Clash of the Titans

Clash Of The Titans

Rating: T

Score: 2.0/10

                There's something to be said about movie-to-game adaptations. Luckily, that something can be summed up in two words: be wary. Notorious for being rushed to market after the movie, and failing to deliver because of it, the games usually feeling empty, incomplete, repetitive, and buggy. Some are excellent though, such as Spiderman 2. Starting off, Clash Of The Titans seems different, because it certainly can't be called "rushed". Due to come out in March, it was not seen nor heard of until early August, when it popped out of nowhere (not that anyone was eagerly awaiting it's grace to our gaming systems). Never be fooled by first impressions though. This game is available on the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3.

                The story follows Perseus on his journey to find and kill Hades. Hmm...a story about a man fighting a god? Sounds familiar...like God Of War on the Playstation 2 did this story half a decade ago. Unoriginal, but it's based on a movie so we can cut it some slack there.

                The game is the tried-and-true hack-and-slash-your-way-through-hordes-of-enemies type of gameplay everyone has seen before, much like God of War. Each enemy drops magic and experiences points, like that old God Of War whose enemies dropped orbs of experience and magic. Killing bigger enemies involves Quick-Time Events, where a button appears on screen quickly and you must press that button as quickly as possible. Quick-Time Events are a neutral-hate thing: most gamers hate them, some are neutral to their existence. I remember another game where bigger enemies were killed by Quick-Time Events, and I bet you can guess which one. Seriously, this isn't funny, they’re butchering another series for a buck.

                You can upgrade weapons, not that it matters a whole lot since you get more weapons pretty quickly. You can go through the game without upgrading your weapons...and there's really nothing stopping you. The only thing is that some enemies will take needlessly long amounts of time to kill.

                Let's get something really clear: long time to kill does not, in any way, mean hard to kill. The developers obviously didn't know that, because some enemies have enough health to make a Final Fantasy boss feel inferior. I've seen some RPG use slow but strong bosses/enemies to fuel the need for agility and speed, but this is no RPG. Hacking at a tree with a stick isn't hard, which is the perfect representation of the combat. Enemy respawns are as lively as they always were, so you better start enjoying your thumb now because it will fall off once you're done.

                I also had a problem with the objectives being unclear at times. "But that doesn't sound like a big deal" I can hear you thinking. Well, consider everything I said above; the enemies respawn infinitely. Good for experience grinding, if you're into that sort of thing, but extremely annoying any other time. You won't even notice the enemies infinitely respawning until around the thirty-ish dead guy and you think "is there some alternative objective other than to kill all the enemies on screen for no real reason?" Which doesn't happen often, mind you, but it happens occasionally. This problem is every screen has about three ambush spots where you're attacked and can only pass after you kill X (usually a pretty large number) of enemies. So, the game's flawed design choice creates a flaw with itself. That's like eating something that taste awful for the sake of a friend/bet/etc, and then finding out you're allergic to that certain something.

                It's not like it's the worst game ever. Well, actually, it is. Unoriginal, poorly executed, boring, and it was delayed to allow time for improvement! Delayed for what reason, not that it matters. Even most bad games are original, or have some redeeming quality. This game's redeeming quality?  It's functional, for what's there. Otherwise, it can't be recommended to anybody: fans of the movie have the actual movie (because they delayed it so long the movie is actually on DVD now), fans of hack-and-slashers are playing better games like God Of War, and fans of bad games are enjoying their straitjackets where they will never be able to see this review due to fear of cutting themselves on the newspaper and they will never actually know it's a bad game. Thankfully, everyone can stay away from this title.

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