Hero of Sparta Review

The iPhone’s God of War!

by Shadow Wave:

©2008 Ben Cadwallader:

Gameloft’s latest iPhone title:  Hero of Sparta has been inspired from Sony’s God of War series, this game delivers everything that you love about God of War in the palm of your hand on your iPhone.  This amazing game is the first to truly prove that the iPhone is a serious competitor in the portable gaming market.

You play as King Argos who has been shipwrecked on a beach, but before he leaves, he must complete a task for a God on the Island and receive his reward.  Argos must battle through many levels, slaughtering countless beasts straight from Greek mythology on his epic journey.

The game play of Hero of Sparta is simple and addictive; you have a few buttons that operate through the touch screen, attack, block and a virtual joystick – which is exactly what the iPhone needed. It’s all very easy to use and controls very well.

QuickTime events are also present in order to kill bosses or larger enemies; you perform a much more graphic attack sequence against one enemy by pressing specific areas on the touch screen as they appear to perform the killer blow.

• Hero of Sparta Review for iPhone

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Accompanying these QuickTime events, are the various special moves that use a blue magic meter and a slide of your finger to perform. Each weapon has its own different special attack which can cause devastating damage and can get you out of many tough situations or solve puzzles.

As you kill enemies you collect orbs. Most of which give you a form of currency whereby you can then upgrade weapons that you collect throughout the game.  You generally collect a new weapon or armour piece during each level which encourages you to keep playing as its very addictive.

The game lasts a full 5 – 7 hours to complete, which to me, shows it’s a proper game, not just a cheap quick puzzle game. Hero of Sparta also uses regular checkpoints which save where you are up to and ensures you don’t wipe your progress if you hit the home button, so even though this game is a long one, playing for short periods of time is not an issue.

The graphics are spectacular; they are very sharp and crisp. Cut scenes or quick time events show your character performing amazing manoeuvres as he battles enemies, which are just as epic as some of the memorable God of War fight scenes.

Unfortunately the game can slow down just a little, where the frame rate will drop just a bit under its usual solid speed, it’s nothing serious but it can be a little annoying. Perhaps the latest Ipod Touches won’t have this issue due to having a faster processor.

Sadly, like all iPhone games, this one does not rival the graphical qualities that the PSP can produce. However they are getting very close, and it shows the iPhone is making stronger attempts with each game to come as close as possible to the PSP standard.

Sound quality is quite diverse and generally enjoyable, there is a full soundtrack for each level, and general sound effects are great, even if you are playing through the loudspeaker and not headphones.

Overall, Hero of Sparta will be the game that you use to show off your iPhone or iPod Touch.  The quality of this game can’t be matched by many other iPhone games and the lengthy action game, will always gives you something exciting do when you have a spare moment.

Hero of Sparta is the definitive game to prove that the iPhone is a serious competitor in the hand-held gaming market, and that Nintendo and Sony better watch out, as Apple might just start to win this battle thanks to its much cheaper priced games and other applications!

Hero of Sparta is priced at $12.99 AUD

“9/10

©2008 Ben Cadwallader:

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