“He’s back and ready to go all necroplasm on your ass…”
It’s Spawn! He came back to chew bubble gum an kick ass, and he just ran out of bubble gum.
Yes, it’s a new Spawn game. Made by Namco (Who also put Spawn in the Xbox Soul Calibur 2.) My guess is that Namco and Todd decide to make this just because of the whole putting Spawn in SCII.
Now I’ve played a few Spawn games in my time and I must say… some were bad… well… some just plain sucked. This game however, has changed that.
GAMEPLAY: 7/10
Spawn comes back equipped with this Axe (called Agony), this kick ass chains, some guns (pistols, shotguns, SMGs, miniguns, etc.), and he is ready to kick ass. The idea of this game is to go from room to room, beating the hoards of baddies inside. After that you either go to the next room, break a control box, solve a puzzle, etc.
Pretty simple, eh? After passing a few levels, you face off with a classic Spawn villain (Like Violator). To defeat the bosses you must follow 2 steps:
-A. Avoid the boss’s attack
-B. Attack
Sadly, going from room to room killing enemies can grow a tad repetitive.
STORY: 6/10
Typical Spawn story. Spawn is tying to get revenge on Malebolgia, one of the many demon lords of Hell, for turning him, Al Simmons, into the beast you know now as Spawn… and taking his beloved away from him.
GRAPHICS: 5/10
This is one of the bad parts of Spawn. Most of the characters look very blocky. On top of that, when people talk, there mouths dont move! Not to big of a deal but it would have been nice if they moved their lips. Spawn is pretty much the only decent looking character model in the game. Some of the other monsters and bosses look good too, but nothing special.
SOUND: 7/10
The music in the background fits well for the Spawn universe. Very dark and grim music complete with a catchy battle theme. Sadly, Keith David (The guy who did Spawn’s voice in the animated series) isn’t doing the voice of Spawn. However, his replacement does a excellent job at Spawn’s voice. In fact, it’s hard to tell the difference. However, the other characters VA’s are fairly average.
From the sounds of bullets spraying, to the sound of roaring demons, to the sound squishing a imp beneath your axe, the sound effects are like music to my ears. And there’s nothing like Spawn spouting out a few nasty phrases to mock his demon foes. And for you sound whores out there, the game also supports <i>“Dolby surround Pro logic II “</i>.
REPLAY VALUE: 6/10
Even after you beat the game, there are 99 comic book covers scattered through out the levels. Each difficulty contains different covers, so you can’t get them all in one try. Although there are 99 of that, you may not be obligated to go through the game another time.
PLAY TIME: 7/10
The game contains 3 different difficulties.
Easy is…well…easy. Good for beginners, people who aren’t too skilled…and people who suck. jk.
Medium, as it’s name suggests, is harder then easy, but easier then hard. Good for those who know the basics and want a bigger challenge then easy.
Hard is the hardest difficulty. Even though it says hard, the game still doesn’t provide that big of a challenge (especially compared to ‘‘Dante Must Die’’ in DMC1)
The game doesn’t take to long to complete, although the cheap bosses may take a few tries to beat. I’d say it’s beatable in a rental. Sadly they didn’t include some sort of Multiplayer to extend comic to collect, it shouldn’t take too long to get them all. On top the replay value. The game may take a while for you to beat with the extreamly cheap bosses (like that damned Cy-Gor!), which can cause you to become very irritated and want to snap the disc in half (I almost did, but then relized it was a rental)
FINAL THOUGHTS:
While not a AAA game like Prince of Persia, Beyond Good and Evil, and the likes, this game can be enjoyable to the diehard Spawn fans. For the others? Well, you’ll probably have more fun sticking sporks up your nose. It’s worth a rental to most.
FINAL SCORE: 6/10