Spawn: Armageddon

"Great game, but no replay."

Spawn, famous comic book hero of the 90's. Created by Todd McFarlane, made famous with Spider-man. Spawn started his comic book life in 1992. Spawn became one of the most (if not THE most) best selling independent comic books of all time.

Story - Sad to say, I've never actually read a Spawn comic in my life. But that'll change as soon as I get enough money to buy the Graphic Novel. Anyway, because I haven't read a Spawn comic book, I can't say how accurate the story of the game is to the story of the comics. But to my understanding its fairly accurate at the least, with such things as Violator calling our hero, ''Spawny.''

So, one day Spawn is doing his Spawn thing, jumping from building to building, when a large beam of light strikes the city. So, Spawn...''kind of'' goes to investigate. All honesty, Spawn doesn't seem to really care at first. Which makes him a good anti-hero. To tell you more would spoil the very straight forward plot. There aren't any real plot twists, or anything, but still.

Graphics - The game supports Progressive Scan so you lucky people with HDTVs and the digital out cables for the GCN have something to look forward too.

The game opens with a beautiful FMV explaining a bit of Spawn's past. But once in game the graphics aren't as impressive. But considering it is a multi console release title, its quite good.

The characters are high in polygons, but aside from Spawn, some of the textures are very lacking. Like the textures on Violator are kind of...ugly. But honestly, I can live with that. They won't take away from the game, but it just looks like they could have been done better.

Spawn himself is very well done, I just wish I could run around with his big ass cape following him. But the added detail of watching blood from his enemies drip off the ax is a pretty cool little detail. His animation is a very solid. Never looking out of place, and that's true for all the characters as well.

The environments while a bit blan, are still pretty good. If you take the time to look around, you'll see its pretty detailed in some areas. The textures could use a little work, a few more polygons, and most areas don't scream with excitement, but I'm still pretty impressed with them. They fit the Spawn atmosphere, of a dreary city, pretty well, or a futuristic angel base, or the fire heart of hell.

The graphics will not blow you away. They're above average, so honestly, I think they could have done a bit more.

Sound - The game supports Dolby Prologic II. Which is great news if you have the technology. I'm actually surprised they bothered with it, considering this isn't the most hyped title around, and that this is a multi console release.

The voice acting is top notch. All the voices fit the characters...some better then others. But I'm still very impressed by it. But once again, I've never read a Spawn comic, so haven't imagined there voices either, so maybe I'm completely wrong, and the voices don't fit their characters.

The sound effects, do their job, and do them well. From the distance sound of your bullets bouncing off armored foes, to let you know your attacks aren't working, to the sounds of Spawn swinging his ax. All fit, and do their job well.

The music works wonderfully. When an enemy is around a fast pulse pounding beat is added to the background music. So even if you can't see your enemy you know to be on your guard. While none of the music are the most memorable tunes I've heard, they work well, and help to add some degree of atmosphere to the game.

Gameplay - Its a hack n' slash. They try and throw in some strategy, and reward you for doing so with technique points. You have your big ax for melee combat. Guns and Spawn's classic chains, for projectile weapons. And Necroplam, which is like magic, able to slow enemies, give Spawn, added defense, and use for range combat.

Some of the problems with combat are the enemies. Its hard to manage fighting multiple enemies at once. If you focus on one, you'll get stabbed in the back by another. If you start a combo with your ax, you'll get stuck fighting only one enemy. If you lock on to an enemy, you'll get stuck on that one enemy. They set the game up for one on one combat beautifully...too bad the game is about fighting multiple enemies at once. It takes a little doing, but once you figure out enemy weaknesses, the enemies don't feel as cheap...but they will still feel pretty cheap at times.

The bosses are where the real fun happens. Its all about watching for patterns. The bosses will do something to signal they will do an attack, you figure out how to dodge that attack, and the bosses become a cake walk. Bosses don't feel as cheap as the horrid of enemies that won't let up, which is why I enjoy the boss fights the most.

The game also has some platforming, not very much, and not very challenging, but its still pretty fun. Spawn can double jump, and open his cape to slowly glide down to safety. Most of the major platforming will happen in the first few levels.

Challenge - For a hardcore gamer, who likes to be challenged in his games, and master them, Spawn will deliver. And for someone just wanting to beat the game, the game will deliver. On easy, the game isn't insultingly easy, but is still easy enough for most people, who don't want to take the time to watch for enemy patterns, so they can beat the game. On the other hand, a seasoned gamer, that wants to test his talents, the game comes in 2 more difficulties. A nice rounding of easy and hard, I say.

And as for puzzles. They're all pretty straight forward, until the end. Where they start getting good and complex. Some people might find it tedious, but I found it to be challenging and fun.

Length and replayability - If you're just looking to beat the game, its going to take about 4 hours to just beat it. So if you're looking for a game to just play through once, this game is probably just a rent for you. But for people who are big Spawn fans, there are a lot of things to unlock, like the covers from the comic books, and concept art. But the concept art kind of sucks and isn't really worth it.

But sadly, unless you really want to test yourself on the harder difficulties, there really isn't much else other then unlocking comic book covers and concept art. Which makes me sad. Well, you could try to go for maxxing out the weapons, but they don't seem to be able to move over to other difficulties, which would have made me want to play on the higher difficulties more.

Over all- Spawn is a good game. If you are a big Spawn fan, I'd say buy it. Its a very good franchise title. If you're a gamer that's looking for a challenge, buy it. To truly master this game, will take a long time. If you're looking for a game to waste your weekend on, rent it. And...really...you should just rent it anyway, or buy it used. Its fun, but with the lack of replayability, it kind of hurts its chances of getting a lot of play time after you beat it once.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/24/03