Arkadian Warriors - The Layman's RPG
Something that has been lacking on Xbox LIVE has been a solid, story driven RPG. Although this may not completely fill that void, Wanako Games’ Arkadian Warriors is a somewhat fun addition to the RPG genre, even with its many shortcomings.
As the title suggests, you are a warrior of Arkadia. Your ultimate goal is to save your town against the threat of the Gorgons. Sounds simple? Clearly the story isn’t the strongest link in the Arkadian Warriors chain, but it isn’t the weakest either.
Your character, whether it be a Solider, Archer or Sorceress, cannot be customised and are all generically simple in design, even levelling your character grants you preset powers which is a big downfall for any RPG. But as they always say… keep it simple stupid!
From the get go you are tasked with quest after quest of dungeon crawling monotony. Whether it’s saving that little girls doll or some guy’s anvil, the final object just seems to be a place filler, just another excuse for you to be sent underground. Along the way of the story, you’ll come across the standard boss battles which, accompanied by a generic “boss dungeon”, are lacklustre and come across as a little too easy.
The variety and enjoyment within Arkadian Warriors comes from the many spells, skills, pickups and of course your “Alter Ego”. Spells and skills come to you as you gain more experience and are not placed on skill tree as is the norm, but are a fixed reward for gaining a certain level. In game, even though many of the different spells and skills you have access to are a fun way to break up the game a bit, most of the time you’ll fall back on your main attack as this is the most effective way to despatch your foes. But don’t expect any complex fighting combos, its one button all the way and it shows.
The pickups come in the usual helmet, armour and weapons as well as health and mana potions. Not surprisingly the armour and weapons you pickup along the way get better as you gain levels, but the best kit is usually purchased at the local town store and the pickups are just a way to fund your purchases.
With health and mana potions, you find yourself with the maximum number you can carry for many of the early levels and start to feel the game is way too easy, until you reach the later levels only to be lucky to have 1 or 2 on you at anytime, speaking volumes about the limited way Wanako Games could increase or decrease the difficulty in-game.
Finally, for every enemy you slay, a meter bar on screen will slowly fill and once charged, will allow you to “morph” into your Alter Ego. Depending on your class, you will morph into a , a Lion or a Dragon. Although an easy way to obliterate everything in the room, it’s just another distraction from the repetitive gameplay that is the core of Arkadian Warriors.
Outside of the obvious flaws in gameplay and story, everything else is what we’ve come to expect from an Xbox LIVE experience. You can head online and play through the story co-operatively with a friend, but doing so can become frustrating with a shared camera, as limiting as it is in single player, becomes doubly so when any movements your friend makes to the camera shifts yours as well.
One area of the game that I was more than happy with was its looks. Bright, cartoony and elegantly simple in its execution, even with repetitive dungeons, quests and monsters, each one looks a little different and never failed to bring a smile to my face. Forgetting the difficult camera, visually this game is a gem.
It’s a shame I can’t say the same about the sound. Keeping up with the bar set by the gameplay, Arkadian Warriors has minimal sound and is repetitive to say the least. After the 1000 time you fire an arrow at the enemy, it’s time to plug in the iPod and listen to something a little different.
Although a great game to play when you don’t feel like thinking, Arkadian Warriors had a lot of potential to be the ’s answer to Diablo. With repetition clouding the game from top to bottom, I’d strongly suggest playing the demo before dropping 800 Microsoft Points on this title.
