It seems like the ancient Greeks and Romans have really taken the spotlight as of late in nearly every form of media; HBO has its new highly acclaimed series, Rome, and of course games like Sony’s incredible God of War, Capcom’s Shadow of Rome, and now Sega and The Creative Assembly bring us, Spartan: Total Warrior.

Spartan: Total Warrior, is the first console title from the developers of the Total War series for the PC, most recently they released Rome: Total War, which received praise from critics and gamers alike. Spartan takes what makes the Total War series so popular, and that is the insane amount of enemies on the screen at one time, but instead of commanding an army of Sparta’s greatest warriors, you will take control of a one man war machine cleverly named The Spartan. As The Spartan you will go into battle with hundreds of Roman soldiers and battle a plethora of mythical Greek creatures.

I’ve had some time to sit down with the final version of Spartan: Total Warrior and the time I have spent in ancient Greece has left me with some mixed emotions, but for the most the most part, I am rather pleased with the product. Creative Assembly has done a nice job of making everything feel very epic in Spartan, but the downfall to this epic scale is that you will find yourself being ambushed by several enemies at once from all angles. Swords, arrows, you name it, it’s probably coming towards your throat. This makes Spartan difficult, but not to the point of a mental breakdown.

In terms of controls, Spartan gives you a handful of abilities and weapons to dispose of your enemies. You can block attacks with a shield, throw dozens of enemies to the ground with a swing of your shield and proceed to bash their brains in with your sword. You can also choose to take a less barbaric approach and kill off enemies with your trust bow and arrow. The Spartan also shares something with his fellow Greek bad ass, Kratos (God of War), by being given special magical abilities by the God of War himself, Ares. The Spartan is able to dispose of small armies with his elemental attacks such as a lightning storm.

Graphically, Spartan runs very smoothly with no signs of slow down. The character models look decent, but they could have looked better, same goes for the environments. It just doesn’t seem like Creative Assembly spent a lot of time using the beautiful architectures and art that the Greeks and Romans were known for. It is very cool, though, that your enemies will stay dead on the ground, instead of vanishing. It helps make the game feel more epic.

All in all, Spartan is shaping up to be a very enjoyable game with its share of flaws. You can look for our full review next week.