
The legacy of King Leonidas is once again subject to adaptation, but this time instead of a historical epic based around the Battle of Thermopylae, you've got an arcade platformer that promises to test your mettle among your Spartan peers. But will you be kicking your Switch down the pit instead of Persian emissaries? Read on…
Since this is a 2D platformer built using the Unreal Engine there are no performance issues on Nintendo Switch in both portable or docked modes, always clocking in at a stable 60fps. It's clearly labelled as a homage to old arcade titles such as Super Ghost ’n Ghouls (from where it borrows the double-jump) and, as such, you should be prepared to die often and frequently before you eventually learn how to clear certain sections from the game’s challenging 24 levels set across four distinct worlds. No one ever said it was easy to be the King of Sparta.

King Leonidas (well, the cute super deformed interpretation of him) wakes up one day to find Sparta sacked of its weapons, armour and gold. Instead of leading an army of 300 equally amusing super deformed spartans, he decides to take on this quest alone to recover everything and punish whoever is behind this cowardly attack. As far as homages go to retro platformers with nearly non-existent plot-lines, this is certainly a 'spartan' effort.
The game wisely starts you on a tutorial level that will quickly explain all King Leo can do: you can jump and double-jump (a risk-reward mechanic that can both save or kill you if used improperly) with ‘B’, run spending limited but self-recharging stamina with ‘ZR’, wall cling and wall jump (on certain surfaces only), swipe you sword with ‘Y’, raise your shield forward and upwards with ‘L’ or ‘ZL’ plus a direction and push boxes with ‘R’. This is the complete set of skills that the game will require you to master to tackle its mix of platforming challenges and boss battles.

King Leo is very floaty for a spartan, though. He's not exactly hard or frustrating to control, but you will need to always be ready to compensate for his momentum, especially in mid-air. Particular hard sections in the levels will make you completely master certain classic platforming tropes in order to progress, but thankfully several checkpoints spread on the big, non-linear levels meant that frustrations usually doesn't settle in before you can achieve progress. This is, however, very subjective to each individual player and as such your mileage may vary on this point; There is a really great feeling of achievement when you finally clear a particularly tricky section (of which there are many), but whether you'll be throwing your Joy-Cons before doing so it is truly a matter of personal perseverance and patience. Old-school retro gameplay mechanics working at their finest.
The cute and colourful, mobile-ish art assets might trick you into thinking this is a kid friendly, casual platformer but this is anything but that. The music is rather nice, with some ethnic flair to it and the sound effects do their duty. It's not the best looking or best sounding platformer on the ever growing impressive range of Switch platformers, but for what it offers, it does so with competence.
Issues do arise on some level design choices. It's possible to accidentally activate previous checkpoints after having progressed past them, making you lose several minutes of hard working through tricky sections. The default difficulty 'Spartan' setting can be changed to ‘Wimp’ - which gives you three extra hearts you can call up at any time with ‘X’ to refill your energy - but since most of the challenges are either of the platforming nature or one-hit kill traps it doesn't really make much of a difference. These certainly put a dent in King Leo’s otherwise competent adventure.
Conclusion
Spartan is the agōgē of platforming video games: If you manage to clear it all the way you will be able to say you have conquered an extremely hard video game. However, and much like the Spartans of old, we doubt you will be having a very good time while at it. There is nothing particularly wrong or game breaking about the whole package that often hits the hammer right on the nostalgia feelings for old 16-bit platformer fans, but we can’t fully recommend it because of the usual suspects also being also available on the system (Celeste, Slime-san, Little Triangle and, eventually, Maldita Castilla EX).
Comments 33
Fun fact: One of my all time top 10 GameCube games.
Funnier fact: This review is my 200th Nintendo Life published post in almost three years freelancing for the site. Are you not entertained!?
...oh sorry, wrong movie. Well then... 'I shall write reviews in the shade'? Nope? Sorry, I got nothing...
@Shiryu Congradulations! 👏
@SimplyCinnamon53 Domo arigato.
"To @Shiryu, and his brave 200." Hahah
@GrailUK Should be able to keep the Persian army busy for a couple of weeks at least.
Eh, I kind of like my hard games to feel worthwhile.
Honestly the game looks like trash so I'm surprised it got this high of a score.
@wratih9 Oh its all rather funcional and it does what it says: tests your skills (and patience) to the limits. But sadly and despite the likeable Leonidas sprite, some of the other art assets fall short and degrade the overall package.
@Shiryu True story: a few years ago I tried to order that game from NewEgg since it was the only place I could find a new copy at the time. Both times I ordered it, NewEgg sent me a pair of really old headphones instead. NewEgg customer support was baffled as to why that was, but they finally sent me the game and let me keep the old headphones.
@AlphaElite So you could slay thousands of Romans quietly, without disturbing your neighbours.
I am really tired of indie platformers on the Switch, by now it needs to be something really special for me to consider it.
looks like a nice and fun game but very cheap too. But the price is not cheap enough, not even nearly. I am sure it will be on discount very soon and then it will be a more fair deal.
@Palom I guess he would have to...
( •_•)>⌐■-■
...use his imagination.
(⌐■_■)
Another random mediocre side scrolling game for the eShop.
