Deadliest Warriors

DLC Review from Jae - Saturday, 28 August 2010 @ 12:49pm

It took me a while to realise that Deadliest Warriors is a television series that is currently in its second season. It is a show about pitting fighters across history against each other so as to determine which one is the deadliest. Sounds like a no brainer, literally. A series about samurais, knights, pirates, Taliban and all sorts of fighters duelling it out. It pretty much screams “make a video game out of me!”. So that’s what Pipeworks Software did. A DLC title that is exclusive to the Xbox 360, Deadliest Warriors is all about blood, severed body parts and simplistic fun.
The character choices are limited but varied. Highlights for me are the Viking, Spartan, Apache and Ninja. Everyone has a different set of weapons, special attacks and attributes. A heavy character like a knight is slow whereas a ninja is nimble during combat. The knight will have strong armour whereas the ninja has little protection from deadly weapons. So there are basic trade offs to think about when selecting.

Aunt Flow came to visit Ninja early

The first thing you see when you boot up the game is a massive MA15+ Classification. This troubles me, firstly because it was a DLC title that was rated and secondly because it got a rating at all. Based on all the controversy of last year with violent games it seems the Classification Board have relaxed their stance on violence and let this one pass through. Surely the dismemberment of limbs, heads and the copious amounts of blood that bodies spew can’t be healthy for a 15 year old. Something in the back of my mind tells me the Board is staying out of the media limelight during the election year and Deadliest Warriors supports that theory. Arguments can be made to say that the violence is short and limited but if you’ve seen the things you can do to your opponents you won’t be able to fathom why this was allowed yet shooting infected humans wasn’t.
If this game came out at the regular retail price of $99.95 I would tell you to save your money as I could name 50 better fighting games. Since you’re only parting with 800 Microsoft points, or $16 in real people money, you can forgive the game’s short comings. Speaking of short you can finish an arcade sitting in about 5 minutes. Make that 2-3 minutes. Even in your first play through of this game you will manage to end a 60 second battle when the time counts down to 57. There are moves and combos, which if you’re taken off guard, will end your match quicker than you can say “Fighters are made to last”. Watch out for that Viking because if he spears you with his twin throw you’ll instantly drop to the ground. I understand that this is all part of the game but I find it too basic in concept.

Less talk more tomahawk

The game does default to hard difficulty so my suggestion is to drop it down to normal otherwise you will get put down badly during your first few rounds. Once you hit normal, against the AI, the mechanic of block, medium range attack, short range attack and another short range attack will more than likely win you the match. You have to take the match online to find that challenge that isn’t too easy or too hard. I’ve booted this game up on a Friday evening and found no online matches available. Either everyone’s too busy playing another game or my theory of short lived fun proves true.
It’s not all bad, there is plenty to do if you put the effort into exploring the whole game. Unlocking weapons and armour through the arcade mode can be fun and the survival mode gives you a challenging goal. In comparison to other 3D fighters, as far back as Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast, the extras are minimal. Then again it’s like comparing a pair of Bose headphones with a Virgin Airlines complimentary head set. You will get exactly what you pay for.

Pros

Simplistic fun
Blood.Gore.More blood.

Cons

Unsatisfying short rounds of battle.