Iron Phoenix

"Glaring flaws hurt what could have been an otherwise incredible fighting game"

According to stories passed down to me from friends and online sources, Iron Phoenix was a prominent figure in E3. What was promised to be a gaming experience like no other turned out to be a very flawed, but overall enjoyable, fighting game.

Unlike most games of its genre, Iron Phoenix has a story. Unlike almost all other games of its genre, Iron Phoenix has a passable story. When you start Iron Phoenix you are treated to a moderately lengthy prologue where Master Qi Go, a master of martial arts and arguably the game's main character, explains the history of the Iron Phoenix. Long ago a meteor of gigantic proportions fell to the Earth, creating a phoenix shaped sign blazing across the sky. For days no one would approach the meteor for fear of its sinister nature, until a master blacksmith sought it out and found its remains: nine perfect pieces. The blacksmith forged the pieces into nine separate weapons of untold physical and mystical prowess. Unfortunately, the blacksmith would only be able to behold the magnificence of his creation for a short while, as he was promptly struck down as soon as the final weapon was forged and his creations were stolen from him. The weapons would later be known as the Iron Phoenixes. To further add to the story, there are nine separate, short stories with full voice acting located in the "Settings." These stories consist of Master Qi Go's two greatest students, Kai and Mia, attending to some aspect of their life. Kai and Mia range from small children to adolescents and go through various trials as such. These trials range from training with their master, tests of bravery, and even brief flickers of romantic interest. After this small interlude Master Qi Go sets his students down and tells them the story of one of the nine different Iron Phoenixes. Expanding the story even further, there are about ten different characters that have their own background story. Unfortunately, only three of them (Master Qi Go, Kai, and Mia) have their stories explained in the game. To view the other seven characters' stories one must visit the official website.

The graphics is this game are fairly good. Character models range from seductive female figures to hideous and disfigured zombies and demons. Environment are rich and attractive, though some arenas feel slightly dead. Many characters are given second costumes for those who find their original models boring, further adding to the game's depth. Overall, te graphics are attractive, but by no means revolutionary.

Iron Phoenix's sound is even less of a boon. The sounds of the weapons and their respective elements are nicely done, though they quickly become tedious and something of an ear-sore. Music is virtually unnoticeable, and while the track is by no means bad it quickly becomes an unheaded part of the background. Music ranges from fast-paced rock to slightly less intense, almost classical music.

Arguably, the most important aspect of any game is the gameplay. Iron Phoenix pulls off many aspects of game play fairly well while leaving large flaws that make the whole game slightly unappealing. There are three modes of play in Iron Phoenix: Training, Multi-Player, and Online. Training puts you through a very small story involving Master Qi Go and one of his two students followed by an explanation of game mechanics. Multi-Player and Online player are obvious in their function.

When one starts a game they are allowed to pick a character from a fairly wide list. Characters vary in strength, endurance, and the amount of stamina they hold. Large males have high strength and endurance, medium-sized males have average rankings in all stats, and all females have high stamina but low strength and endurance. The player is then allowed to choose a weapon, one of the nine Iron Phoenixes. The weapons available to you are: Chinese long sword, dual daggers, dual fighting gloves, ninja-to, a pair of bizarre snake-like weapons, a spear, and great sword, a katana and sheath, and a war hammer. Like characters, each weapon has different stats and a respective element that determines the graphic effect of certain moves. There are multiple stages that range from expansive battlegrounds to small castle chambers. Also, there are multiple styles of play including: Deathmatch(free for all killing spree), Team Deathmatch (teamed killing spree), VIP(teamed deathmatch with a leader), Giant Match (one super powerful demon versus the rest of the players), and Tournament style match.

As this is a fighting game, combat is obviously the central feature. Primary attacking is split between two buttons. By pressing, holding, and using the analog sticks in conjunction with them players can initiate combos of 10+ attacks. Fighting is very free-form and you'll find most moves will flow into just about any other move. Blocking is accomplished by simply pressing the left trigger, though this seems more like a novelty than anything useful. I found that most attacks seem to bypass blocks.

