Not so Spartan game

Spartan Total Warrior
PS2


The game:
Set during the savage conflict between the Spartans and the Romans you are a nameless Spartan engaged by the God Of War, Ares, to carry out his vengeance whilst fulfilling your destiny as the saviour of Sparta.

Historically inaccurate, but you will kill loads of enemies using cool weapons.

The play:
The further you progress in the game the more skilled a warrior you will become including the ability to kill multiple enemies with rapid succesive attacks. Fill your rage meter and your power meter and no-one is safe – hack and slash as much as you like for you can’t kill your friends (I tried) and it attracts more enemies!

The game itself has three main levels with plenty of sub levels and includes small challenges along the way to relieve the monotony of slashing Sparta to freedom. Your enemies change along with the levels from Romans to Barbarians and then finally the undead – remember historically inaccurate.

The boss level fights provide a decent challenge but along the way be careful as the autosave function could leave you in an area with poor health and lots of baddies.

The terrain:
The graphics aren’t bad considering the numbers of characters on screen at one time and the cut-scenes are quite good. The surrounding terrain isn’t particularly overwhelming but that’s not what you play the game for now is it? The battle sounds are good and regarding the soundtrack – turn it down and the sound effects up and that way you can enjoy the slashing more. Almost ridiculous is the occasional Ares chiming in with his “what a rush” chant!


The experience:
A good fun game with plenty of opportunities to vent your ancient frustrations against the empire.

– SQNLDR Nick Hogan

Sam gets serious

Unrealistic: endless rounds

Serious Sam II
XBox



The game:
“Serious” Sam Stone has been summoned to rid the universe of Mental and his nefarious forces. A very loose plot, but essentially you’ll need to run from point to point around 20 levels while gunning down hundreds.

The play:
There is nothing serious about this game, it’s a straight forward first person shooter. The guns are unrealistic, the shotgun is accurate at long ranges, and you’ll never have to reload due to the abnormally large magazines.

There are plenty of weapons that are simple to use, and plenty of baddies to try each gun out on – but you won’t be seriously challenged at any stage. Sam is a reasonably humourous fella and I did laugh out loud a few times at his wisecracks but he does recycle his material later in the levels.

The terrain:
Enemy behavior is generally unchanging throughout the levels and while the environments/levels change, the lack of quality AI lets the challenge factor drop low.

– SQNLDR Nick Hogan

Competition

For your chance to win a copy of Spartan – Total Warrior or Serious Sam II, email: adfgamesmen@telstra.com with the game name in the subject line. Include your name and work address.