Spawn

Todd McFarlane's Spawn comic is one of the most revered mature comics of recent times. With its edgy, dark story, and love-to-hate-'em characters, Spawn has itself "spawned" a feature length motion picture, an animated HBO series, and countless action figures. There's also been a couple of video games along the way, but mostly these were met with little or no love from gamers. Namco is set to change that soon enough, however, with a new third-person action title being developed by Californian studio Point of View.

Spawn is due to rip the flesh off Xbox, PlayStation 2, and GameCube gamers later this year with its stylish brand of hell-fueled scrapping and slashing. McFarlane himself decided to get involved with the plotline and gameplay elements of the new title, and although he wasn't in the loop regarding character design and graphical representation, it's obvious after having played the latest build of Spawn that he's got nothing to fear -- the game looks and feels like Spawn should.

With a decent stretch of development time still remaining on the project, Point of View has thus far managed to craft a well-rounded 3D fighting game in a genre that really needs a kick in the ass to shake it up a little. The beauty of Spawn lies in McFarlane's rich universe which is one that perfectly suits over-the-top weapons, creatures, and action. Spawn himself is the perfect anti-hero. With his living demonic cape and his array of deadly combat weapons, enemies should be wary of this pissed-off fallen angel.

Without giving away the crux of the game away -- Namco is keen to keep the main twists of the story under wraps for Spawn gamers -- let's just say that Spawn is challenged with the epic task of saving humanity from certain destruction. Add into the mix a couple of trips to heaven and hell and you've got the beginnings of a great scenario for kicking evil in the pants on more than one occasion. Our lone hero must rely heavily on insane combat skills and a solid fighting engine that'll provide plenty of carnage along the 30 level journey. So far, Point of View seems up to the challenge.

I spent a little time recently playing with the Xbox and GameCube versions of Spawn up in Los Angeles. Namco reps were on-hand to fill me in on the mechanics of the game, and after a few demo sessions, I was able to jump into a few nearly finished levels of the game. It's also worth noting that Namco has drafted in a couple of members from the Japanese Soul Calibur II development team to help tweak out the final combat system. Spawn offers a myriad of crazy hand-to-hand weapons, not to mention a massive arsenal of big, big guns. Kicking off the lineup is Spawn's famous demonic cloak which grants the power of double jumps and the ability to glide around environments. When the cloak is not in use, it morphs into Spawn's SCII axe called Agony. Agony is a melee weapon that dishes out considerable damage at close quarters. A juggling combo system has also been implemented, allowing the player to fight multiple monsters at once, and enabling large scoring combo attacks to occur. Scoring technique points will additionally add to Spawn's score multiplier, giving the player the change to let rip with some SCII-style madness.

Next up are the mind-controller chains that sprout from Spawn's body. These fatal weapons can be used to flail the enemies into pieces, or to pick up and throw them around. Not enough? Then simply hold down the attack button with the chains and Spawn will take a slight pause before ripping a prone critter limb from limb. Nice. More carnage required? Then check out the fact that you'll also have access to dual mini-guns, a lethal short-ranged shotgun, a burst missile launcher, and the ever-so-tasty brimstone cannon. That's more than enough to wade through the countless faceless hordes of demons and angels that stand in Spawn's way.

Not content with old-fashioned weaponry? Then you'll be glad to learn that Spawn will be given access to around six different and unique hell powers -- or spells as I like to call 'em. Some range from defensive, such as the enhanced dash and speed spells, while others like the necroplasm ball and beam deal out otherworldly damage in a satisfying manner. Gameplay currently rides along other 3D third-person action titles, but with a silky smooth framerate and excellent character animation, the hacking, shooting, and maiming moves along at a great pace. Each environment will have tons of power-ups, weapon upgrades, and hidden areas to find and discover -- adding more replay value than simply just gutting all of the enemies found in a single area.

Graphically, the latest build of the game was looking equally sharp on both Xbox and GameCube. There's a widescreen mode planned for all three versions of Spawn, but hi-res progressive scan might not make it into the final game due to high graphical requirements.

One thing is for sure, however. This new incarnation of Todd McFarlane's most-prized creation is sure to appeal to fans of the comics, TV show, and action gamers alike. Its already way better than previous Spawn video games, so if you like your single-player gaming with a twist of sinister violence, you'd do a lot worse than to check out Namco's Spawn closer to the holidays.