Guru players posting how-to videos on YouTube might not get a lot of it, but those craving a fighter that doesn't require slavish dedication will find Tournament of Legends to be a very welcome offering, and one that comes at a budget price, to boot.
A good idea that wasn't flushed out to the greatest extant. The game lacks polish, but is far better then the critic reviews suggest (in terms of polish that is)
The gameplay is strange for a fighting game, the characters can run about rather than being restricted to the common 2d plane of other, but the characters are always facing eachother and the camera moves with the characters so it feels quite awkward at first. When you start thinking you're getting the hang of it either you or or opponent does a powerful attack, which causes the camera to invert behind your opponent while it does slow motion effects, and then you're back to square one, and trying to get the camera back on your side where it belongs proves quite tedious indeed. The control scheme is very simple, yet provides challenge and strategy, it's perfect for both hardcore fighting fans and newcomers. There aren't 60-move long lists for every character that you have to memorize, only about 4, and even then there aren't complicated button combos to execute, you simply press a button and a direction on the dpad and each direction has it's own move for each character, and then there's a basic press A 3 times or A twice then B, it's really simple, but still requires strategy as each character has certain attributes (x character is fast while y character is powerful, etc.) and you can even equip other characters' weapons to different characters, adding to the mixture! And on top of that you can add a magical effect of a variety of choices to the weapons, complex, yet so simple! It does sound nice on paper, yes, but unfortunately it isn't as well executed ingame. You'll notice that the motion controls are really clunky and unwieldy, you'll think it's a quick fix by switching to the convenient classic controller option, and yes, it does play much better with that, but then you notice that hit detection is inaccurate at usually the worst of times. and with the ever revolving camera it proves to be quite a challenge just to maneuver for the first few rounds. At random times a stage hazard will attack you and your opponent, and you both have to try and avoid said hazard via quick time event. At first this seems cool, but it becomes a mere distraction later on, a rather annoying one. The basic mechanics work, but it's leaving so much to be desired for expansion and polishing, it's a crime that this game doesn't have a sequel to correct and perfect the foundation this game has left, and believe me, it's a pretty solid foundation.
The Story is excellent, but not because it's well written or deep and complex or anything, in fact, it's quite the opposite. This game's story is very nostalgic towards those who grew up with very non serious fighters like MK and Primal Rage and other such classic fighting games that were parodies or just ludicrous. I never grew up with those, but this game's characters and plot are so bare but so ridiculously written that you'll want to see each character's ending because of the lunacy. It's definitely better than the mind-numbingly boring and cheesy and cliched stories of most fighting games today, that's for sure. I myself have only played as two characters as of yet (Bast and Narcia, with the the former being my favorite so far) but that's not a problem considering the 10 character roster, and I can't wait to play as the rest. Characters' lines before and after fights are deliberately cheesy and are some of the greatest one-liners and taunts ever in a fighting game ("You can't beat me! I'm rich!") and and the fact that the roster is full of Greco-Roman era creatures and such (and more) the characters in themselves are vastly more likeable than the textbook cliche and racist portrayal characters that the fighting genre has become infamous for.
The visuals are great as well, don't expect visual treats like Nintendo's own work, but I have yet to see another 3rd party game on Wii that match this game's detail (well, maybe Monster Hunter comes close) skin glistens, textures don't hurt your eyes (I'm looking at YOU Redsteel!) colours are vibrant, animations smooth, models very detailed. Plus other effects like characters' armour falling off after taking damage (or in one case a head falling off) and magical effects make this game a nice visual treat (relatively speaking) both technically and aesthetically.
Music is unremarkable, but it does give the game life, it does it's job, but you won't get any tunes stuck in your head or anything. Voice acting is surprisingly well done, and each voice just helps give each character their own quirky personality and makes it that much more fun to play (I especially like Bast's accent) sound effects are good too, with clangs and clashes and other various sounds happening, it'll definitely sound exciting when you're in the heat of battle.
Overall, since it did a lot of experimentation and cleary didn't have enough time in development, you'll likely be yearning for more with an empty plate
If the game had continued to be developed as Gladiator A.D. it might not have sold but at least that seemed like a project the developers could have been proud of. This game absolutely reeks of a rushed development cycle after the change in tone in pursuit of sales.
Game receives a bum rap for not being Soul Caliber caliber. GRAPHICS: Good by any standard, fantastic for the Wii- 9/10. ADVENTURE: The story, dialogue, and characters all fall into the so-bad-it-is-good category. The real time events/mini-games vary from why-don't-all-games-have-this (monster attacks) to the-developers-must-hate-us (armor repairs). Very limited character selection (8 to start, some play the same)- 5/10. MECHANICS: Mostly intuitive. Without any manual or tutorial we managed to get the slightly sluggish controls down quickly- 7/10. EXTRAS: Considering the cluster-#@^$ that was the development of this game the finished product offers two big rays of sunshine; 1. a solid rental/bargain bin purchase and 2. a good 'rough draft' for a future release that incorporates MotionPlus, more content, and maybe a better Sega license (Eternal Champions anyone?)- 6/10.
Tournament of Legends isnt a piece of crap nor is it an extraordinary gem. It is decent at best. The graphics, sound design (not counting the dialog, which comes off as average to lame), and gameplay are all excellent. This games biggest and probably only con is its immense lack of content and variety. There arent very many characters, stages, or playing modes, but it slightly makes up for that with a diverse amount of attack variations and weapons. Still even with that small benefit, the overall feel of the game's experimental nature is lukewarm. (EDITED REVIEW)
Not a bad game. Really good graphics, nice sound design and good gameplay. The main problem is that this game does not have enough content: few characters, few game modes and no online option. A good choice if you can find it for less than 30 dollars.
SummaryBecome a legend in epic 3D duels against the greatest fighters of world mythology. Wield mythic weapons and unleash special animated attacks. Wield two weapons at the same time with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk Controller. Sharpen your skills in the interactive training level. [Sega]