Real and Turn Based strategy games are part of the backbone of PC gaming. At this time no gaming console can even come close to perfecting the formula contained in these games. Many developers have tried, but without the use of a keyboard and a mouse, the games always come up lacking. This is all due to the tediousness of using the controller with its limited buttons. Since there is a flood of PC Turn based strategy games, developers are always thinking of ways to put new spins on the genre, and making their game stand out above the rest.

The latest game by Graphsim Entertainment puts players in command of the fierce Spartan Army. At the time the Spartans where known for their fierce training regiment and their viciousness in battle. The amazing thing is that even though this army was well disciplined, but they could take on armies three times the size of them, and seriously stall the army, or even defeat them. This is as good of a time period to develop a game where strategy and brawn were extremely crucial in battle.

It has been over two thousand years since Sparta was the world’s best place for military power. The most renowned moment in history came in 480 B.C., when King Leonidas, took a handful of Spartan soldiers, and stalled the Persian Army (the most powerful army of the world at that time) from attacking Greece. Even though they died in the process, this was a huge accomplishment, and a big moral booster for the entire Nation. While playing Spartan, gamers will be able to experience some of the greatest moments in Spartan history, and see if they can do better than the Spartans did.

When you start playing the game for the first time, you have the option to run through the three very detailed tutorial missions. Playing through these will help players come to grips with the game very quickly, and when you play the first mission all by yourself, you will have the confidence that you know you can decimate the enemies.

The main thing that this game has going for it is its attention to detail. Throughout the course of the game, players will see over sixty different troop types, over one hundred nations, and different ethnic groups that each have their own strengths and weaknesses. The game’s battle engine will compensate for all of these when you are in conflict. If you have two opposing armies with the exact same troops, but the nations are different, the battle could go either way depending on the cultural and national differences. This is nice to see, because in real life, battles sometimes are won by the way the army as a whole thinks, due to their upbringing, so this game provides a little more realism.

While Turn Based Strategy games don’t have the best graphics around, the games usually look pretty and try their best to stay up to date, but this game makes you feel like you are looking at something made several years ago. Everything about this game just looks really old in some form or fashion. The semi-real-time battles are all done in 3D (if you have the graphics card, which if you are a PC game you will MORE than meet the minimum requirements) and it is almost laughable.  The environments are nice to look at, but still other games really outshine this one.

The sound in this game is also very sub par. The musical score heard throughout the game is decent, but it is really repetitive, and will get on your nerves after a short time. The sound effects used in this game are about as generic as they come. There is nothing that you will hear in these games, which makes it stand above the crowd, in comparison to the other games released on the market at this time.

There are two various system requirements for this game, since players can play it in 2 or 3D battles. (The italicized font means the minimum requirements for 2D)

Pentium III or better Processor (233 MHz or better)
128 MB of RAM
Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
4X CD-Rom
Direct X compliant video card with 16 MB of VRAM (4MB of VRAM)
Direct X compatible soundcard
500 GB of Hard Drive Space
Keyboard and Mouse.

Spartan is rated T for Teen for animated blood and mild violence.

Gameplay: 6.8
The whole game revolves around players trying to outsmart and eliminate their enemies, at least the attention to minute details gives some difference between other games. I like the fact that battles where semi “real-time,” but the lack of options in this mode really hurts.

Graphics: 5.9
I am sorry to say, but Spartan is one of the least attractive games I have played on my PC in a long time. There are games that were made back in the late nineties (Star Craft, Civilization II, and many others), which knock this game out of the water in presentation.

Sound: 6.2
Everything in this category is really stale and extremely repetitious.

Difficulty: Easy
The game is really easy to get the hang of, if you have every played a Turn Based Strategy game in your life, you will understand the entire game within minutes.

Concept: 6.5
The “semi-real-time” battles are nice to see, but it just will get gamers frustrated that they can’t command those men and tell them exactly what to do, to win a battle.

Multiplayer: 6.5
Playing a Turn Based Strategy game with another human is never fun, due to the wait time for them to complete their moves. While this game offers some things to do during that “down time,” players will still be bored during that time.

Overall: 6.4
Spartan is a decent Turn Based Strategy game, but it really doesn’t try to become the next best thing. There are so many areas that this game could have improved upon, such as the graphics and the sound, to make it a better overall game. While the game is fun, there are much better TBS games to spend you hard earned money on.