Games

Spartan: Total Warrior

Formats: PS2, Xbox
Publisher: Sega
Price: £29.99
Buy it now on Amazon.co.uk

The Total War series of real-time PC strategy games have justifiably been showered with plaudits for their scale, scope and historical depth. Putting you in command of huge armies during some of history's greatest conflicts - from ancient Rome through to the middle ages, via feudal Japan, they're well worth seeking out.

Total Warrior is, in theory, the same franchise seen from the opposite end. Rather than being a great general, overseeing the whole battlefield, you are now a lone heroic warrior, thrown into the thick of those epic clashes with only you swordsmanship and courage to keep you alive.

This time the setting is Greece, in a move quite clearly inspired by the movie Troy, and your hero is a bronzed and (for some reason) dreadlocked Spartan soldier under the command of the king. As Romans lay siege to your home, you have to follow orders and repel the invaders, all while slaughtering hundreds of enemies.

Total Warrior succeeds in reproducing the eye-popping scale of its parent franchise, as dozens of intelligent enemy and allied soldiers battle all around you. There's no denying that the feeling of being in the middle of huge scale carnage is powerfully conveyed.

Where it diverges from Total War is in the adherence to historical accuracy and subtlety. This is a fighting game, pure and simple, and the control system is set up to allow the maximum amount of blood-letting in direct correlation to your button mashing. There are two sorts of move - normal attacks and radial attacks. One lays into a single enemy in front of you, the other takes out everyone around you in a violent sweeping movement.

You soon learn that the best way to stay alive and meet objectives is to simply charge into the middle of the action, and lash out at everyone in striking distance. The results are spectacular (and rather cathartic) but hardly taxing on the old grey matter.

As for historical accuracy...well, you can forgive small gaming conceits such as praying at altars to refill your health, but the presence of gigantic mechanical enemies and what appear to be automatic gun turrets go against the grain of recorded fact by just a tad.

But this isn't a game for scholars or chin-strokers. It's a game for red-blooded warriors, and as far as satisfying your hunger for relentless action, Total Warrior certainly hits the spot.

The only major criticisms would be a rather ferocious difficulty level which can make the game feel a mite unfair in the early stages, and an awkward camera that sometimes leaves you clueless as to the dangers nearby.

All things considered, Spartan: Total Warrior is big dumb fun that maybe could have been a little bit more refined.