Arkadian Warriors

At one time the warriors, blessed by the goddess, could freely change into animal shape, but with a lasting time of peace, that need fell by the wayside. But there is new evil in the lands and so the warriors called to defend it must re-awaken that arcane power as they battle to protect the people and banish the Gorgon presence. 

Arkadian Warriors is a downloadable game for the 360 from the Xbox LIVE marketplace. The Sierra title is your basic dungeon crawl, with 19 levels that must be explored. There are three character classes (soldier, archer and sorcerer) that you level as you hack your way through wave after wave of monster in progressive dungeons.

If you have played Gauntlet on a console, then you have a strong idea of the gameplay here … with a console Baldur’s Gate mechanic thrown in. How? You battle in the dungeon, collect gold and other booty, then head to town and sell off what you can’t use (after equipping what you can use), and buy items there that might be of benefit. You can also find potions in your rounds, which automatically drop into slots on the D-pad, which makes them easily accessible.

That is likely on the strengths of this title – it is accessible.

The game begins in a village that acts as the central hub for all 19 levels of dungeon crawling. You talk to a merchant, get the quest which then opens a portal to the dungeon where the quest can be completed. You have to explore most of the dungeons in order to complete the quest simply because there may be a key you need to open a gate to the next section. The quest string for the first mission is fairly indicative of the game as a whole – you are tasked with killing wild pigs, 16 of them to be exact. The dungeon has different levels, with staircases leading to the next level down. Once you leave a level within the dungeon, you can’t go back up to it. And you can’t access the staircases until you have killed all the boars on that particular level.

Each of the characters has three meters – health, mana and the special meter that fills up as you kill beasts. Get that full and you can activate your bestial alter ego, which comes in three forms depending on the profession you select at the start. However, while very cool and though the bestial forms do great damage, there is a moment when you decide to activate them that may have you thinking you made a bad decision. To activate the alter form, you hold down the Y button. But the transformation is not instantaneous. You stand there, taking damage from enemy swarms until you finally change shape. Not the best of gameplay decisions made by the development team.

As you gain experience, your character will level and unlock new skills. These are tied to the controls and firing off a spell, using a melee or ranged weapon is easy enough. And the AI is not overly bright either, which makes for more of a dash ‘n slash fest than a challenging strategic hack ‘n slash event.

The game has a single-player mode and a two-player multiplayer co-op mode. The co-op mode differs only in how you open doors to other areas of the dungeon and there did seem to be the occasional problem of one character locking up for seconds at odd times. The doors in co-op are weight-switch triggers. And though the game has a rotatable camera, players need to stay close to each other otherwise you can’t advance through the dungeon as a unit. You can only separate as wide as the screen is, then you can’t go any further.

Graphically the game is solid, but not exceptional. The game uses an isometric vantage point. The monsters are colorful enough, and the levels are decent, but the game’s repetitive nature does drag down the overall experience after the three mission. The sound is mediocre.

Arkadian Warriors suffers from the repetitiveness of the gameplay. It is not a bad game, for the first couple of levels, but the multiplayer does not significantly change the experience from the single-player campaign. Yes, the challenge ante is up marginally, but two players – playing relatively smart – should not have a problem. This is an arcade hack ‘n slash adventure that could have been more, but fell well short.

Gameplay: 6.0
After a level or three, the repetition begins to drag the experience down. The game is very accessible, though.

Graphics: 7.0
The environments are somewhat repetitive though the monsters are done reasonably well and the game can be bright and colorful in areas.

Sound: 5.5
Better turned down low.

Difficulty: Easy

Concept: 6.0
Been there, done that, and it’s been done better.

Multiplayer: 6.0
The challenge does not increase dramatically, and the game will support up to two players either on the same machine or you can find a friend online.

Overall: 6.0
When all is said and done, the fun factor suffers from the repetition, and the game – while it fits the download concept well, and is a good arcade idea – stumbles in places that should have been shining moments. Arkadian Warriors is too much like Gauntlet, without the cleverness of the levels.