Spawn: Armageddon might strike you as a run-of-the-mill action title at first blush. It starts off so simple, with nothing more than hacking and slashing through wave after wave of mindless demons, that you can’t help but think, "is this all there is?" for the first few minutes. Namco, never being one for simplicity, quickly ups the action ante by hooking Spawn up with some serious artillery, including one very large battle axe, hell power spells and some really nasty spiked chains. As you progress through the levels, you’ll pick up a few extras like the shotgun, pistols and minigun to round out your arsenal. And of course Spawn’s demonic cape is available right from the start, allowing you to drift through certain areas of the game with ease. Each weapon has a specific use against the opposition and a specific effect on Spawn. The chains, for example, can be used to grab and hold an enemy, or rend him to tiny little pieces, but while you’re happily making kibble out of an imp, you can’t move. Grab a heavy weapon such as the rocket launcher or mini-gun, and you’ll discover Spawn suddenly becomes much less fleet of foot. As with most other action titles, weapons and hell powers can be upgraded, in Spawn: Armageddon this is done by gathering up the souls of the critters you dispatch throughout the game.

For an early preview, this game is looking good in the graphics department. On the PlayStation 2 build, the framerate was smooth with fluid motion all around. Even the camera, typically a weak point for most action games, tracks the action without any hesitation. Spawn’s cloak opens and closes with a smoothness I don’t recall seeing in too many games. Even the weapons feature some nice graphical touches, like the blood on the axe after it’s split a few skulls, or the ripple of the chains as they lash out at the enemy. The only letdown in the graphics is the level designs and textures, or lack thereof. The levels are obviously still a work in progress, as they lack the richness of detail that you’d see in the comic books and are pretty empty, and the textures are as minimalist as you can get.

As a whole, Spawn: Armageddon is shaping up to be a good game for fans of the comic books and anyone who enjoys the action genre. In typical Namco fashion, the game shows a lot of flair that takes it beyond being just a simple button masher. Look for Spawn: Armageddon to hit shelves this November.