XBLA IMPRESSIONS: "Deadliest Warrior Legends"

I'm a history buff, and I absolutely love shows about world history. I'm no stranger to the Deadliest Warrior television show. I love their accurate, and scientific portrayal of the imagined duels between various world warriors. When I owned my PS3 I actually tried out the first Deadliest Warrior game, and I wasn't too impressed. The combat system was a bit lacking, but the concept was very intriguing. A couple of days ago 'Deadliest Warriors Legends' was released as an XBLA title, and I was anxious to see how the developer had improved the game.


After I downloaded the trial and started it up I was amazed at the starting menu presentation itself. The music added an extra kick to the gameplay I was to enjoy. I noticed that the menu had several different options this time around. It featured both a single player, and multiplayer option. Unfortunately I only had the trial version so I was unable to sample the online multiplayer. I noticed that the game featured leaderboards as well as achievements. I'm a huge fan of leaderboards, and getting the highest rank, so I was definitely glad this was included.


Single player mode had multiple options like arcade, practice, training, and battle. Battle was the only availble mode of play in the trial version, and it featured only two playable warriors. I was both surprised, and very glad to see that 'Vlad the Impaler' was included. This definitely got my undivided attention. Being the Dracula fan that I am I was thrilled to see him included in the game. The other warrior was 'Alexander the Great' which I wasn't too impressed with. Each general/warrior in the game has three different types of weapons to choose from. Vlad's weapons included a scimitar style Turkish sword, a spear that looked as if it came out of a Castlevania game (I thought this was very cool), and the choice of a crossbow. The fighters also had two different outfits to choose from. I really liked Vlad's armor suit the best.

Combat in Deadliest Warrior: Legends actually felt more user friendly than the first title in the series. While the combat was still simple it also had a more realistic feel to it. I think it definitely kept true to the historical aspect of the combat. During my battles I was able to severe another warrior's leg, and even got a spear chucked into my head. The blood, and gore is definitely more realistic this time around. I can't wait to see some fatalities. In the end I found the combat controls to be very user friendly, and switching between weapons was made simple.

If I had any issues with this game at all it would be the voice overs. I noticed Alexander's voice didn't match his mouth movements. I'm not sure if this game was originally developed in Japan, but with the voice overs presented like they were it would seems so. That is basically the only flaw I saw in the game. The combat system, Vlad the Impaler, and all the available options made this game a 'must buy' title for me. I hope to get the game soon, so I can sample some online multiplayer.