300: March to Glory Review

By Dave McCarthy Published 31 March, 2007

Swords and swimming trunks. For swimming in blood.

Version tested: PSP

The real Spartans were some of the Ancient World's most brutally effective soldiers; a fiercely disciplined and heavily armoured military force. In Zack Snyder's movie of Frank Miller's graphic novel, 300, they wear swimming trunks and sandals and have CGI six-packs tracked on to their abdomens as they swan around spilling gallons of Persian blood with balletic grace and slow-motion abandon. The game of the film of the comic book is an attempt to distil that Hollywoodized historical violence into a handheld battlefield brawler with a similar sense of style.

Like the film and the graphic novel before it, the game features its fair share of mealy mouthed, gruff-voiced, buff-bodied males, along with slo-mo violence and visceral blood-spilling. And like the film and the graphic novel before it, the game depicts the heroic stand taken by a small band of Spartans against the encroaching might of the Persian empire at the Battle of Thermopylae. In the game, you control King Leonidas of Sparta, the chap who stayed behind with just 300 of his countrymen and 700 Thespians in order to delay a much greater force commanded by Xerxes I.

After the game kicks off with a montage of comic book images, the action commences in the middle of battle, revealing itself to be a fairly standard, uninspired brawler: hit enemies with a heavy attack, light attack, or a shield attack, and string attacks together to unleash death-dealing combos. There's lots of blood, and as you'd expect from a game in which 300 Spartans dismember and maim millions of enemies, not much subtlety (indeed the stats pages record the number of decapitations and dismemberments you inflict on enemies).

'300: March to Glory' Screenshot 1

Note to game developers: phalanx is pronounced with the first syllable to rhyme with Hal, not hail.

As you wade through the Persian forces, hacking and slashing as you go, you build up Wrath by hitting enemies. This can then be used to unleash enhanced attacks (to deal more damage than usual or knock over heavily armoured opponents), or, when a gauge is filled, to perform special Battle Skills. There are four of these to acquire over the course of the game, and they're implemented using the d-pad to recover health, increase damage, or to make 'time itself appear to slow down'. Indeed they're the only way to recover health, so the only way to survive is to kill and maim - which, of course, perfectly captures the essence of the film and the comic.

You also acquire something called 'Kleos' as you chop and slay your way across the battlefield, which allows you to upgrade Leonidas, granting him better skills or equipment. Indeed choosing the right equipment is crucial to the game. As you come across different types of enemy you'll need to switch from your sword and shield (good against unarmoured enemies) to your spear and shield (good against armoured or shield-wielding enemies). Later in the game you'll even be able to eschew defence and opt for the more attacking option of dual swords.

One neat touch in the game is the darkening sky that presages an incoming volley of Persian arrows (reflecting the real-life wisecrack made by Dienekes and reported by Herodotus: "he was told by a native of Trachis that the Persian archers were so numerous that, when they fired their volleys, the mass of arrows blocked out the sun. Dienekes, however, undaunted by this prospect, remarked with a laugh, 'Good. Then we will fight in the shade.'"). Such volleys punctuate the action throughout the game, requiring you to hit L and R in order to duck under your shield to dodge the lethal hail of fire.

'300: March to Glory' Screenshot 2

The occasional boss turns up, such as this Bone Golem.

But that's it for the neat touches. In practice, the Wrath meter and Battle Skills, and swapping between weapons, simply hamper the fluidity of the combat, as do the sections where Leonidas lines up with his troops to form a phalanx. Fighting in this densely-packed formation, which formed the basis of ancient Greek warfare, simply requires you to keep your Command bar filled by pushing forward and killing things in your path before they inflict damage on the phalanx. It's neither fun nor challenging.

And that, in a nutshell, is 300: March to Glory. Solid, but uninspiring. The narrative is sustained by a flashback structure, and there are plenty of unlockables, including movie trailers, film stills and concept art (and various interviews with Frank Miller in which he butchers classical history with all the savagery of one of his six-packed Spartans and betrays a frighteningly superficial understanding of historical haircuts). But the combat feels slow and unresponsive, particularly when Leonidas is wielding a spear, or when he's required to build up his Wrath meter to damage bosses. And as with so many PSP titles, the lack of that second Analog stick results in an occasionally wayward camera. So while it sort of captures the essence of Miller's stylish Spartan blood-letting, it never really does it justice.

4 / 10

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About Dave McCarthy

Read more articles from Dave by visiting the Dave McCarthy archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • chupachups #1 5 years ago

    Wow, 4/10, 2/10 and another 4/10.

    What a great crop of games we're getting nowadays.

  • MadMirko #2 5 years ago

    Seriously.

    I appreciate Eurogamer trying to save us from buying shite games, but I'd prefer reviews of interesting games. That would also do the job, BTW. :)

  • smelly #3 5 years ago

    So....

    Style over content then...

    Just like the overly shite movie...

    PSP/PS3 owners will love it..

  • smelly #4 5 years ago

    "Then you let your level designers (and/or artists) lay down these splines in every single level. You can even add additional tracks to the spline that determine field of view, roll, etc."


