300: March to Glory [PSP]

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Frank Miller's 300 is the latest comic snatched up by Hollywood and it's coming to a screen near you in March. And not just the big screen. With 300: March to Glory, you can enjoy your very own handheld god of war on the PSP's screen.

The comparisons to Sony's bloody action game are inevitable. 300: March to Glory and God of War are both games about powerful Spartans hacking and slashing their way to bigger and better powers. But there are some important differences. Firstly, 300 is drawn from the stylized world of Frank Miller's comic and director Zack Snyder's big screen adaptation.

The game's associate producer, Jeff Nachbaur, points out some unique elements of the graphics. "There are no sharp jagged edges. Everything has smooth clean lines. We wanted to keep that close to the film. It was kind of like creating a language." Even the color is based on the film, although within limits. The movie uses a method of processing that increases the contrast, desaturates the color, and then adds a sort of golden tint to everything. But whereas 300 the movie has an almost eerie monochromatic look, 300 the game is intentionally brighter to keep it more lively.

You don't touch the camera as you play. This lets the developers at Collision Studios control what you see, making more efficient use of the PSP's power. If you have any doubts about how well this can work, take a look what God of War accomplished with the aging Playstation 2. Besides, camera control is so passe. Not to mention a bit of problem when you've only got one analog stick. "It's all about fighting, not finding someone to fight," Nachbaur says, hacking apart attackers. There are showers of red blood and flying body parts. "I was showing it to [Warner Interactive Senior Vice President] Jason Hall. He said, 'We need more chunks'. Okay, more chunks it is." The M-rating was never in doubt.

Although it seems like you're wading through hordes of enemies, there are really only about five or six onscreen at once, in addition to a couple of helpful Spartans tagging along. The developers use what they somewhat jokingly call "horde technology". It spawns new enemies from just offsceen, so you're constantly in the thick of a battle.

"Arrow storm," Nachbaur notes, holding down both shoulder buttons to 'tuck tail'. His character, the Spartan king Leonidas, hunkers down under a shield while arrows quite literally rain down. It's preceded by a telltale horn and the light dimming slightly. "You'll start to notice it pretty quickly after you've played for a while. It keeps you on your toes."