If you could pick one TV show to turn into a fighting game, which one would you pick? ER? Friends? Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The logical choice would be to pick one in which there was already a good dose of fighting in the show. Given the fact that Xena: Warrior Princess features a lot of fighting, it would naturally be the logical choice for this type of game. Titus saw this logic too, and smartly landed one of the more desirable TV licenses. The results is a solid and enjoyable fighter.

This game offers four different game modes, including Quest, Vs., Roster, and Practice. In Quest mode you pick one character and fight for the right to possess the Talisman of Fate (and thus decide the fate of the world). Vs. mode is your standard multiplayer mode, and it allows you to fight with up to four people either on teams or as individuals. The third mode, Roster, is similar to the tag team modes found in a lot of fighters. The difference here is that there is no tagging…if your first character dies, then the second one fights in his/her place. Once again, up to four people can compete in this mode. And Practice mode is exactly what it sounds like, and it allows you to set your opponent's actions to allow you practice on areas you need to work on.

Gameplay:

Compared to other fighting games, Xena: Warrior Princess is actually shallow in terms of gameplay depth. Each character has a wide array of different normal attacks (generally with a sword or other weapon), but they each only have a handful of combo attacks. Since these combo attacks are all executed the same way from character to character, once you've learned the skills of one character it is easy to learn how to fight effectively with the other remaining characters. The game also offers three different skill levels (Mortal, Hero, and God) with the Titan level being unlockable.

So far it sounds like a pretty average fighting game, right? Well, there are two main factors that lift the gameplay in Xena from "average" to "good". First, each character's fighting style is based upon their actual personality and fighting style in the show. For instance, Autolycus (who is the King of Thieves) is a very fast and nimble fighter while Ares (the God of War) uses an overpowering approach to combat. This provides a bit of depth to the gameplay, for when you learn each new character you also have to adjust to the best way to fight with each character. The second reason why Xena plays better then your average fighter is the excellent four-player mode. Up to four people can battle it out at once, either joined up in teams or fighting alone. Don't have friends? No problem, as Xena allows you to fight against three computer-controlled characters. Even in four-player mode there is virtually no slowdown to the game, and thus this is one of the better multiplayer games on the N64.

Graphics:

Some developers sacrifice framerate for pretty visuals, while others sacrifice pretty visuals for a good framerate. Personally, I prefer the second approach and this is exactly what Saffire did here. Each arena is based on scenes from the show itself, but each comes across as being rather bland. Some backgrounds are fairly blurry, while others have a "washed out" look to them that comes across as bland.

But in this instance the sacrifice here is definitely worth it, as it allows for an amazing level of animation in each character. Character models look very lifelike, and sport detailed textures that really help to bring the characters to life. Little details like one fighter's head following the other fighter as he jumps in the air really help to add to the overall feel of the game, and the graphics do a good job of capturing the feel of the show.

Sound:

Overall, the sound department is solid. In-game music is different for each stage, and while it isn't directly from the show it is the same type of music that you'll hear in the show (i.e. lots of chanting and an epic feel). To fans of the show it will sound instantly familiar, especially the hilarious remix of Joxer's theme. The music is all of good quality, easily on par with other N64 efforts.

The sound effects are also well done. Projectile attacks sound like they should (ex: Xena's fire attack sounds like fire), and normal sword attacks have the appropriate hacks and slashes associated with them. What are impressive though are the battle cries. Saffire hired their own people to imitate each character, and while they don't sound exactly like the real actors they do a good job of recreating their battle cries. I'm disappointed that there aren't more battle cries in the game, but all of the most common ones have been recreated.

Onto the score...

Overall: 8.4

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