300: March to Glory

Reviewed by Jeb Haught
April 5, 2007

Developer: Collision Studios Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive Consoles Available: PSP Number of Players: 1 ESRB Rating: M for Mature Website: Click Here Review Rating: 5.0 out of 10

With all the furious bloodletting found in the movie “300,” a video game based on the story seems like a no-brainer. Since I enjoyed the movie so much, I was anxious to wield the game “300: March to Glory.” Imagine my disappointment when I found out that this “book and movie-based” game contains no scenes from the movie, no likenesses of any of the stars, or even their voices. What is present in the game, however, is the narrator from the movie…whoopee! When the developers of a movie-based game aren't willing to foot the bill for voice acting from unknown actors, the phrase “low production values” seems like an understatement.

The only thing that “300: March to Glory” has to do with the movie is that it loosely follows the story line. Sporting hordes of cloned enemies and generic-looking generals, this game has managed to remove every bit of style that made the movie enjoyable. Even Xerxes looks nothing like his movie counterpart. Would it have been so hard to include some scenes from the movie? Maybe some kind of reason for the battle besides “to defend Sparta.”

Even the combat is unfulfilling. Who cares that you can decapitate, dismember, and disembowel when you have to fend off wave after wave of identical soldiers with only a handful of moves. Sure, players can switch between using sword and spear, and even toss their shield at enemies, but there's a limit to the amount of times that people can press the same three-hit combos before they want to succumb to a real-life volley of arrows. To top it off, the Phalanx moves can only be used at certain points in the game. In fact, it is so incredibly limiting that I counted the seconds until I could fight normally again. And that’s saying a lot since the regular combat is archaic even by PS1 standards.

Fans of the movie expecting this game to emulate the same ultra-stylish fighting experience are in for utter disappointment.

Despite the fact that the movie is so popular, the video game is doomed to failure. 300: March to Glory would need everything to be completely redone in order for it to even compare to modern action titles, so it isn’t even worth resurrecting.

Screenshots (click image to enlarge) :