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By Mark Digiovanni on March 14th, 2006
Developers The Creative Assembly, the team behind the Total War series of strategy games, have quite the reputation in the world of PC gaming. 2004’s Rome: Total War was met with high acclaim and made its way onto many best-of lists at the end of the year, but the developers have never strayed from PC gaming. Spartan: Total Warrior marks the team’s first foray into console gaming and swaps strategy affairs for a more action-driven experience. One of the first things you’ll notice about the game is the high quality of presentation and production values. The game boasts an impressive soundtrack that serves to intensify the action sequences and also gives the game a cinematic feel. Set during the days of Ancient Greece, you play the role of a lone Spartan that is guided by Ares in the battle against the Roman Empire. The game captures the mythology well and knows how to deliver the battles on an epic scale.
"The amount of characters on-screen can be astounding"
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The game’s first chapter throws you right into the thick of the battle. The screen is often littered with a swarm of enemies, which brings forth one of Spartan’s best elements. The amount of characters on-screen can be astounding, especially since the game maintains a smooth frame rate throughout and never suffers from slowdown. This makes the action fast, intense and very fun. The controls are responsive to your attacks as you wade through the enemy forces with blood and limbs flailing everywhere. It goes without saying that Spartan: Total Warrior deserves the Mature rating attached to it. Technically, the game’s graphics probably won’t make your jaw drop but they certainly aren’t hard on the eyes either. Your journey as the Spartan warrior will take you across diverse fields of battle, such as large, populated cities, creepy underground dungeons or the world famous Coliseum in Rome, where the latter plays host to some classic gladiatorial combat. These locales, though nice, aren’t stunningly detailed due to the fact that there are usually over a hundred characters on screen. Navigation through the many stages is often simple and smooth due to a lack of insistent loading times.
"These locales, though nice, aren’t stunningly detailed..."
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The audio in the game is pretty close in quality when in comparison to the graphics. As I mentioned earlier, the soundtrack is often the best part of the game as it adds a considerable amount of cinematic flair to the grand battles, while also showing restraint in the more ambient enclosures. There is plenty of voice acting to carry the narrative through the cinematics and it is fairly tolerable. There are some moments in the voice acting that sound flat-out embarrassing, but one could argue that it is only because the character models lack the emotion to properly portray the voice-overs. As you progress through the game you’re met with a variety of objectives that, for the most part, keep the gameplay fresh. Some aren’t always as enjoyable as others, though, most notably the escort mission in which you must protect Archimedes. This objective is downright frustrating and goes to show that escort missions are usually the worst part of a video game. After several attempts at this mission, I was ready to shut the game off for good. It really has unforgivably poor level design and it’s also enough to completely kill the mood of the game. I give credit to the developers for trying to do something a little different in each chapter because this game could’ve very well been a simple button-masher, but players beware: this escort mission is enough to make you throw in the towel.
"...unforgivably poor level design..."
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Combat may have been more fun had there been more ways to approach it. The combo system is generally limited, although there are "God powers" imbued into each weapon you handle that will either instantly kill a single enemy or clear the area surrounding you. My favorite moments were during the chaotic, hundred-men battles, especially after acquiring two swords. I barely used the rest of the weapons I collected in the game, so I felt there wasn’t much value as the game went on. I didn’t have much desire to play through the game again as there are barely any unlockables. Seemingly, the only replay value is in the survival-like game mode. Nevertheless, Spartan: Total Warrior is ultimately an accomplished action game that fans of God of War, Dynasty Warriors and EA’s The Lord of the Rings console games will enjoy. | 
