300: March To Glory (PSP)

Well i have to admit i was looking foreward to this game's release. Got it.. loaded it.. and realised it required ANOTHER update (thanks Sony). updated and started to play. And began asking myself why all the fuss??? The gameplay is slow, i found it bitty and not up to the normal standards of the newer PSP games. I also found it VERY repetetive and on some levels you are literally doing the same thing against a slightly different or even identical enemy. You cant engage more than one enemy at the same time, although they can gang up on you. and although the book and the film were amazing this game is a major let down really. However.... If you just want to tunr on your PSP and kill maim and slaughter this is for you, it is more true to the graphic novel than the film. You can earn upgrades to weapons, combos and a few other things, but you earn those points by killing the enemy, and you will do plenty of that.

I was dissapointed but its not the worst game by far that i have ever played. i would say yes try the game, but wait till the price drops first.

Frank Miller's 300 was one of the most exciting versions of the spartans final battles, the film was action packed and the novels were well crafted. But could a game be any good , will the battles at Thermopylae do themeselves proud on the PSP, It's certainlyy an interesting idea and with the God of war series picking up speed at the time, it's in a good place.
Atlhough generally games of movies are very poor and lead to shocking resluts that are luckily overlooked because it's just extra cash in the film makers pocket.

So incase you havn't seen the film, the game is set in 430 bc and the Spartan army of just 300 is setting out to war in Thermopylae against Xerxes and his massive persian army. Playing as their King, Leonidas, you must lead from the front in all battles upto a final stand in a narrow passage, along the way using spear , sheild and sword to defeat all comers.

The game is rather obviously of the hack n' slash variety, but with an RPG upgrade system supporting the storyline.
You know earlier when I mentioned movie games were poor, well I am afraid this is where the slating begins.

To begin with you fight in the Spartans famous Phalanx formation, but instead of 300 brave spartans you are given 2 or 3 rather timid men in capes. The rest hold tight in formation as the 2 or 3 timid men from the other army begin their charge into your spears with the rest discovering that in 430 bc , grass was not how we know it today, as then it had a super glue like covering which wouldn't let anyone who touched it move. I was expecting a fight of grand scale like the films but unfortunatley you could count the enemies on your hands and will soon be moving onto the next horde.
Then their are the archers , who must have been hit by the recession hard as they dont seem to have any arrows but enjoy going through the motions. Reminding me of the scene in hot fuzz where Nick Frost holds an imaginary gun out the door shouting "bang bang".
The upgrading system doesn't make your attacks any better , it just lowers the number of button presses to create an attack. A simple strike puts the top Tekken combo's to shame, but upgrading does let you use 2 weapons at once and later switch between a range of about 3 weapons.
The Phalanx was an intresting premise , but it feels too cheap when it's used as I know the Spartans aren't in any danger. I wanted nothing more than to break the shield wall as I was pretty sure I could have taken out the elephants on my own.
If you do manage to take some hits and lose health, It's quickly replenished by Leonidas's blood lust which is collected by killing enemies. This meant I always had a huge amount of health and throughout the whole game never got close to a hero's death.
The Spartan's were known for their comaradery and love for each other, this doesn't come through at all as the AI treats it like a walk in the sunshine on a beach. Throughout the game I dont think I saw them pitch in with any kills at all and this is bad for a game which is meant to be flowing with action and blood shed.

The game controls horribly, this is down to the number of button presses to create an attack and the slow moving of the Phalanx. Whilst in the Phalanx you have to do nothing more than press X to stab and the shoulder button to raise your sheild. The game is extremely easy to pick up and the controls are simple but they are just so horrible to use and are unresponsive.

The graphics are shocking, for the PSP you make some compensations but the rushed design would make a PS1 game look HD. The characters are unregognisable and the level structure looks very linear, with the whole thing being made out of whatever colours were in the designers crayon set.
A positive is the cut-scenes which have the same style as the graphic novel , these look brilliant and I began to wonder wether I was playing through the levels just because I really wanted to watch the cut-scene.

The voice acting and soundtrack are also small saving graces, but this is because it's all ripped straight from the film. The game tries to build atmosphere with these 2 elements but without the support of the actual gameplay it's like selling a dead horse.

you have to wonder who they are kidding, this is a bad game and should be used as a lesson in not what to do.

This is a present for my Granson and I am sure he will have great fun, and the delivery was very good.