Troy

We’ve all heard about the film 300 and how fierce the Greek fighters were back in the day (going back about 2,000 years ago). If you have paid attention in class, you may have even learned about other Greek warriors, the Trojans – who came from Troy.

As loathed as I am to say it, the movies in all their glossy Hollywood fashion have really made my fascination with history grow far more than a dusty old text-book ever could. Although the Amercianized adaptations should be taken with a pretty big pinch of salt, they are based on some truth as is this game.

Troy, focuses on the two princes of the kingdom, Hector and Paris who’ve been invited by Menelaus (King of Sparta) in an attempt to make peace between the warring sides. However Paris falls in love with Helen of Troy (the wife of Menelaus) and this is where things start to go a little pear-shaped for peace.

You start your game as Paris armed with just a sword and shield roaming around the various platform streets and buildings that make up Sparta. Along the way you will find some fairly easy to defeat soldiers who are armed with spears. Within two slashes of your sword they lay in a heap at your feet. However, it’s not all that simple, you will quickly end up discovering that not all opponents are nearly as easy to overcome and you will have to time your defensive poses more than your offensive ones.

The graphics are fairly low resolution and are certainly not as slick as many other titles available on the market. The sound effects are pretty standard and offer little extra to the overall game. Movement of your character is arguably the lowest point in the game – taking what could be a rather exciting adventure through the mean streets of Greece and turning it into a rather prolonged and agonising exploration into seeing just how long you can endure slugging it out.

So sadly this game resembles the history lessons I hated when I was at school more than the computer game of my dreams. This being said, I did find myself keep trying to play the game and learn from the mistakes (namely dying at the hands of one particularly tough soldier) and getting further into the game. Sadly, despite my efforts, I wasn’t able to beat the soldier and eventually quit to lick my wounds.

Although it’s tempting to blame the game for your mistakes, but in truth, it really is its fault! For example, you can’t defend yourself against a spear-chucking Spartan soldier when you can’t see the spear and only notice it’s hit you when either your health points go down or your character falls down dead! The controls could have been a little better in terms of layout for me (being right handed) as the # key is what brings up your shield. Trying to use this with your left hand whilst trying to roam about and slash at your opponent’s is quite an impressive trick to pull off successfully.

Rating 61%

Positives

A good lesson in Greek history brought to life in a pretty ambitious hack-n-slash platform game

Enjoyable should you be able to use the keys and overcome the poor controls

Quite addictive

Negatives

Terrible controls hamper this game throughout

Short missions but some easy and some impossibly tough opponent’s make it a bit choppy

Very repetitive action, e.g. no other weapons other than your sword and shield to use

Bad graphics and sluggish movements