    Erm.. sorry to piss on your chips.. And i'm impressed you've learned a new word with the word "splines" but that genuinely is the worse fucking idea i've ever fucking heard. Please do me a favour and never make a game.. ever...

  • morriss #5 5 years ago

    Film titles ftl! :(

  • Darth_Flibble #6 5 years ago

    "The funny thing about smelly is that he is so adamant that he's not a Nintendo fan-boy when every single EG regular knows he is about the most totally biased person who has ever posted here,"

    Not sure about the most biased on here
    What about that Yellowtruck?, major biased sony fanboy, who always posts crap in every 360 and wii thread.

  • GrandpaUlrira #7 5 years ago

    It seems a shame that there's almost no attempt to ape the atmosphere of the book or film.

  • kangarootoo #8 5 years ago

    @disc

    Well thanks for the advice, very generous of you oh wise one ;)


    @smelly

    That is kind of harsh, especially as you utterly fail to say WHY it is such a bad idea At least disc went to the trouble to detail his thoughts. And though I have issues with how he seems to assume a good result is inherent (and any mention of a splice system tracking opponents locations sounds very risky ground to me), its not a system entirely without merit in the right game situation.

    Beyond Good and Evil is one example of a game that uses all sorts of camera systems, most of which are great. Occasionally it uses splines, and they work really well, but that is because a decent amopunt of time obviously went into the camera development.

    I've seen spline camera systems come and go. Usually they are bobbins its true (I've worked on games where they were included but eventually dropped, thankfully in those cases), but sometimes they can work just fine.

    Often as not, investment of time in a decent camera system is overlooked, so isn't that a particular system is bad. Its just that it required more time to get it working properly. Simple camera systems are safer, but not always better if the more complex systems are treated appropriately.

    How about a bit of specific constructive comment about disc's suggestion, and maybe we will all learn something?

  • Shrike #9 5 years ago

    "You also acquire something called 'Kleos' as you chop and slay your way across the battlefield, which allows you to upgrade Leonidas"

    Kleos = Greek concept of heroic renown/fame, fact fans. I actually learned that in school, and not from wikipedia. Although it is on wikipedia. I hate wikipedia.

  • waffle #10 5 years ago

    just as a point about the film, they worked fucking hard for those 6-packs (you can check it out on the official 300 movie website) they weren't painted in digitally as far as I am aware.

  • kangarootoo #11 5 years ago

    @disc

    Dude, what is your problem? I can only suspect that smelly's outburst got you all ticked off and you are applying that to me too.

    I absolutely did not dismiss the design choice because of flaws in implementation. In fact I made exactly the distiction between the two. Did you even read my post? Allow me to quote myself as a reminder.

    "Occasionally it uses splines, and they work really well, but that is because a decent amount of time obviously went into the camera development."

    "Often as not, investment of time in a decent camera system is overlooked, so it isn't that a particular system is bad. Its just that it required more time to get it working properly."

    As for my apparent holier than though attitude, I can only imagine you are referring to the first line of my post. Your initial comment was straight out patronising, so my first line was in the same vein aimed in response to that aspect of your comment. Except that I at least bothered to stick a f*cking winky on the end to show you I wasn't actually serious.

    Andf I thought I was actually stepping to your defense after smelly's stroppy post, suggesting that whilst I didn't agree with you entirely (I assume that is ok?), I saw the merits in the system you described, and that perhaps if smelly was a little more constructive we might actually have an interesting discussion. Shows how much I know, I didn't even realise I was being an c*nt.

    Next time I'll remember not to bother and simply leave you to spout your two games worth of wisdom whilst we all listen in silence (except smelly, who can vent at you without distraction from me).

  • UncleLou #12 5 years ago

    smelly in immature, clueless trolling shocker. Colour me suprised.

  • Xinch #13 5 years ago

    Yeah!
    I wouldn't stand for that disc.

  • Chtulie #14 5 years ago

    Odd that the comic art in the game isn't art from the comic that was the base for the movie on which this game is in turn based.
    So now, somwhere in the dev's offices there's a comic of the game of the movie of the comic.
    Edited by 1 at 31/03/07 @ 19:31

  • kangarootoo #15 5 years ago

    @disc

    Then I think perhaps a "touche" might have been more appropriate given the "here is some free advice, mkay" style of your first comment.

    Now lets just both count to ten :)

  • indian23 #16 5 years ago

    THIS IS MADNESS

  • kangarootoo #17 5 years ago

    @disc

    :)

    @indian23

    THIS IS DELICIOUS

    http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=gNqiSkd1M6k

  • smelly #18 5 years ago

    >without smelly telling us our taste sucks :)

    This game sucks.. Whats to do with taste?

    >that he's not a Nintendo fan-boy

    I've stated billions of times that i'm a fan of their games.. yes. What's wrong with that? And why are you so stupid that i have to keep saying that? Cant you read?


    >smelly in immature, clueless trolling shocker.

    Immature : Yes - I was drunk and just posted that to dics as i was in the mood for a fight (or something). But the sentiment still stands that i dont think that'd work too well. I admit i wish i'd written it better.. but I can undo whats done.. so wtf.

