Reviewed: June 6, 2007
Reviewed by: John DeWeese
Publisher
Playlogic
Developer
World Forge
Released: April 24, 2007
Genre: Strategy
Players: 1-8
ESRB: Everyone
6
7
5
5
5.9
System Requirements
Recommended System
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
Every red-blooded American guy I know loved the movie 300 – loved the legend of the Spartans, loved the spectacle, and most of all loved the carnage.
I therefore thought Ancient Wars: Sparta would become the big sleeper hit of 2007. After all, the new real-time strategy title developed by World Forge promises massive battles and plenty of bloody mayhem from ancient times. Heck, even the title has the word “Sparta” in it.
Which is why I’m still scratching my head over this game’s wasted potential. Ancient Wars: Sparta promises the old school fun of Age of Empires with updated graphics and streamlined gameplay. The one major innovation is the unit design system, which allows players to choose what armor, weapons, and shields their warriors will carry into battle.
Too bad the game also brings back into style poor unit path finding, a tedious economic system, and uninspired map design. Sure you can witness massive battles, as long as you’re willing to first spend a half hour watching your legion of peons collect enough resources so you can buy your first spearman. Unfortunately, Ancient Wars: Sparta feels like a 10-year-old strategy game hiding behind a graphical facelift.
Players command one of the three world powers circa 500 B.C. – the Spartans, the Persians, or the Egyptians. Although Egypt had little historical involvement in the wars between Greece and Persia, the developers probably felt the need to throw in another faction for balance.
The single player campaign revolves around the famous battle of Thermopylae, where a band of 300 Spartans took on the giant Persian army. You’ll get a chance to play all three factions and control such heroes as the Spartan King Leonidas or Persian Emperor Xerxes. These heroes have some special abilities and attacks but for the most part should be viewed as overpowered versions of regular troops.
History buffs will instantly recognize many of the units in the game, from the Spartan hoplites to the Persian immortals to giant war elephants. There are even shapely Greek oracles who heal wounded Spartans and Persian fire acolytes who fling explosive fireballs. One of the game’s innovative features is the ability to customize your troops down to what kind of dagger they carry. New soldiers can then be armed with any weapon you’ve researched, from tridents to broadswords to composite bows. The unit template system further makes it easy to crank out cheap cannon fodder or elite shock troops with the best weapons.
The second great feature is how the game allows soldiers to mount or dismount from horses, chariots, and elephants. Kill an enemy rider and you’ll have a chance to capture his animal. The “vehicle” system carries over into naval warfare, where soldiers stationed aboard war galleys actually get a chance to fire arrows at enemy ships or attack enemy sailors if two ships grapple with each other.
The combat can be frantic and challenging, but poor path finding also makes controlling your troops a major headache. Units can easily get trapped in narrow corridors or suddenly freeze up and refuse to attack nearby enemies. Different weapons do seem to make a difference, as even my best heavy infantry would get trampled by elephants unless I had troops with tridents to kill the pesky pachyderms. But don’t be fooled into thinking this game offers a deep tactical experience. It’s always effective just to spam cheap troops early on or send in your elite troops in for a game-winning “tank” rush at the end.
Where the gameplay really runs into trouble is the economy. Whereas most modern strategy games have either streamlined or eliminated resource gathering, Ancient Wars: Sparta forces you to first crank out a legion of helots to mine gold and chop wood before you even think about recruiting your first troops. Instead of a population cap based on how much food you produce, your units will start taking damage if you don’t build enough farms. Path finding issues become even more glaring as workers just stand there even after you’ve repeatedly ordered them to gather a resource.
Conducting research is an equally long, painful process. In my first game, I was surprised to find my brave Spartans carried only clubs. In order to arm my troops with basic spears and shields, I first had to build a forge and research bronze smelting. Then I had to build a separate workshop and actually research spears and basic shields. It took a good 15-20 minutes to create even the most basic units, and another 15 minutes to finally crank out the best troops with the best gear. In the same time it takes an average player to finish a Command & Conquer 3 or Company of Heroes match, a game of Ancient Wars: Sparta is just getting started.
Which brings me to my greatest complaint about this game – the gameplay is too slow and predictable. We’ve all watched workers cut trees, haul gold, and slowly build our base a million times. Things get interesting once the Spartan elite hoplites show up to take on the Persian elephants, but getting to that point feels like forever.
Ancient Wars: Sparta is a good looking game with a great physics engine. Soldiers fly through the air when hit by elephants or collapse in a spray of blood when they die. War galleys that suffer too much damage break in two and slip beneath the waves. Units attacking buildings can be damaged by falling pillars and stones. I applaud World Forge for portraying actual blood and carnage in a war game, something surprisingly few developers do nowadays.
Each of the factions has very unique and flavorful units and buildings to choose from. The Spartans are majestic in their heavy armor and crested helmets but the Persians also look appropriately menacing, especially the war elephants packed with bowmen. History nerds might pick a bone about whether a certain armor style is 100 percent accurate, but average gamers should be pleased with the graphical style.
Mission maps are highly detailed with lush forests, steep cliffs, and lots of wildlife. But despite a zoom function, I never felt truly immersed in the game’s two-dimensional environment. Cut scenes between missions are rather boring, with lots of talking between heroes and very little action.
The voiceovers in this game are just plain terrible. Instead of sounding like take-no-prisoner bad asses, the Spartans speak with a dainty, upper class English accent. I almost fell out of my chair when I heard Leonidas remark, “this seems reasonable to me” after ordering him to attack another unit. What this game desperately needs is even a snippet of the kill ‘em all dialogue from 300. Meanwhile, the Persians sound like London thugs from British gangster movies like Snatch. How hard would it have been to hire somebody who even remotely speaks sounds Persian?
The music is decent and the sound effects are quite good, but unfortunately neither can truly overcome the painful voice acting.
Both the campaign missions and the multiplayer maps are rather uninspired. What should have been a rip-roaring single player ride bogs down as King Leonidas spends half the campaign putting down slave revolts and dealing with the treacheries of his fellow Greeks. The final showdown at Thermopylae at least offers some epic fighting, but not before you have to sit through a half-hour of boring base building. The AI also needs a lot of work, as computer opponents tend to spam the same units over and over in predictable waves instead of reacting to your play style.
At least multiplayer adds some replay value, as the larger maps can accommodate up to 8 players. Just be prepared for a mad rush to capture the resources in the center of the land maps. Water maps offer a little more variety, but too often you’re forced to fight at bottlenecks between islands where larger ships cannot maneuver.
If you’re really in the mood for an old-fashioned RTS set in ancient times, Ancient Wars: Sparta might just fit the bill. Otherwise, I’d be hard pressed to recommend this game over other top-notch strategy titles currently on store shelves.
What it really boils down to is Ancient Wars: Sparta is a by-the-numbers RTS that offers few surprises. Except for the updated graphics, there’s little to distinguish this game from its predecessors. I understand there’s still a niche market for gamers who miss playing the original Age of Empires or Warcraft, and this game is perfect for that audience. But I’m guessing I’m not the only strategy gamer who simply can’t go back to the old ways after playing Company of Heroes, Supreme Commander, or Rome: Total War.
The greatest mistake the Ancient Wars: Sparta devs made was slowing down the combat action with snail paced base building and unit research. If you’re going to make a game about legendary warriors and battles, make sure your players can actually get into the thick of the fight.