With popular movies, and sometimes unpopular ones, it seems that videogame ties are almost necessities. Not all movies get videogames to go along with them, since a Hitch game would be the laughing stock of the world. Sometimes though movies are perfectly suited for a videogame, and those generally fall into the realm of action movies. With 300 being an action movie it would be pretty easy to put in a game together. All they either need to do is have a side scrolling adventure like the Last Action Hero, or they could also go the root of a hack and slash game. Luckily they have done the latter, but obviously that does not automatically give it a passing grade. I will also be upfront in saying that I also do not like button mashers since they are too easy, and this game falls into that category.
Getting back to the game, for those who do not know about 300 it was originally a comic book created by Frank Miller, which eventually was made into a movie. Of course it was an easy choice after the success of the movie Sin City, which was also another one of his creations. 300 deals with 300 Spartans that battle against a million Persians after an issue that the Spartans have. I will not tell you the problem that they have since you may be planning to watch the movie and do not wish for it to be spoiled. In any event these 300 Spartans now must go into battle against an insurmountable beast.
The combat system is extremely simple, where anyone can pick up and play. Your square button will operate a heavy attack, the X button will unleash a quick attack, and the circle button will have you attack with your shield. You can mix and match these attacks to get a mini-combo, but your best bet is generally to button mash the square button. You have access to three different types of weapons, the sword, the spear, and the double swords. Early on you only have the option of using the sword and spear, though later on you unlock the double swords. Swords are generally stronger than spears, though they lack range. The spear can be thrown at an enemy, where you will need to pick up a new one. The spear is also the weapon that must be used to break enemy shields, which becomes very important early on in the game.
Characters will also have a shield that is either used as an additional attack button, though it can also be used to block general attacks. The shield is very important since you will need to use it to block randomly falling arrows in the sky. You can tell when these arrows are going to fall when they blot out the sun, and thus it gets dark. If you do not block these falling arrows generally you die, which can have you kicking yourself. Amusingly enough you may also throw your shield at enemies, but be sure to pick it up fairly promptly less ye be struck down by death from above.
In combination with general attacks there are also power moves that you can unleash. After you normally attack enemies with your weapons you will build up a wrath meter. All of your special attacks drain this meter, but they will also be much powerful than other attacks. Some of the attacks also must be used to defeat enemies, which can be a bit of a pain at times if you run out of juice. These attacks may drain only part of your wrath bar, or the entire thing, depending on the level. The ones that drain the full meter also affect how your character interacts with the world.
These main wrath attacks are also known as battle skills. The first battle skill is called Fortitude, and it will refill your health. The second battle skill is Blood Drunk, which turns the screen red and allows your character to deal extra damage in battle. The third battle skill is called Defense, which simply automatically defends your character from all attacks so long as you have a shield. You will also be able to refill your health with each successful attack, which can make the skill quite useful. Finally there is the Eye of the Warlord, which slows down all of the other characters on the screen, making it much easier for you to kill them.
Another battle mode, which changes depending on what part of the story you are on, has you joining up with your brethren in a Phalanx. Here you and several other Spartans will go shoulder-to-shoulder, and shield-to-shield, where they will advance with spears in hand. The goal here is to advance down a narrow pathway, all the way to the end, and defeat enemies along the way. You also must be weary of falling arrows as well, but also enemies that advance to the point of pushing you back. If they begin to push you, you must push them off and then attack them. Oddly enough they can push you backwards while arrows are falling from the sky, which causes a massive amount of damage to your team (even if you are blocking with your shields).
When you defeat an enemy you will get Kleos, which may be used in a store to buy upgrades. These upgrades are used to power-up your swords, shields, spears and armour, but you may also pick up additional combos to make your life even easier. You do not need to buy these upgrades, since the game is very easy, but if you are finding it challenging... Why not? Sadly with the weapon and armour upgrades, you need to follow a specific weapons path, upgrading over each and every one of the weapons until you reach the top. This can be a bit painful, since it would be a lot better if you could just save up for the best and buy it.
Graphically the game looks only decent. The backgrounds are far from detailed, and at times it looks like it could have been on the DS. There are splatters of blood from defeated enemies, and the occasional decapitation or severed limb, which is nice to see. The game runs quite slowly though, which makes it fairly painful to play. There are cut scenes that are all comic artwork and while they looks fairly nice I long for more. The sound is also fairly bland where the background music repeats itself. The voice acting is also clumped in with narration, which is long over before the words that are still depicted on the screen change. I feel in this area as well the game as failed to make its mark.
In the end, there are plenty of things wrong with the game. The graphics are poor for a PSP, even to the point of looking like it could be on the DS. The action is fairly lame, and some people will be unable to get any entertainment from it. I hated the store system where I needed to go up with each level of the weapon types. Now most people hate videogame tie ins in general, and for the most part I agree. This game shows that they are generally handled fairly poorly, which is sad since the game could have been a lot more. Unless you love the movie, the comic books, and want the full collection, you can probably just skip this game. Wrapping up Captain Gordon gives 300 a C-.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions? CaptainGordonEdward@Gmail.com
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