Spartan: Total Warrior Xbox
User Score
9.0 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 10 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10

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  1. RoyG.
    May 24, 2006
    9
    Best hack 'n slash game I've played to date on the xbox. Really absorbs you and the time just flies when yuo play it.
  2. Rick
    Feb 10, 2006
    8
    I think my score of 8 is reflective of the fact that hack n slash games are pretty mindless. Having said that this is the best one Ive played and I really enjoyed it which suprised me. Its just so easy to play and the Boss Battles required some pattern detecting to beat which made for an enjoyable game. Probably a hire only but there is some replay value as really getting 100% shouldnt be too frustrating second time around. Its not a fave but what it did it did well and the time past easily as there was some variety in missions. Became easy once I figured most times you could wait for an attack from anyone of the 100 or so assailants then counter with the sweep attack.… Expand
  3. RazorA.
    Feb 6, 2006
    10
    This game was exactly what i was looking for. A full war game. not guns. swords. awsome gore and blood. this game is amazing.
  4. ROMEROME
    Dec 24, 2005
    10
    Best Of The Total War Series and I have got/played them all!!
  5. JaredH.
    Nov 7, 2005
    10
    This is one of the best medieval fantasy games with non-based turns I have ever played. I played Creative Assembly's Medieval Total War game and i thought that was good, but this is even better.
  6. FPSMaster
    Nov 4, 2005
    6
    Long read but needs to be said: Compared to other games, the voice acting is campy and sounds like it's being read straight off a script by someone who is trying to make thier voice sound cooler. It's like they're trying to sound like your character from God of War and they fail miserably. The voice acting is on par with the Kingdown Under Fire games on Xbox, and anyone that's played those knows how terrible it is making even the RE games look like they have good voice acting. The fact that the game is broken into these little missions makes your time with the game feel pointless. It has absolutely no continuity like God of War did. You know why your doing each mission because they tell you why, and you do start in one place with the hopes of making it to another to stop the enemies from taking over your city, but they still feel disjointed because of the pre-mission screens. It doesn't feel like one continous story. It's like the Blinx of hack-n-slash games. If you played the first Blinx you know exactly what I'm talking about here when it comes to disjointed missions that seem to have nothing to do with the last one. The lock on and aiming are terrible making it impossible to aim at what you want sometimes but instead at some enemy somehwere you can't see yet(like the bow and arrow) and every character in the game uses the same stiff animations making everything look like some cheap board game. Luckily, there is no friendly damage, so that's a good thing or you'd be killing friendlies more than the enemy because of the terribly aiming and lock on and also because the friendlies(and enemies) are completely terrible when it comes to any sort of decent A.I. The camera is pretty aweful too. It will not center behind you during these intense fights. You have to constantly do it yourself. Remember Ninja Gaiden's camera? It's worse. You can pull it back pretty far though, which kinda makes up for the fact that it always seems to be turned the wrong way. At least like this you can pull it back far enough to see what's in front of you now. But shouldn't you always be able to see what's 3 feet in front of you if your character is facing that way? I guess not as you will be facing one way and the camera is facing behind you on a regular basis. The missions themselves are OK, if not a little repetitive ad meaningless. Escort, protect, hack-n-slash and pull the lever. Thats' pretty much it other than a different one here and there like shooting a catapult or something equally stale. The missions where it tells you to do 2 things at once that are in 2 completley different spots on the map are just ridiculous. It's like they knew the game could be completed in one day so they added some reptitive B.S. like having to pull the same lever over and over in between protecting the King on 2 different parts of the map to make the game seem to last longer. I saw through it during the first mission though after the devs did this at least 4 different times. The objectives went from making me think "cool, I get to hack the Hell out of hundreds more enemies" to "not again, this is just cheap backtracking for extra playtime". It does have its bright spots, like the graphics, smooth framerates even with over 100 characters on screen and body parts flying everywhere. But your character just feels too stiff and unimagitive and the whole game comes off as a cross between ripping off God of War and Rome: Total War. The problem is, the story it tries to use is already written down in history and they still couldn't get it right. If your character is a nobody at the beginning, why can he do so much stuff the other characters can't? For fun, obviously, but at the same time they're trying to retell a story that supposedly really happened so this character was the wrong choice. It needed more of a conrete bad*** like in God of War. You knew he could kick *** from the beginning and you also knew why. But not here. He just magically goes from a nobody to a "god of war" after the first loading screen. Lame. On PS2, stick with God of War. On Xbox, it's the closest thing to God of War but don't make the mistake of thinking this is all GOW offered on PS2 though. This is but a shadow of the real thing. It only came close with the number of enemies on screen and the body parts and the rip off of the orbs flying around you have to collect for power. Other than that, it's no more than the tired Dyansty Warriors series in a different setting IMHO. I compared this game to GOW because it's so obvious they were trying to rip it off.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 36 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 36
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 36
  3. Negative: 1 out of 36
  1. AceGamez
    80
    The combat is satisfying, the setting is grand and the amount of troops on screen is amazing - this is war on a scale rarely seen in games and it puts the likes of "Dynasty Warriors" to shame for its combination of sheer numbers and exceptional graphics, with an outstanding soundtrack that completes the atmosphere of this historical adventure.
  2. Edge Magazine
    70
    It only betrays itself completely once – in a dismally conventional boss battle around halfway through – though at times Spartan threatens to become routine, it never does, thanks to its strong character, handsome looks and sheer, irrepressible verve. [Nov 2005, p.96]
  3. Gamestyle
    70
    If you want a game that lets you partake in massive battles - with little degree of difficulty - then you'll enjoy Spartan's quest to rid the world of the evil Romans.
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