Xbox Live Arcade doesn't have much in the way of dungeon crawlers, with the possible exception of Gauntlet, which isn't really a dungeon crawler. Enter Arkadian Warriors from Sierra Online and Wanako (Assault Heroes). Arkadian Warriors aims to fill the gap in Xbox Live Arcade's roster. Honestly, we're a little surprised no one jumped on this genre before, as it's really a pretty good fit for Live Arcade. We took the trial version of the game for a spin, read on for some detailed impressions.
Let's get it out of the way, if you've played Baldur's Gate, Diablo, or even Phantasy Star Universe / Online, you know what to expect. You enter a hub village, find a villager and accept a quest, enter a dungeon, complete quest, and repeat. As with most games of this sort, the drive of the game is centered around leveling your characters and acquiring new gear, items, and abilities. The trial version is pretty limited in this respect, but even the brief foray into the game hints at the addictive nature inherent to the genre.
The trial version of Arkadian Warriors gives players access to a single mission and one character class, the Soldier. Said mission is the typical first mission of most dungeon crawlers, i.e. "we're being terrorized by a horde of [small monster X], please slay all of them." The monsters in question here are wild boars and their (strangely bipedal) leader. In an interesting twist, once you accept the quest, a portal to the dungeon immediately opens, saving you the trouble of hoofing it there yourself. Once in the dungeon, you're assaulted by all manner of beasties from giant spiders to crabs to chimeras. It's sort of a weird mishmash of monsters that don't really seem to fit together honestly, but we were too busy slashing and hacking to really care.
Speaking of which, the combat is about as simple as could be. You just mash the A button and that's pretty much it. Magic attacks and special abilities are mapped to the B button. As you fight, you build up your "alter ego" meter. Once the meter is full, pressing the Y button transforms your character into a powerful beast form -- a Dragon, Phoenix, or Lion, depending on your character -- capable of destroying most monsters in one blow. It's a neat little feature and it can save your bacon when surrounded by monsters of every stripe.
Now, for the potentially addictive part. We only managed to find one piece of equipment in the trail version (a helmet), but the full game boasts over 200 items. Not a ton of items, but certainly adequate for a ten dollar XBLA game. The equipment does actually show up on your character when equipped, which is a nice touch. As for abilities, each character has five different abilities that are acquired as you gain levels. The last one is earned at level 14, so we don't expect the game to be terribly long.
As it stands, Arkadian Warriors is a competent, solid dungeon crawler. With three character classes, online and local co-op, and randomly generated dungeons, it seems like a pretty safe 800 MS Point investment. Look at it this way: with luck, it might hold you over until Too Human and Sacred 2 are released.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-13-2007 @ 4:45PM
Jonah Falcon said...
It's Gauntlet: Dark Legacy mixed with Ys.
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12-13-2007 @ 4:53PM
Gavin said...
I'll give it a whirl...these types of games are right up my alley.
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12-13-2007 @ 4:58PM
akatsuki said...
Given the low limits on stuff, it sounds like a penny-and-nickel DLC fest. Oh, you want THAT sword... That'll be 150 points, and btw, levels 15-18 cost 300 points.
We shall see, but I just have that feeling.
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12-13-2007 @ 4:58PM
razzleson said...
Arkadian Warriors is the definition of awesome.
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12-13-2007 @ 5:33PM
Homer 918 said...
I don't know where you buy your dictionaries but you need to look elsewhere. This game is most definitely not awesome, it's just barely alright.
12-13-2007 @ 5:03PM
itsburnsie said...
Thanks for the write-up Richard!
This should be waiting for me when I get home from work today, I'm going to give it a shot.
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12-13-2007 @ 5:03PM
petersjov said...
Hi,
Looks and feels cheap, if you like RGP, even hack and slash let get som deeber gameplay = More fun - Do gamers really look that stupid ?? - you can really run around button smashing without thinging and still bet the demo, but it seems llike a nice kids game.
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12-13-2007 @ 5:06PM
Sathan said...
I picked up Gripshift (the other XBLA game) and I am really enjoying it. It has a very large amount of content. From the single challenges to races to deathmatch it is definitely worth checking out.
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12-13-2007 @ 5:11PM
Tony said...
I don't really think it's terribly more simplistic than, say, Dark Alliance. It's certainly not as long or deep, but the core gameplay is the same. Run around and mash the button and cast some spells sometimes. It turns out to be quite enjoyable.
I think anything beyond that would probably require something more than $10 to make it worth it for the developer. I still don't get why the 360 never got Titan Quest, for example.
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12-13-2007 @ 5:54PM
Knight Marquise said...
I gave it a whirl, and it's a nice game. I hate the camera, though, it's a bit wonky, other then that, I think Richards review is spot on.
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12-13-2007 @ 6:06PM
Riot9 said...
I had the exact same reaction. The X axis camera is inverted and there is no way to change it. It also rotates very, very slowly. I know some may think it's a small thing, but for me it was a deal breaker.
I kind of enjoyed it for what it was, but I just can't deal with crappy camera controls.
12-13-2007 @ 7:00PM
Courtney said...
I played the first level on the demo last night and was just kind of meh about it. Would have been nice if they had unlocked at least offline co-op in the demo. That's something I don't get with the live games that support co-op. Why lock that in the demo? Does it matter if 2 people play it for 10 minutes versus only 1 person. The attraction to something like this for me is playing it with someone else, let me demo that experience out.
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12-13-2007 @ 7:34PM
Occasio said...
It this game had a level maker it would be awsome
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12-13-2007 @ 8:04PM
ccc said...
Its a solid buy and a very welcome addition to the arcade.
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12-14-2007 @ 3:21AM
Gavin said...
After playing the demo I would say that it is a solid $10 game which I would have instantly bought afterwards except I've spent my weekly MS points budget on Rock Band songs.
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12-14-2007 @ 11:57AM
fuzzy said...
Has anyone played through this yet? Do we know how many levels ect?
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12-14-2007 @ 12:32PM
James said...
Worst. Demo. Ever. The whole point of the game, as the reviewer says, is to buy stuff and level your character. Guess what two core game mechanics are explicitly left out of the demo version? As if to rub salt into your wounds, if you try to talk to the shopkeeper, he says something like "The shopkeeper would be happy to sell you some items if you purchase the full version of the game". Somebody needs to give these fools a course in demo design.
Also: why can't somebody make a top-down-view adventure game like this with the combat from "combo brawler" games like DMC or Ninja Gaiden or the new Conan (which was surprisingly fun)? You don't have to have five dozen combos -- ten or fifteen would be plenty, especially if many of them are unlockable as the game progresses. But mashing the same button for 10+ hours of gameplay? Wake me up when it's over.
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