@JayJ I feel the same way.
But the real question is can I kick an enemy into a huge hole...in slo-mo?
@mjharper No. ='(
@mjharper Only if you do it in a Scottish accent.
I was watching a video of it and it looked very basic. This game might not be bad in a drought of good games, but the Switch, thankfully, is not lacking in better content. This review confirms what I already thought, it's a basic, but not terrible generic platformer.
So replaying Spartan Total Warrior on Cube would be a better way to pass my time then.
I will save my money and do that instead I think.
Man, I started playing this for a review. Thankfully other important games came along to take priority. Otherwise I would have teared it a new one.
Would have been amazing if you did have 300 Spartans following you around. Think of it as a game-length version of this scene:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoLQOa50BXs
@Agramonte If anything, Nintendo Switch is full of beautiful side scrolling games.
Fully expected a review score of 300/10...
fun fact.... the devil owes me 5 bucks
Hey @Shiryu, I have a question about your review if that's all right.
There were a couple lines of this nature here, but this one in particular struck me:
"There is nothing particularly wrong or game breaking about the whole package that often hits the hammer right on the nostalgia feelings for old 16-bit platformer fans, but we can’t fully recommend it because of the usual suspects also being also available on the system (Celeste, Slime-san, Little Triangle and, eventually, Maldita Castilla EX)."
I may be misunderstanding, but this makes it sound like Spartan would earn a recommendation (and thus, maybe even another star) if the usual suspects weren't available on the Switch. And, well, shouldn't a review judge and score a game based solely on its own merits, rather than directly comparing it to other titles on the market?
I can see direct comparisons being drawn if a game was clearly meant as a spiritual successor/clone or contains tightly similar gameplay, but in this instance it strikes me rather unfair.
Perhaps there's been some platformer fatigue going around NL lately (as parts of the Shadow Bug review would also strongly suggest), but I think it'd be a shame if new games are more apt to suffer lower scores influenced by market saturation. What are your thoughts?
@JayJ 2D platforming genre has revived quite nicely. But it also means we have a lot of rap to sift through to find the gems again
I had a feeling Spartan would be, well, spartan.
@dahkuToby I would be making a disservice to everyone if I completely ignored the rest of the Switch landscape. I always take into account alternatives and the price point of digital games. As such my final score reflects the game on its own merits, with the other games I mentioned as viable alternatives for people looking into better 2D platforming hard challenges. If it was an absolutely original game like in the case of my reviews of Neonwall and Membrane, the final score also takes into account the game uniqueness. Plus Spartan clearly claims to be inspired by games like Ghosts'n Goblins so ignoring the existence of other games would be in fact severe omission from the review IMO.
tl;dr Even if there were no other 2D platform games on the system, my review would still be of 6/10 because of my past experience with other titles of the genre. The games it plays tribute to, despite decades old, remain far superior choices.
PS: I also considered this was a two brother effort at a 2D platforming game using Unreal Engine.
@Cosats Just like Xbox was full of "high-end graphics" FPS.
The presentation does not change the fact that it is just more of the same.
Looks terrible.
@Shiryu Hey, thanks for your response.
If Spartan clearly claims to be inspired by games like Ghosts'n Goblins, then might it have been more fair to directly compare it to those games rather than, say, Celeste? Comparing trailers, Spartan looks to deliver more of a generalized hack'n slash, coin-collecting adventure with health and everything, while Celeste seems a very different type of platformer focused entirely on precision and mobility. That is to say, the two seem far enough apart on the gaming spectrum that someone who would enjoy Spartan might be turned off by Celeste (or vise versa) regardless of review scores.
That said, your choice of words that, "The games it plays tribute to, despite decades old, remain far superior choices," sounds like a fair assessment and, if that line were in the review, it wouldn't have given me pause. Whereas implying that Spartan "often hits the hammer right on the nostalgia feelings for old 16-bit platformer fans" but loses a recommendation merely because Celeste and company happen to be on the same system, is what struck me as unfair. It could also give the impression that the game lost marks for not being something it wasn't really trying to be.
As for the disservice of completely ignoring the rest of the Switch landscape, hmm... Well, naturally it's impossible not to draw from past experiences that define one's taste, opinions and standards, but personally I tend to see reviews as things that analyze and rate the game, leaving it for the consumer to then consider and compare with similar titles as they see fit. Judging it based on the broader Switch landscape means opening the door for scenarios in which GameA might get an 8/10 if reviewed early in a platform's life, but might only get 7/10 if reviewed after GameB gets a 9/10 and raises the bar on said platform.
To be clear, I was and am not implying that's how things work around here (and your response assures that you're considerate of all angles). Recommending alternative titles to readers certainly has merit in a crowded digital market, but I hope my example conveys what I see as an opening for potentially harmful misunderstandings for readers (and perhaps even unintended developer heartaches) when a review mentions other titles directly in this fashion.
@dahkuToby Glad I was able to at least clarify one reader for now. As most people will tell you, I will reply to any enquiries anyone makes on this pages with as much clarity as possible.
On sale on Switch until 21/1. Only 1,19€ now. On Steam 9 out of 9 recommends the game. Seems really solid. Downloading it now. It just got a huge update.
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