greece? I doubt it; although the Greek satirist, Aristophanes, might’ve had a laugh-riot while playing the game. Apart from the inaccurate time line of events, and goofy dialogue, Spartan was more of a fun-for-the-whole-family, action adventure, blood feast. Seriously, had the decapitations and gaseous blood gushing been reduced, Spartan: Total Warrior would’ve been a game for the entire family, or least deserving of the “Teen” rating. I’ll get into the details in just a little while...but first, the formalities.
Story
Spartan: Total Warrior takes place around 300 B.C. and supposedly during the downfall of Greece and the destruction of Sparta. The evil Emperor of Rome, Tiberius, (his full name was not mentioned, probably to avoid an inaccurate portrayal of the wrong Tiberius,) wants to take over and control Greece. His right-hand man, Sejanus, is appointed to oversee the destruction of all those who stand in the way of Rome’s might. I’m not going to bother pointing out another flaw in the adjoining of Sejanus as Tiberius’ “right-hand man” but I’m sure most gamers won’t care.
Anyway, Sparta’s last hope is in the King’s army: The Spartans. One Spartan trainee is spoken to by Ares, the god of war. This trainee is simply called, The Spartan: he says very little, only wants to protect his people, and never backs down from a fight--boy, doesn’t that sound familiar... (cough) Master Chief (cough). The Spartan has to venture on a quest to save his people by accomplishing tasks set before him by Ares, including the defeat of both Sejanus and Tiberius.
Now the story would have been better had it been fueled by a real plot. I often forgot what I was really suppose to be achieving at times. Mainly, because whoever was in charge of the story development did an awful job of making your quest actually seem important. Now this has nothing to do with the gameplay, but Sega could have ensured a more stable plot-line. Halo, The Suffering, or Far Cry, gave players (essentially) stable outlines for the direction of the characters’ purpose. This isn’t to say that Spartan: Total Warrior’s story was very bad; it just wasn’t that good either. I was expecting something a bit more serious, and a bit more driven, with further elements of depth.
Gameplay
Sega is a veteran when it comes to fighting games, so I had some high expectations. Naturally, I wasn’t disappointed. The start of the game throws you into an attack on your hometown, and you have to defend it from a battalion of Roman soldiers. The game is simple and fun, but for beginners a tutorial should have been included. As the game goes on, hints and tips are shared with the player and a command list is always readily available. Still, though, a training tutorial would have been nice, not only for character development (something Bungie took the time to include) but also to familiarize players with the game’s mechanics.
The control scheme is quite simple though, you only have two attack buttons, a center strike and a sweep attack. You can block with the L-Trigger; jump and roll with the Y button; use specials with the R-Trigger, or you can activate your bow with the white button. Everything is simple and quick to use, except the bow.
Aiming the bow requires using the right-thumbstick to look in the direction of the target. The only problem is that enemies and explosive barrels turn the camera on auto-aim when using the bow, which is almost too frustrating to even comment on. Considering the amount of enemies on the screen, the auto-aim camera was something I seemed to fight with more than the enemies. Luckily though, it’s only when using the bow; the standard camera is responsive and normally gives a good view of all the action...and boy is there a lot of action.
Spartan: Total Warrior is the sort of game that takes pride in its massive battle sequences. Console gaming has very rare titles that come along, where so many characters can fit onto the screen at once. Some of the best parts in the game were just walking through the ranks of your soldiers that seemed to just go on, and on, and on. That part of the game is breathtaking. However, once you get out onto the battlefield, that’s when the game really gets good.
Creative Assembly really went out of their way to give players the feeling as if they are really taking part of an epic battle. Sega seemed to create a Frankenstein of action-adventure gaming by taking Dynasty Warriors and Ninja Gaiden Black and fusing them together. Even though certain stages become tiresome with the hack and slash syndrome, the difficulty, string combos, and fluid fighting all makeup for it.
There’s even a multitude of allies that accompany you into most battles. Although, the downfall is that you can’t give them commands. Honestly, with all the squad-based games out there, this would have been an absolute must-have in a game like this. Hundreds of my fellow teammates could have been spared, had I been able to direct them over to the spot where there were no falling, GIANT FIREBALLS! However, not all of the encounters require head-on fighting; stealth elements infused in the gameplay allow you to sneak up from behind and wipe out an entire squad.
One of the neat parts about the back attacks, though, is that they also work on some bosses. Albeit, bosses always know where you are, but rolling around to the back of a boss and cutting them up from behind still takes a lot of life. The really cool part is that magic attacks that freeze or burn enemies also work on the bosses. Except, magic attacks don’t work so well on the impressively large, six-headed Hydra, and Talos: the mythic giant warrior made of stone. One of the most fun battles, though, was with the Minotaur in a Lord of the Rings-type arcade cellar. Although, it rivals with the final battle that takes place in the massive Colosseum, littered with fallen rose petals and fire; it’s classic stuff.
Besides the battle features, I actually found other aspects of the game innovative. Creative Assembly added many interactive game options apart from the hack and slash features. Being able to run freely through the city and graffiti on the posters of Tiberius reminded me of Jet Set Radio or The Warriors. There’s also people you can talk to, houses of Roman soldiers you can set on fire (sadistic eh?), and other environmental interactivity such as crushing pots or boxes.
