In the mid-90s Spawn was one of the most popular comics on the market. It consistently ranked among the top10 Diamond Comics best sellers list for years. In my opinion Spawn managed to hold on to its popularity longer than its Image comics contemporaries thanks to smart brand management from Todd McFarlane. Naturally aside from the HBO cartoon a video game followed and it is interesting. Jim Lee’s Wild C.A.T.S. came first but that game was dire. Spawn fares better but still suffers from numerous flaws that keep it from being the solid game it could have been.
A renegade crusader named the Mad One has kidnapped thirteen children to use their souls to power his Orb of Purity. The Mad One ultimately plans to use this orb to overthrow Malebolgia, the ruler of the dead. Unfortunately one of the children is Al Simmon’s stepdaughter Cyan. And so begins the race against time to save the children and the world.
Spawn is not a Castlevania style action game like you would expect but instead is a side scrolling brawler. It’s an odd choice of genre and certainly wouldn’t have been my first choice for the series. With its rich art and mythos Spawn could have been a game to rival Castlevania. Okay maybe not but it had potential. Instead due to its clumsy controls, awkward platforming, and artificial difficulty we are left with an average brawler at best.
Spawn is equipped with a large arsenal of moves for a brawler. Aside from the standard punch combo you can perform dash attacks, a rising uppercut, and a drill kick. One thing to note is that most enemies fall down after a single hit. You won’t be performing a multi-hit combo here which makes combat a little unsatisfying. The game doesn’t focus on busting heads all the time as there is a decent amount of platforming. It takes a page out of Mega Man X, allowing you to slide down walls to traverse the environment. It is nothing too complicated but does break up the monotony somewhat.
The game goes a step further and includes one of the most iconic elements from the early parts of the series. The necroplasm counter starts at 9:9:9:9 and can be used to power a large range of attacks. Using a series of Street Fighter style button combinations Spawn can cast various spells such as healing, teleportation and different fireballs. Necroplasm is finite and cannot be replenished. That being said it is large enough that you can spam magic without being that conservative.
The game’s depth mostly relies on this system unfortunately it is frustrating. Anyone who has played the SNES version of Fatal Fury knows the pain of terrible button recognition. Spawn has the same problem. I know my way around a quarter circle and yet found it almost impossible to reliably cast more than one or two spells. The fault mostly relies on having to hold the block button in combination with the various button sequences, and yes it is just as stupid as it sounds. Trying to pull these moves off in combat never works out well, defeating the purpose of their existence. It’s sad it doesn’t work as the game desperately needed the depth.
The wonky controls already make playing Spawn a chore at times. But the insane difficulty is what ultimately dooms it. This is one of the hardest games I’ve played in a while for all the wrong reasons. First things first, you have a single life. There are no health power-ups; instead you have a spell that fully heals but uses a decent amount of magic power. You can use it at any time but need to bear in mind that magic is finite. The game is riddled with cheap hits left and right and suspect enemy placement. It’s no fun being riddle with bullets from a distant enemy before you can close the distance. No one likes being knocked into a pit by badly placed drones. And the bosses? These are some of the worst hit sponges I’ve come across in a while. Literally everything went wrong.
It’s a damn shame the game suffers so badly mechanically as its high production values are wasted. Obviously the SNES can’t capture Todd McFarlane’s intricate artwork but the game still does a great job offering highly detailed environments and sprites. The frequent cutscenes between levels do make use of his art though. The game covers a lot of ground as you move from the city streets to a varied depiction of Hell. Most of the major characters from the series make cameos such as Angela, the Violator, and even the Redeemer. The animation isn’t that impressive but this still remains a visually pleasing package. Too bad most won’t tolerate its flaws to see all of it.
In Closing
I really wanted to like Spawn but its numerous issues are simply too much. There are far better brawlers to spend your money on rather than trying to navigate this game’s flaws. The license deserved better and sadly it gets even worse after this.
