The Creative Assembly has made quite a name for itself with its Total War line of strategy games, which have been lauded for mixing heady gameplay with epic battles for an excellent PC gaming experience. For its foray onto consoles, the developer is eschewing its bread and butter in favor of a more action-oriented style in Spartan: Total Warrior. The results might look like another Dynasty Warriors rip off, but we've found it has more in common with The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. While it’s nice to see The Creative Assembly jump into the console world, we aren’t overly impressed with the results.

The Lone Spartan

You play the part of a nameless Spartan that answers to the name...Spartan. Yeah, it doesn’t make much sense, but it helps make the lead character transparent so you can imagine yourself in his sandals. The Romans have been invading Greece (in an effort to steal their gods and give them Roman names) and Sparta is the last city standing. It’s up to you and your companions to defend Sparta, find a means to repel the Romans, and leave as many bodies as possible in your wake. Thankfully, this Spartan has some friends in high places. The legendary Castor and Pollux are by his side, while Ares gives hints throughout the game.

The Spartan is an able warrior with a bevy of attacks in his arsenal. He can attack single and multiple enemies with whatever weapons he’s holding and he can do the same with a shield when he’s wielding one. He’s also an excellent marksman, with the ability to fire arrows at single and multiple targets. Lastly, he can kill a downed enemy with one well-placed strike. Most of his attacks can be modified with the shoulder buttons. When the battles are at their fiercest, he can invoke god attacks, which can turn the tide of a battle in a jiffy. As expected, the Spartan gains more powerful weapons as the game goes on.

Now, the problem with the battle system is that there isn’t much to it. The Creative Assembly made an effort to ensure that Spartan: Total Warrior is more than a button masher, but it fell short. You can get through most of the game with button mashing; basically, you only need to be mindful of your attacks during boss fights. The battle system reminded us of the one in The Return of the King, with one chief difference: combinations. While neither game has a complex fighting system, Spartan’s seems banal after an hour or so and would have been greatly helped by having an extensive combo list.

More Like Partial Warrior

Each level is divided into a few objectives. Like the battle system, the level structure is also similar to the one in The Return of the King. There are portions where you’ll have to slaughter enemies, there are sections where you’ll have to protect structures, and there are areas where you’ll have to topple several units (archer towers, caves, etc.) by activating a specific mechanism. There’s nothing new here, but the levels are presented in a way that really adds to the excitement.

The most visually striking thing about the game is the sheer number of characters. Whether it’s Romans or barbarians, there are often dozens and dozens of enemies onscreen at once. At a glance, the game looks pretty awesome and quite epic, but if you look closer you’ll find lots of chinks in the armor. The character models are pretty ugly. While there had to be some concessions for getting that many characters onscreen, the sacrifice might not have been worth it. Many enemies have arms that resemble planks of wood rather than natural appendages. The textures are uneven too, with some detailed areas and some rather nasty looking ones.

Yet another uneven aspect of the game is its voice acting. The acting itself is good and the talent did a good job of delivering their lines. That said, whoever was in charge of casting talent should get a broadsword to the head. The accents are all over the place. We didn’t expect proper Greek and Roman accents, but consistency would have been better than the mélange of inflections found in this game. American accents, British accents, Eastern European accents, and Brooklyn accents (think New York City cab driver) can be found in this game. The confusing use of dialects takes away from the quality acting.

Nice Try, But...

While we commend The Creative Assembly for trying something different than its norm, we aren’t thrilled with Spartan: Total Warrior. While the production values are pretty good, the gameplay is pretty shallow. If you’re into action games, this is worth playing once. If action normally isn’t your thing and you’re looking to swing swords against dozens of enemies then The Return of the King is a better choice.