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	Spawn: Armageddon
	Developer: Point of View Publisher: Namco Genre: Action Players: 1 Similar To: Blade II Rating: Mature Published: 12 :26 : 03 Reviewed By: Ryan Newman Overall: 5 = Average

Screenshots

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Intro
Spawn has had quite a successful career. He has starred in a hit movie, his own best-selling toy line, and, of course, his own comic book. What he hasn't been able to tackle is the digital medium. Oh, he tried on the PlayStation, but that foray is best left forgotten; his second attempt, on Sega's Dreamcast, fared better, but neither were close to being up to the fine Spawn standards. After Sony and Capcom took stabs at the franchise, now Point of View and Namco tries their hand with Spawn: Armageddon, an action title that manages to bore more than excite.


Gameplay: 5/10
Heaven and Hell never seem to take a break. That becomes a particularly large problem when Hell's forces start to take to Earth more and more. Everything from demented trees to mutated soldiers will walk the city streets, which are surprisingly unpopulated, and wreak the kind of havoc that demons from hell tend to wreak.

Fortunately for us, there is Spawn, ready to use his own demonic powers to kill whatever unsightly being is in our realm. With his hell powers, Spawn can slow down time, fire explosives bursts and streams of energy, and create a force field for protection. All of which come in handy as he makes his way through chunks of city blocks, harbors, and warehouses, filling his quota of kills along the way. He can't always rely on these powers, though, as they continuously drain when used; so, Spawn isn't adverse to using some more Earthly weapons, namely automatic pistols, machine guns, gating guns, rocket launchers, and even some non-Earthly guns, like pistols used by the Angels of Heaven to kill demons - it's nice to know we have weapons up to the task of killing demons of the abyss.

Of course, for those who want to get down and dirty, he always has his trusty chains and battleaxe. These stand-bys are actually more formidable than most of the other weapons, as they not only procure more ammo and sources of plasma, which is needed to use his demonic powers (by killing enemies and bashing random objects in the environment, like incredibly square cars and super strong office desks), but they are also pretty much the only thing needed to dispatch the enemies, bosses aside.

Traversing the rooftops, walkways, and streets, Spawn will utilize his chains, his nifty cape, and also his claws to get around. With markers indicating where objectives are, where to go, and where the player has been, levels end up looking like training missions as the helpful indicators light up the night's sky. Specially marked icons indicate spots where Spawn's chains can cling onto and pull him as his cape allows him more maneuverability as he slowly floats down from a double-jump. His chains will also grab ammo when close enough, while plasma, health, and freed souls will automatically be drawn to him.

Those souls end up acting as a sort of currency for weapon and body enhancements. At the end of a level, the numbers of souls is tallied up, and they can be spent to either increase maximum health or plasma, or to either upgrade a weapon or purchase more ammo. Ammo, while plentiful in the levels, is also relatively cheap, so those opting to go the Terminator route should be pleased.

Myself, I simply waltzed from area to area and let my chains fly. Aside from armored enemies, Spawn's chains will do a great deal of damage, which allows for him to save ammo for the boss battles - this, consequently, makes the game pretty boring. If there happens to be an armored foe, the battleaxe does the trick in dispatching them. So, the game is essentially walking into an area, targeting something and letting the chains fly, target the next enemy, the next, maybe swing the ax a few times, then proceed once all the enemies have been destroyed and the path cleared. There may be a double jump here or there to escape a projectile or to reach a switch, but it's mostly strafing and chain attacking. The bosses end up not being much a problem since they can be quickly taken down by the massive amount of stored ammo. Really, the game is so un-involving and boring that I don't see most people playing halfway through it.

The levels are stale, with only a few jumps, extremely simple puzzles - which is a plus in some senses, because the camera angle is problematic and manually controlling it often doesn't help - and relatively stupid enemies that only succeed by group-rushing the player. Despite the comics having interesting friends and foes, it's hard to make them out with PlayStation 1.5-style graphics, and whatever interesting aspects that could be drawn from the comic are squandered. Some replay value was attempted by having concept art and comic covers unlockable, but even that was done poorly as the covers are small, static, and require playthroughs on all difficulty levels to unlock them all. There's an encyclopedia of terms and whatnot, but Spawn fans, who will most likely be the majority audience, won't need it, but it's still useful reading. There are a few technical flaws with the game, mostly graphical, although targeting can get fussy, but mostly, it's just an extremely boring game. Sorry, Spawn.

Graphics: 5/10
My horrible joke referring to Spawn's graphics looking like they would be more at home on the PlayStation 1.5 wasn't just me trying to slide a joke in a review - it really exemplifies the look of the game. Not nearly rough enough to look like an original PlayStation title, though it's also far from adequately representing the power of the PS2. With abandoned city streets looking to represent a seemingly large city, much of what is seen is lacking detail and, with bland textures everywhere, the intentional bleak city ends up looking bad, as opposed to dark and forbidding. The characters are also difficult to make out, with many looking like a mess of pixels; all their detail lost to their blending colors and due to the pulled-away camera angle. Despite his cape looking pretty rough, Spawn himself looks decent, with a solid build and good shadows during custscenes that utilize in-game graphics. Unfortunately, there's also technical problems, with random pop-up (vehicles will suddenly appear, blood will vanish before it's out of sight) and there was even a moment when his battleaxe vanished, leaving Spawn to look like he wasn't swinging anything - not too impressive.

Sound: 7.5/10
The rock soundtrack is appropriate, but neither good nor bad. It's there and serviceable, so it works. The sound effects are decent, particularly metal on metal. Probably the best thing are the voice-overs, particularly Spawn, who seems to be voiced by the person who did the voice on the HBO animated series; if that isn't him, it's still a good job. The other voices are decent as well, rounding out with what is probably the best aspect of the game.

Control: 6.5/10
Despite losing its target or not acquiring it on the first request every now and then, the targeting and locking system works pretty well. Its problems, compared to with how many enemies there are in just one portion and how much it will be used, are rare. Since the camera has a tendency to show Spawn's front or the top of his head when backed into a corner, it's nice to know that the enemy doesn't have to be seen to be locked on to and attacked. The targeting can't save the camera angle problem from creating havoc with general navigation, though. When it comes time to rein in the camera, there is a problem with it locking when it goes a certain distance to the left or right, or not going high enough above Spawn to see everything in-front of him, so, in short: it's annoying. But, apparently, poor cameras are the norm now, so it really depends on the player's tolerance; myself, I found it to be annoying.

Overall: 5/10
Fundamentally, Spawn: Armageddon isn't a bad game; it's a serviceable title that action and Spawn fans will find some enjoyment out of. Everyone else, though, will be bored out of their minds by the 5th mission - if they even make it that far. Chalk up another squandered opportunity.

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