Deadliest Warrior Review
Video games based on television shows tend to fare worse than movie games in terms of quality, so is Deadliest Warrior any different?
Deadliest Warrior, the Spike TV show, is all about pitting some of the most legendary warriors all across time and space against one another through several simulations and, what they would call, experiments. Deadliest Warrior: The Game brings some of the show’s most memorable warriors to battle one on one in the classic fighting game style. It seems that the trend for video games based on television shows tend to fare even worse than movie games in terms of quality, so is Deadliest Warrior: The Game any different? Well, kind of.
Deadliest Warrior looks great for a downloadable title. Although it pales a bit in comparison to the most top-notch of downloadables like Battlefield 1943, it more than suitably portrays the gore and animations required to make the fights as over the top and ridiculous as they are meant to be. Gameplay graphics aside, the game’s presentation is pretty poor. Simple and poorly designed menus are rife with repetitive sound effects and not a single shred of music except for one string of notes that plays at the beginning of every single fight. Give it time; it’ll start to grind on you.
From a singleplayer perspective, Deadliest Warrior grows tiresome very quickly. A lack of a true story mode or campaign leaves only a short Arcade mode to be played over and over again. Due to the game’s unusual difficulty settings, singleplayer will either be extremely difficult on the game’s default “Hard” setting, so easy even a baby could win on the game’s “Easy” setting, and near impossible on “Deadliest.” Other than the Arcade mode, a few uninspired challenge modes can be unlocked as well as a slew of weapons but they do little to change the gameplay overall.
It is in multiplayer that Deadliest Warrior shines most brightly. While I was entirely unable to connect to any multiplayer matches over Xbox Live through the game’s archaic server list style of matchmaking, I did spend a majority of my time playing local multiplayer. When sat alongside a friend on the couch, the game takes off and really shows off its best qualities. The ridiculous fights, capable of being won with a single well-paced musket shot or an accurately timed arm-removing slash of the sword, had me and my friends screaming in excitement at one another from across the room. In this venue, the game’s cheesiness is played for laughs and its lackluster fighting system is easily overlooked for its pure entertainment value.
Overall, Deadliest Warrior: The Game is nothing special and certainly something that shouldn’t be on the radar of any die hard fighting game fan. Instead, it is a game meant to be picked up and played in the company of friends bored with their current selection of games. In this environment, the game is an absolute blast and something that any fan of the television show would certainly enjoy as well. If this sounds like your thing, consider picking it up, but if not, you won’t miss too much by skipping it.
Our ratings for Deadliest Warrior: The Game on Xbox 360 out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
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