However, one feature that really stands out is the ability to upgrade The Spartan and acquire new weapons. During each mission, you earn points that you can add to The Spartan’s Power, Damage, and Health. After each stat has been maxed out The Spartan receives an upgrade in his armor and abilities. Ultimately your goal is to upgrade him until he reaches the “Legend” status, unleashing massive damage and racking up an insane amount of kills.
Spartan: Total Warrior also features unlockable content that must be earned by finding it in boxes scattered throughout different stages. Giving players a reason to go back and play some stages again just to earn some neat features that can be played in the arena mode. Speaking of which, the arena mode allows you to pick unlocked allies, items, and miscellaneous options before going at it with progressively harder opponents. You can also look at unlocked concept art that fanatics, or truly devoted gamers, might want to view.
Graphics
All right, to be flat-out honest the graphics for the characters aren’t too good. The character models don’t have high polygon counts. Except maybe the assassins, they are some of the better-looking characters, alongside Ares and the Hydra. A lot of the textures also look a bit smeared on some characters. There's also a great lack of lighting effects for many of the characters, except for when the Spartan becomes a “Hero” and puts on his shiny, reflective armor. This is entirely forgivable, though, due to the amount of characters that can fit onto the screen at once, without any slowdown...Let me repeat that: there’s a screen full of characters, without any slowdown or skips in the frame-rate.
The battle fields and environments are also amazing, with some nice reflections and sun-gleam effects. The view distance also stretches on with astonishing clarity. The most impressive spectacle, next to the destroyed Trojan Horse, would have to be the Colosseum’s entryway marble floor. The architectural splendor that went into the design was extravagantly showcased in the amphitheater’s detail. Although it wasn’t until 370 years later that the Colosseum was built by Vespasian, and finished by his son Titus in 80 AD. However, apart from the time-line error, Creative Assembly really seemed to go out of their way to capture the environmental detail with surrounding environments, fervently.
Audio
First off, my hat is up and off to Jeff Van Dyck. The soundtrack is a moody ensemble of: chamber instrumentals, heavy operatic vocals, instrumental pop-rock, hip hop, new age, and even some techno. Seriously Van Dyck did an amazing job for capturing the mood for some battle sequences. I only wish that my praise for the music were the same for the voice-acting.
As a gamer, I’ve heard some of the worst voice-acting in many different games. Yet no voice-acting is quite as disheartening as the voice-acting in Spartan: Total Warrior. Why Sega let them go ahead with the script and voice-actors that the developers chose? I have no idea. Sometimes, honestly, I was too embarrassed to laugh at some of the cheesy lines some characters tossed out there. The dialogue, though, isn’t quite as bad as some other games, but the intense music, action, and violence made it seem like Spartan: Total Warrior would’ve been given a more serious script for the voice-actors.
The ‘M’ rating is strictly for the blood, as there aren’t any bad words in this game that you wouldn’t hear on a TV ‘G’ show. The dialogue is extremely easy to follow, and resemble little or nothing of the dialect the Greeks were known for. Seriously, though, I’ll spare the voice-actors any more criticism by simply saying that no one could honestly praise this game for the goofy dialogue.
Missing features
Even though it caters towards a fictional, mythological side of ancient Greece, there are much more fascinating tales this game could have been based on. The journey of the ten-thousand Greeks, lead by Cyrus to Persia, and desperately back to Greece by Xenophanes, would’ve made for great gaming. The raging battles that took Alexander the Great nearly half-way around the world, would have made for massive entertainment values, as well. Maybe even the trials and persecutions that took place during the philosophical age would have given urgency, depth, and maybe even a moral dilemma to the story, although for gamers who would rather just slash away, the story elements might seem unimportant.
However, there’s an unforgivable flaw I must mention. Anyone who’s looked on the back of the box, or seen a preview of the game, might have noticed a key ingredient missing...Multiplayer features. With Xbox Live being the powerhouse, the driving force, the magnum-opus to the list of features for recent Xbox releases, why on Earth would there be no content, options, or multiplayer features present in the game? Honestly, if the game needed to be delayed an extra four months, five months, maybe even six months, just to include a workable, 16 or 32 player Live mode, then it would have been worth double its value. Even a two-player mode would have been nice.
Overall
But with those atrocities aside--and for what its worth--Spartan: Total Warrior is a super fun arcade-style, hack and slash, adventure, war game. Having experience with the Total War series seems to have given The Creative Assembly a good perspective on what makes the battles, and fighting, very engaging. The replay values are even fairly decent, with the unlockable content and arena mode, as it’ll take a bare minimum (if you avoid fighting whenever you can) of 8 hours, and a maximum of 15 hours, on the easy setting alone. That time will triple, and quadruple, on the medium and hard settings.
With the gimmicky dialogue aside, and the fictional story easily ignorable (unless you’re a history buff), Spartan: Total Warrior is a game definitely worth its price. For skeptical gamers, this is a must rent...for anyone who’s played, and liked, Dynasty Warriors or Ninja Gaiden, then this is probably a title that’s worth owning if you're still looking for a fun challenge.
| The Core Score |
Overall
7.8 |
| Fun |
|
8.9 |
| Gameplay |
|
7.2 |
| Graphics |
|
5.5 |
| Audio |
|
8.7 |
| Replay |
|
8.5 |
|
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