Todd Mcfarlanes comic book character Spawn makes a 2nd appearance on Xbox. Appearing as an unlockable character exclusive to the Xbox version in Namcos Soul caliber 2. Spawn finally gets his own action adventure game.

Set in the dark recesses of a modern day city an unknown entity that only Spawn can see has entered the city. Its presence is causing demonic creatures to appear everywhere. As any super hero would do its up to Spawn to investigate and clear up the mess. Enter gamesplayer.

Gameplay:

Spawn is a typical 3rd person action adventure game, somewhat similar in design to Capcoms Devil May Cry. As the protagonist hero your job begins as you navigate the moody back allyways. It is here where the player is introduced to Spawn's signiture moves which include his chains. These can be used as an effective ranged piercing weapon or as a hoist to help Spawn reach hard to access areas. Spawn also has his trusty axe to decapitate demon heads for that up close and personal touch. Not content with his own armory of death dealing tools Spawn also wields various firearms such as pistols and shotguns. These guns can be upgraded between stages with the collected souls from defeated enemies.Other Spawn upgrades can also be purchased here to make Spawn even deadlier.

Combat is rather hack and slash in its delivery although extra points are awarded to players who execute enemies with a certain flair such as doing aerial moves. As Spawn Navigates the levels the enemies obviously get tougher and at times Spawn will encounter the typical Boss battle. These romps are rather cool but Spawn feels a little too powerful at times, unless you cant figure out the specific way to beat some of the bosses which then may lead to some controller throwing moments.

Whilst the main onus of the game is combat based Spawn also has to navigate the city. The slight platform/objective slant helps to break up the combat although there is not much diversity in terms of routes. Spawn is encouraged to seek out hidden comic book covers which can be viewed in the menu. These feature some nice artwork and is an excellent bonus for Fans.However if you wish to collect them all then you must be prepared to find them on all difficulties. This may go against your standards, but you will have to embark on playing easy mode as well.Tsk.

Graphics:

Graphically Spawn looks fairly decent although maybe not decent enough on Xbox. Especially after the very impressive CGI intro movie of Spawn.Some of the enemy character models look rather lame rather than the frightening creatures they are supposed to be. However I think the worse thing here is the animation and fluidity of movement. Although clunky, Spawns use of his axe is very limited in terms of moves available and movement. It seems to be too rigid for my tastes and when compared to the flair of games like Ninja Gaiden begins to appear lackluster and unrefined.

Sound:

Sound is also very standard fare for a game of this type with a rock influenced soundtrack and on the fly music for battles and investigation.The gunfire and axe slashes sound as you would expect and some reasonable voice acting is provided. Overall it works but is nothing memorable.

Longevity:

Spawn Offers a fairly decent adventure which wont take hardcore players long to complete. Casual players will take much longer navigating the levels and finding all of the comics may take quite some time. Spawn is a solo game so no multiplayer here.

Overall:

Spawn is a cool comic book character who has followed the path of other characters to make it into games. His Xbox appearance in his own game is great for Fans and ultimately this title will please those people the most. For anyone else and those looking for another hack and slash shooting aventure game may feel a little short changed as Spawn only really comes up as an average game overall. The slightly dull and unadventurous graphics really dont impress on Xbox and could have been better. The combat also could have been refined to offer more fluidity. With Ninja Gaiden already released in the US and Japan and soon to be in the UK I would say rent this game first as there are more entertaining similar games out there.