"A pretty good 3DO exclusive"

Way of the Warrior was one of my first 3DO games. I tried it a couple of times and didn't much care for it so I put it away for a few years. I recently got it back out and gave it another try. This time around I spent a little more time with it and actually found it enjoyable. I found it to have a lot more depth than I previously thought and it kept me entertained for a couple of hours straight. Not many games can do that.

Way of the Warrior is one of those games that attempted to cash in on the craze of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat. The difference between this game and others that attempted to do the same is that this game is actually good. It doesn't go overboard on the blood but keeps the feeling of imminent doom at any moment.

The basic premise of the game is that throughout history, there has been a record of the greatest fighters, their fights and their styles, written in blood in a tome that is kept in high in the Himalayan mountains. The tome is down to down last page and the winner of this tournament will be kept in history on the final page of the tome. The greatest fighters in the world have been gathered and must fight amongst each other and past demons to make their place amongst history.

The story is a little cliche on the surface. While it is hardly original, the presentation makes it very good. The story is told in such a way that you almost feel like it could be real. If not real, at least you don't think it is total crap. While you get the basic outline at the start, you have to go through the game to find out what happens as you defeat warriors. The harder your difficulty level, the more you discover.

While it is full of the stereotypical Asian fighters, there are quite a few other fighters that round it out nicely. They all have backgrounds in fighting and most aren't there for the glory of going down in history, but rather to just fight. The game does lack female fighters, as there are only two available to you at the beginning of the game.

The game is presented as sort of a cross between Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Eternal Champions. Each stage is different and has interactive elements. There are lava pits to fall into and cliffs to fall off of. While these may not be exactly original either, they are presented beautifully and look great.

The set up is pretty much the same as any other 2D fighting game; if you win two out of three fights, you move on to the next person. While it may be an over used style of play, I can't think of any other way it should be done. If you lose, you can continue at the same person that beat you.

There are a multitude of moves in the game. Each character has as many as five individual moves in addition to the normal move set of each character. Moves can be performed in the air as well as on the ground. There are also finishing moves like decapitation.

During the fight, there are power ups that fall from the sky. These power ups only show up once in a while and are not over used like many games. You can get power ups such as invisibility and invulnerability. They only last for a few seconds and don't throw the balance of the fight out of whack.

The difficulty level is tough and you will probably want to start with the highest handicap at first. As you progress and learn moves the game will get easier. The computer AI is very good at predicting what you are about to do and counters amazingly, even in the easiest difficulty. This probably has the stiffest learning curve of any fighting game I have played.

The graphics are awesome. It uses "photo realistic" back grounds and actual people for the fighters. The backgrounds are well detailed and colorful. The animation is smooth and the frame rate is high. Each of the fighters has several animations and nothing is lost between moves. The camera zooms in and out, depending on how close the fighters are. Everything scales perfectly as the camera zooms, without any distortion or lag.

The one thing that I did not like about the graphics is that the names of the characters cover up their health bar. Characters with long names such as Crimson Glory have close to half their health bar covered by the name. When playing these characters you can't see how much damaged you have taken and you can't see how much you have caused when fighting against them. It isn't a big deal since it is at the beginning of the health bar but is still an annoyance.

The sounds in the game are quite possibly the best of any 3DO game. It features several songs by White Zombie and has quite a few quotes from every fighter that are different between each fighter. What I love about the music is that you get it in game as well as the menus. While you are fighting, a music track plays and will continue through the fight and into the next one so you hear the whole song. It is almost like listening to a separate CD entirely. This is a great concept and I really wish other games would follow it. If you don't like White Snake, you have the opportunity to turn it off. However, the songs fit perfectly with the mood of the game and really pull the game together.

The sound effects fit well and don't repeat too often. There are little taunts if you lose a fight that are actually funny the first couple of times you hear them but do get repetitive. The announcer will make comments when you grab skull points or a power up and when you can finish off your opponents.

Controlling your fighter is fairly easy. The typical moves are easy to execute grappling is simple. The special moves are a bit harder and sometimes won't work. These take a little longer to master but are easy to use once you get the hang of it. Menu navigation is a bit odd, as you use up and down to move to an icon then look to the right side and use left and right to select sub icons. It will feel weird at first but will come to you in time.

There are secret characters to unlock as well as secret arenas. These can be done by entering different names and birth dates in two player mode or by completing tournament mode. There are so many moves that it will take you a long time to master each player and will keep you entertained for a long time.

While the game is awesome by its self, playing with a friend makes it even more enjoyable. You can douse him or her in kerosene and light him or her on fire. Watching your friend fall into the lava pit and have the skeleton of his or her character fly towards the screen with an eye ball hanging out will make you both laugh and want more.

Way of the Warrior is a 3DO exclusive (not counting the arcade version which was released after the 3DO version). If you own a 3DO this is one game you should strongly consider buying. While the game may appear stale on the surface, the graphics and sound will amaze you and the game play will leave you hungering for more. This is one of the better 3DO games available if you can get past the surface and look deeper into the game.

Pros:
1. Excellent graphics
2. Awesome sound track
3. Very good fighter in general

Cons:
1. Some may view it as a Mortal Kombat clone
2. On the surface, it is very cliche

Final Score 9

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/07