    Clueless : Nope

    Trolling: Nope - I was talking about the game (and indeed movie) being shit. And that shite games like this tend to sell well on sony platforms. I can almost gaurantee that this will be in the top 10 next week. I fail to see how stating a fact is trolling?

    Trolling is when you go into every single thread and say "nintendo are for kids" or "ps3's suck", etc. Like you do.



  • smelly #19 5 years ago

    No.. I'm a nintendo GAME fanboy.

    Anyone who's a fanboy of hardware is slightly retarded imho.

    What's wrong with being a fan of games a company makes? Im also a square fan, is that a bad thing too? I also used to buy pretty much anything made by origin (when they were still around).. Let me guess that makes me a origin fanboy too?

    Oh Noes!!! Being a fan of games is sooo bad!!!


    Tell me, erm if being a fan of games is so bad? WTF are you doing posting on a games site?

  • smelly #20 5 years ago

    "All someone has to say is "meh" in any Wii related thread and you start huffing and puffing like a fat kid who lost his candy floss."

    So you're saying that if someone trolls a thread, and i respond.. then that's a bad thing?

    Ho hum.. Guess even responding to your trolling in this thread is me huffing and puffing? Ah well..

    I appologize to disc, it was an immature post. I still stand by what i wrote, but i should've worded it better.

    and i appologize to everyone to responding to this troll and therefor taking this thread off topic - somehow a discussion about 300 being a crap game has ended up being a discussion on why liking games by a certain company is a bad thing.

    *sigh*..
    Edited by 1 at 01/04/07 @ 22:08

  • smelly #21 5 years ago

    ""Just like the overly shite movie...PSP/PS3 owners will love it.." You really need to stop drinking mate.. "

    Im not your "mate", i dont become mates with children.

    That post had nothing to do with drink .. I stand by that post...

    It'll sell really well on the PSP (and indeed on the ps3/ps2 if it was available on them too). Just like the shockingly bad (imho) movie went down well with mainstream audiences, so will this game.

    If you released same said game on a machine such as the 360, the owners of that seem to be more "hardcore" and read reviews.. and thus it wont sell so well on that platform.

    Whats not to get?
    Edited by 1 at 01/04/07 @ 22:47

  • smelly #22 5 years ago

    heh.. just used the ignore button for the first time ever.. thats better... Stop me being hooked in to arguments with trolls.

  • UncleLou #23 5 years ago

    Trolling is when you go into every single thread and say "nintendo are for kids" or "ps3's suck", etc. Like you do.

    Lol, I do? :D

  • kangarootoo #24 5 years ago

    @smelly

    Are you seriously aged 30+? That is kind of a surprise tbh, and not in a good way.

  • dirigiblebill #25 5 years ago

    There shall be no further bickering past this line

    -------------------------------------------------------

    So, 300 eh? Looks a bit rubbish. Thank god there are far better games to play on psp. Speaking of which...

    /off to download Pure tracks

  • smelly #26 5 years ago

    @Disc: I've already applogized. No point going over again.

    @Kanga: Yip.. Why's it a surprise? Posting immature stuff like above to disc (understandable but i was in a weird mood that night - wont go into it)? Or me liking "kids" games?

  • kangarootoo #27 5 years ago

    @smelly

    Hehe, not the kids games thing. I'm not one of the people that consider Ninty stuff to be kids games (I actually find that attitude quite immature in itself).

    The first option I would say ;)

  • t0ejam #28 5 years ago

    I'm so glad that people gave their opinions of the game, and not just their opinions of each other. Because that would be really immature on all sides. Not just from adults, not just from kids.. from everyone. Grow up, and use message boards for the games, not each other.

  • smelly #29 5 years ago

    >The first option I would say ;)

    Yip i totally agree. Wont do that again. I was in a pretty bad state that night due to various reasons. And sometimes I find myself writing something innocent, then getting sucked into an argument with a troll trying to take things off topic. So in future if someone does that, i'll just hit ignore poster.



    >and use message boards for the games

    Well said that man.

    I will try to do just that from here on in.

  • Mr_Whacker #30 5 years ago

    You guys crack me up somethimes. I've been wondering over the last few months if Eurogamer comments are worth reading at all. But of course they are, this thread is priceless.

    Sorry if thats a bit condescending. (I bet it is actually)

    And for the record there is nothing wrong, never was and never shall be with loving a companies/artists/writers stuff more than anything else. Yes, that means being a fanboy. Its OK. Its fine. It then becomes a simple fallacy of reasoning to use it to prove other stuff bad. Remember - Nothing can ever be bad due to something else being better.

  • t0ejam #31 5 years ago

    > well said that man.

    Uhm.. I'm a girl. >.

  • Ryze #32 5 years ago

    Damn, I'm late to the party.

    Smelly just seems like one of those guys you know that pisses everyone off regularly, then apologises and acts nice on purpose so that he can keep at least 1 or 2 friends, before his tosser instincts come back (or he gets too drunk to act nice), and he starts being his normal dickhead self again.

    Met his sort before, and I keep well away - otherwise I'd end up with a criminal record for assault.

    Tosser.

    Crap PSP game, too.

    Edited by 1 at 08/04/07 @ 23:17