by Ryan - February 8, 2004

Todd McFarlane�s character �Spawn� comes to life in this third person shooter for the Playstation 2. This game has managed to blend many of the elements from the comic books. You will find yourself immersed in this world consisting of seven different areas with 23 missions as you hack and slash your way to the Angel Space Station. This is a �hack and slash� game for the diehard Spawn fans.

Hell on Earth

You are Al Simmons, a former assassin for the United States Security Group, who has found himself in a horrible predicament. Set on fire by your own boss you find yourself in Hell. After having made a deal with a master of Hell, you are destined to become a general for Hell�s army when the apocalypse arrives. Trying your best to escape this fate, you find yourself being unable to escape your destiny. Little did you know this was soon going to change and you may find a way to redeem yourself.

Spawn�Lookin Bad

One huge disappointment to me was the graphics. I was expecting to see vivid, dark detail in the environment, but was instead disappointed with Playstation 1 looking graphics. They did however manage to throw in some little details that made up for some of the other graphical downfalls. The blood dripping off the axe and splattering on the ground was definitely interesting and the eerie green glow associated with spawn was definitely well shown in this game. Some other things were a letdown though. One example was the idea of a chair exploding. I felt that they could have been a little more realistic with the environmental objects being destroyed instead of just having them explode. In summary these graphics could have been a lot better!

Slashing Your Way to Salvation

When the game first starts you are shown how to actually play. I felt that this was a nice feature and helped me to get used to the game for actually having to do anything hard. It went through all the basics and told you very specifically how to do them. The game also explained all of the more advanced operations such as grappling yourself to higher places. The first few tasks are merely there to get you used to the game as you move on to other areas.

As the game advanced, I found myself having to do more things such as jumping from one stack of newspapers to another. These menial tasks only seemed to get more and more common as I advanced through the game. For example, on one mission you had to jump from one side of a subway platform to another. Although this alone would make most of us give up the game early, the diehard Spawn fan would love some of the other goodies that this game has.

One such goodie is the multitude of weapons and powerups. This game has managed to throw in many varieties of weapons. Spawn even has his infamous chains that burst from his chest on command and either attack his enemies or propel him to higher places. You also have the very interesting brimstone cannon with which you can annihilate any of the many creatures along the way.

Spawn a New Series

This game is your basic �hack and slash� title with nothing much going for it. If you�re a die hard fan of the spawn series then you may get some enjoyment out of playing as the character that you love so much. For the rest of us, however, Spawn: Armageddon is nothing of great interest. Maybe this title will spawn another title brandishing this awesome comic book character that will make the rest of us enjoy its rich creativity.