Take no prisoners

Want to strategically eliminate your enemies and take over their land? Ancient Wars: Sparta will quench your thirst for conquest.

Obviously inspired by the movie 300, Ancient Wars: Sparta depicts the bloody struggles that occurred among the Spartans, Persians and Egyptians between 500 and 450 B.C. in a realistic-looking, real-time strategy game.

I began as a Spartan at the pass at Thermopylae and thought I was in for a real treat right away. Unfortunately, the Spartan king sat me down at the campfire and regaled me with a ton of Spartan history, triggering many dull flashback missions before the famous battle occurs.

The missions are terribly scripted, with small groups of troops forced to march along winding paths covered with traps and ambushes. As the game drags on, your armies grow in number and power, which leads to advanced gameplay that's more fun, though most people won't want to put in the hours of effort to get there.

The artificial intelligence is rather backward. Workers won't go where they need to, and must be individually directed to mine gold, chop wood or grow food. Troops tend to take the long way around to get into battles, often piling up on each other or getting stuck on objects in
their path, such as trees, while the few troops on the front line are dying and in need of their support.

On the plus side, after a battle you can direct your peasants to collect weapons that have fallen on the ground. With these, you can design new troop types and field units using your enemy's equipment or come up with a combination of enemy and friendly weapons that works better than either side's original weapons.

You can even grab hold of enemies' equipment. If you knock an enemy warrior off his horse, you can have one of your soldiers jump on. Ships can be cleared of bad guys and boarded, adding them to your navy. Even ballistae and other siege weapons can be turned on their owners – a very satisfying strategy.

Building damage and fire are quite realistic. Fire will spread to nearby buildings, so you can attack trees outside an enemy camp and get the fire to spread in its direction, though you have to be careful if the wind changes.

Eventually you do get back to Thermopylae. However, despite great graphics and unique features, a dim AI and a long series of boring missions mean this Sparta barely entertains.
Rating: Mature
Platform: Windows XP, 2000

REVIEWS

SUPER PAPER MARIO
Rating: Everyone
Platform: Wii
In Super Paper Mario, Nintendo has taken its most prominent character and added interesting elements. As in other Mario games, players must help Mario and friends (Princess Peach, Bowser and Luigi) defeat a new villain (Count Bleck) in eight chapters (each split into four sections) while switching between two- and three-dimensional game worlds.

The game combines platform jumping, role playing and puzzle games to make for a sophisticated experience that keeps players coming back for more. Characters are also able to pick up new items as well as assistants or Pixls, which offer new powers for Mario and his friends.

Super Paper Mario pushes players to look through their inventory and abilities and work from there. For Mario, a basic flip ability allows him to temporarily enter his surroundings in a three-dimensional mode to move through a given stage. Players must switch characters to use their unique powers, such as Princess Peach's ability to float long distances, Bowser's fire breath and Luigi's ability to jump high.

While the game's puzzles may drive you insane, the Pixls are of great help. They allow you the power to drop bombs, create a platform to cross beds of spikes and more.
- By Chris Barylick/ Los Angeles Times-Washington Post

BIOSHOCK
Rating: Mature
Platform: Xbox 360, PC
After surviving a jet crash in the Atlantic, you are quickly introduced to a compelling plot and the stylish art deco setting of an underwater utopia gone horribly wrong.

The city, dubbed Rapture by its megalomaniac creator, became a hellish nightmare after scientists began improving residents through genetic manipulation. The improvements gave humans fantastic abilities, such as firing electrical charges, using telekinesis to hurl objects, and invisibility. It also transformed them into blood-thirsty killers who are out to get you.

To survive, players must use conventional weapons and inject plasmids to gain superpowers. The most effective tactic is to quickly switch between attacks.

Visually, BioShock is one of the few games that justifies the purchase of an HDTV. The game's audio is more subtle, but equally effective at submerging players into the grim delight that is BioShock.

MADDEN 08
Rating: Everyone
Platform: PlayStation3, Xbox 360
This year, Madden is a tale of two next-generation systems. While the 360 version runs flawlessly at a silky smooth 60 frames per second, the PS3 version sometimes stutters at half that speed. The new animation system creates a lot more visual variety when running, tackling and reel catching, while controls remain largely the same.

Playing a local friend is still the most entertaining way to enjoy Madden 08, but online play is lag-free. On the computer, the improved artificial intelligence system adds difficulty by actually picking plays to its strengths instead of at random .

Though easily the best effort to date, Madden 08 still manages to drop the ball in familiar ways. Fumbles occur far too often; six or seven a game is typical. And there's still no support for online leagues, something fans have been clamouring for. Strangest of all is that John Madden still doesn't lend his voice to the play-by-play. Instead, a monotone, unnamed announcer does his best but lulls football fans to sleep.
- By George Mathis/ Los Angeles Times-Washington Post