It was inevitable – the iPhone brought about a sea change in the way we game and in the way games are distributed. In that spirit, Sony has put together a less open, yet similarly priced and pitched, set of games called PSP Minis. We’re going to help you sort thorugh them, one by one, TPG style. Welcome to Mini Reviews.
Game: Hero of Sparta
Publisher: Gameloft
Platform: PSPGo/PSP
Price $6.99
Acquired: Code provided by Publisher
For $6.99, you get a full game, loosely similar in theme and tone to God of War: Chains of Olympus, which is retailing at this point for $20. While nowhere near as fluid or deep as Chains of Olympus, Hero of Sparta is compelling and varied enough to warrant a play through or twice, owing to the game’s Heroic difficulty setting, which becomes unlocked after one playthrough. You get to keep all your weapons and abilities, since itgets that much harder and challenging.
When this game came out on the iPhone, it was hands down the best controlling pseudo 3D button masher on the platform. We hailed the graphics and fluidity of animation, as well as the surprisingly decent controls. Making the transition to the PSP, Hero of Sparta suffers from comparison as much as it was helped in comparison back then.
Compared to other PSP games, this one is repetitive, low on the polygon count, and fairly melodramatic. Compared to other iPhone games, it’s still at the top of the pack. This is an odd conundrum to be in, as it is EXACTLY the same game. The same brilliantly rendered intro movie, the same exact gameplay and character models, etc. Nothing is new in this version of the game. This isn’t a bad thing, but a real thing. If you have the iPhone version, it’ll run you $1.99 at the time of this publishing. The controls are virtual on the iPhone touchscreen, but are fairly decent. For $6.99, you get the same game on a machine with buttons, and the’s going to be up to the individual whether it’s worth the price.
The game itself, regardless of comparisons, is downright middle of the road. It’s a competent design and good for quick bursts of play, with some added leveling up and “collect all the glowy stones” for some depth. I don’t mind playing it, but it’s not a go-to game, especially with (and the comparisons continue) many other PSP games I have that do this formula so much better, like the aforementioned God Of War: Chains of Olympus and Final Fantasy: Crisis Core.
Bottom line, if you don’t have this on your iPhone, and you want to save some scratch, get Hero of Sparta for your PSP or PSPGo. It’s a fine game to play, if there’s nothing else to compare it to.
