I am a big fan of hoplite games, just like ninjas were all the craze of 80ties and samurai in 90ties so hoplites were craze of 00ies after the great movies that have obviously inspired this game - 300 and Troy. Indeed the western world has their own badass warriors and trough greek hoplites we the western world suddenly remembered that they don't have to always look to Asia for martial arts and melee combat glory. Thanks to the author for making this.
The gameplay was fun although repetitive. The 3d Graphics were very good and music was fitting.
It's a very good thing this game has full-screen option, giving a lot of immersion. It's also nice that you can use 1-4 key instead of mouse. It allows for faster and simultaneous function of various troops and removes the cursor from battlefield.
A few things to improve:
- Judging from the intermission screens seems you only got inspired by Holywood movies and some modern sensibilities. It would have been much better if you made more of your own research into Greek history and mythology and would make better lore screens. For instance the selection of Great "heroes" named in one intermission lore screen lists actual heroes like Hercules and Achilles with mere historic figures like Menelaus and Agamemnon and second tier heroes like Ajax. It's clear you took them from the Troy movie. It looks as if you are not aware that Odysseus, which doesn't do much in that movie (aside from actually being the one who wins the war) is a greater Greek hero then they all except Hercules combined and has his own epos as big as the whole Iliad (story of Troy ) and should be in this list instead. Also you could have used Jason, Bellerophon, Perseus - all great Greek heroes who actually deserve much more inclusion and mention and would have inspired actual ancient Greeks. You focus too much on Holywood Greece and too little on actual Greece and that is an alarming historical revisionism tendency. Also saying modern things like wishing for a place with no kings and everybody being a God inside an all this new agey wishy washy liberal stuff was out of theme and would sound as nonsensical to any ancient Greek as it actually does sound now to any serious person who doesn't buy cheap platitudes.
-The only danger in the game obviously comes from archers, because it's the only time when timing and defensive action is required. Other then that it's just endless stabbing with occasional optional javelin throw. With exception of Immortals being tougher, every level is basically the same. More different enemy types and more different abilities of your own soldiers would have added a lot of depth to this game making it more epic.
-It's also somewhat disappointing you can't see your own archers. While it does leave more space for battle to be seen - couldn't you just make a wider screen?
- The last level and the snowman bonus level are unending levels of highscore making. It would have been great if you would make a global list so that players could compare their scores. Newgrounds API provides such an option, too bad you didn't use it.
On overall I give the score as high as it is for mostly originality. I haven't seen such a game before. But were such games common I would reduce score due to many reasons listed above. I hope you continue to develop this concept and come up with a sequel that has more combat commands, more troop types, different scenarios, more versatile gameplay and more Greek lore taken from the actual history and myths rather then Holywood adaptations. I am a big fan of Hoplite themed games and movies and would love to see this concept developed further.