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" Also available on: iPod Touch Developer: Gameloft Publisher: Gameloft Genre: Action There have been countless attempts to replicate the award-winning God Of War formula over the year, and Gameloft&amp;#039;s Hero Of Sparta is one of the better ones. Given that the hack &amp;#039;n&amp;#039; slash effort helped shape the iPhone into a fully fledged gaming platform, its sequel arrives amid great expectation. Showing off a vastly improved graphics engine and new gameplay features, preview footage promised much. Unfortunately, the final product doesn&amp;#039;t do quite enough to earn its place among the pantheon. Picking up some time after the previous game, the storyline sees Spartan badass Argos become embroiled in a conflict with Hades after the God of the Underworld declares war on his homeland. What follows is a no-holds-barred romp across Ancient Greece with plenty of mythological beasts for you to carve up along the way. It&amp;#039;s a simple premise compared to some of its counterparts in the genre, placing the emphasis firmly on the action; and this is perhaps its biggest selling point. Like its predecessor, Hero Of Sparta II offers a over a dozen levels of unabashed hack &amp;#039;n&amp;#039; slash fun. The game&amp;#039;s focal point is combat and there&amp;#039;s a rich variety of offensive manoeuvres on offer. Providing what is essentially a second virtual stick instead of action button, Argos delivers a different attack depending on which way you point it. This provides great scope for combos, offering you the freedom to deal out a range of deadly strikes. Strategy comes into it on occasion, though most low-end foes can be dispatched through mere button bashing. More powerful enemies require you to map out their attack patterns and obligatory quicktime events are sometimes called upon for the coup de grace. There&amp;#039;s enough variety in the combat to keep you interested during one play-through at least. There are weapons upgrades and special attacks to help ward off the boredom, and the diverse creature design does its bit too. Of course, many of the sprites will look familiar to anyone who has played the God Of War titles, though some creativity has gone into the likes of the sea serpents and the manticore. Boss battles can be a little disappointing, though. On occasion you are greeted by a creature of epic proportions only to quickly dispatch them with a instantly-triggered quicktime sequence. In its defence, this isn&amp;#039;t so much the case during later encounters, and the final battle with Hades certainly doesn&amp;#039;t disappoint. Creature design is not the only thing the developers have borrowed from God Of War. Everything from the weapons upgrades system to the core gameplay has been shamelessly pillaged from the Sony series. This does not mean that Hero Of Sparta II is without merit, though it does make it look a little short on ideas.  Flawed level design and technical issues are much bigger problems. In an effort to bring more variety to the table, platform elements have been incorporated into the sequel. Sadly, these segments feel cumbersome and often result in frustrating deaths. Detaching from a wall when climbing is trickier than it should be, while sections with multiple jumps call for a degree of finesse that the control system doesn&amp;#039;t allow. More issues arise from the button layout. The jump and defend buttons are positioned too close to the action stick. Not only does this cause you to perform random sword strikes during platform escapades, it will also result in aimless (and sometimes costly) leaps around the battlefield. Performance issues aside, Hero Of Sparta II does not lack polish from a visual standpoint. Even with the great strides the iPhone has made over the last year, the game still manages to impress and helps the platform gain more ground on the PSP and DS. The soundtrack has a cinematic quality and complements the adrenaline-fuelled combat. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the voice acting. Overall, Hero Of Sparta II is no Greek tragedy, but it could have been so much more. Had the game arrived a year or two ago, it would no doubt be hailed as one of the most impressive and diverse offerings on the iPhone. However, times have changed and our expectations for high-end titles on the platform have heightened. Performance issues and poor level design might have been forgiven in the days when action games were finding their feet on the App Store, but things are different now and these foibles mar what might have been one of the system&amp;#039;s best titles to date.   &amp;gt; What do you think of the game? Share your views "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/gaming/review/a255932/hero-of-sparta-ii-iphone/>