iPhone/iPad game of the day: Hero of Sparta II

Game: Hero of Sparta II
Price: $0.99/ £0.59
Size: 327 MB
Get it now on the iTunes store:US/UK

Sometimes you just want to stab things in the stomach with a blade the size of a surfboard. Thankfully, Hero of Sparta II lets you do just that. It’s what would happen if the film 300 were turned into a video game. A good video game, that is. Which means it plays a lot like a touch screen God of War.

There’s a story here, and it takes place directly after the first game. After making his way through hell, musclebound main character Argos returns to Sparta in hopes of finally getting a little rest. But Hades has other ideas. The god decides to make life rough for Argos by filling up Sparta with all kinds of monsters. There are cut-scenes to watch and overwrought dialog to listen to, but really it’s all just an excuse to swing a big sword around. And that’s actually fine by us.

Hero of Sparta II is a button masher, an amazing feat considering it doesn’t really have buttons. Instead, the game utilizes a control scheme similar to a twin-stick shooter: one virtual stick controls your movement, while the other controls your attacks. You obviously don’t have quite the same level of control as a real console control pad would provide, but it’s definitely adequate for slicing up hordes of undead and mythical creatures. A large part of this is the simple fact that the game isn’t all that hard.

Aside from the overly violent, blood soaked combat, Hero of Sparta II also features a number of other nods to the God of War series. The bosses are massive and can only be defeated through quick time events, there’s awkward platforming that gets in the way of the action, and you can upgrade your weapons to make Argos even deadlier. It’s not particularly original, but it’s done well. If you’ve been pleading to the heavens for a dose of god stabbing on the go, Hero of Sparta II is the answer to your prayers.

Nov 25, 2010