Come experience a brutal world in ‘Ancient Wars: Sparta’ PC game

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This article was published 10/07/2007 (6751 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

(CP) – Gamers so inclined can live the brutal life of the ancient Spartans while fighting to take control of the world.

“Ancient Wars: Sparta,” distributed by Eidos and developed by Russia’s WorldForge for the PC, is based on the history of ancient Sparta in the years 500-450 BC, with Persians, Egyptians and Spartans battling each other.

It’s a standard, historical, real-time strategy game, where you harvest various resources – plain gold, wood and food – and it doesn’t really add much new or interesting to the genre, although it does get the basics down.

Each map generally features a main mission and a number of secondary optional missions, which can help you complete the primary mission. For example, your main mission might be to burn down an enemy town but, if you complete some side missions, you might get access to special fighting units that make the climactic battle go easier.

The economy system works better than on many RTS games.

Keeping an eye solely on troop production and away from farms and mines soon results in a lack of food and starving troops. There’s a delicate balance between having enough resources and enough forces.

“Ancient Wars: Sparta” also has some attractive environmental effects and animations, such as landslides and burning buildings, which increase excitement and add to the visual quality of a game that, overall, has a gritty, earthy feel.

The game looks great, whether it’s zoomed in taking a look at your carefully detailed buildings like the Acropolis or taking in the topography of the ancient world.

Plus, there’s a wide variety of units, from warriors to chariots and ships, and you can customize some weapon choices for your troops.

“Ancient Wars: Sparta” also has more powerful hero units that are still well-balanced – they’re stronger, such as the Spartan leader Leonidas, but not so strong that you can win a whole battle on their strength alone.

Gamers can start off the single-player part of the game in the sandals of the Spartan, Persian or Egyptian campaigns, which each have their own feel, although the stars of the show are the Spartans.

For some reason, everyone in this ancient world has a British accent – which is common with PC game voice-overs – but otherwise there’s lots of good ambience and dialogue.

The multiplayer online option features a number of maps that you can contest but there’s rarely anyone online to play against and the interface in general doesn’t have enough customization options.

You’ll need a fairly current gaming system to enjoy good performance.

It’s unfortunate that “Ancient Wars: Sparta” received a Mature (17-plus) rating, mainly due to blood splattering everywhere in big battles, as this game is well-suited for younger players or gamers new to RTS games.

But if you love everything Spartan and want to immerse yourself in their ancient world then “Ancient Wars: Sparta” is a solid RTS option.