By far one of the greatest aspects of gameplay is the multitude of acrobatic techniques one can accomplish. Players can double jump, perform barrel rolls, run on walls, float short distances, and leap to astounding heights. This is a vastly amusing feature in and of itself and will likely amuse a player for hours. Most of these techniques are based on Stamina, meaning lighter characters (women) can use them more often than heavier characters. A small downside to this system is that you always feel like you never have enough stamina to perform to your highest amusement.

"Chi," or mystical energy, is another primary feature of this game. Displayed by a blue gauge that rises when you attack or get attacked, chi is multi-purpose energy that allows your character to perform multiple tasks. Chi is required to use certain, more powerful attacks that often bring out the element of a weapon. The player can also use a "Chi charge" technique that empowers each weapon strike while gradgually depleting your chi. One of the most tactical maneuvers in the game is the "Chi Flare," where a player can sacrifice a large amount of chi to create a spherical blast of energy that does low damage but knocks opponents back, giving you some breathing room. Special items can be found in each stage such as health restoring amulets, attack gloves, and armor that are powered by chi. Arguably the most useful purpose that Chi serves is the "Lethal Strike." When the chi gauge is full the player can perform a multi-hitting combo attack that deals about 50% of the enemy's life bar to any foe in the vicinity.

There are also several miscellaneous actions one can use. Grabbing is a semi-useful feature that allows a player to pick up an enemy or background object (such as boulders or fire grenades). When grabbing an opponent, players can either toss them or use them as a human shield. Tossing an opponent is generally an uneffective tactic unless there's a cliff nearby. Furthermore, grabbing takes an extremely long time and can be interrupted with ease. Darts are another useful tool that can be found around each stage. There are four darts in the game: Piercing(direct damage dart), Mystical(Chi damaging dart), Poison Dart(Damage over time dart), and Stun Dart(which doesn't seem to stun). Darts can be thrown very quickly and can be used to roll and flip, making it an effective way to throw off enemy attack. Finally, there are certain (albeit very few) stages where you can use the environment to attack the enemy. One instance that comes to mind is the Battleship stage, where one can use cannons to hit multiple enemies.

Despite this wide variety of possible offensive and defensive techniques the game has some obvious flaws. The first and foremost is that, though this game was designed for many players, the game actually functions more and more terribly with every opponent you add. Players tend to flock to a certain area of a battlefield where they will fight in numbers up to 16. When you get into scuffles of 4 and more the game becomes more of a tennis match than a fighting game. Players will try to initiate an attack only to be constantly interrupted as the initiative to attack is traded from player to player. This is made even more of an annoyance considering the huge amount of health each character has (though this can be altered slightly in the options menu) making battles long and frustrating affairs. In a deathmatch you will find yourself battling multiple opponents for upwards of two minutes only to have a random player come in and perform a lethal strike, eliminating your hard work in an instant. One on one battles serve to be much more enjoyable than the 8 on 8 battles this game was supposed to be famous for. Another major flaw in this game is the incapability to roll when downed, like one can do in most 3D fighting games. When downed, players are forced to stay stationary until they pick themselves up. Certain weapons abuse this, such as the Meteor Hammer, as many of the moves they perform will knock the opponent down again and again without giving them a chance to strike back. Another slightly hilarious flaw in the game is the walking system. You heard me right: there's a flaw in walking. There are no attacks that can be performed while moving; a character will stop in place and use a move whenever he is attacking. This makes it impossible to fight a fleeing opponent, as your attacks will always fail to hit them should they choose to remain mobile. All an enemy has to do to defeat you is kill you once and walk around the arena for the rest of the game duration (though this isn't a problem if you change the game rules from "Time" to "Kills".) One of the most obvious flaws in the game is the camera, especially when you lock on to your opponent. When locked on, your camera will often drift on whim, sometimes moving so far away from your character that it becomes impossible to seem him or her. While this happens randomly, it is an extreme annoyance that can ruin your game experience.

In conclusion, Iron Phoenix is a solid gaming experience with obvious, glaring flaws. If these flaws were to be fixed it would become a perfect fighting game, but if they remain it is a fragmented game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/26/06