Arkadian Warriors

Do you like dungeon style RPGs like Phantasy Star, Diablo, and Dungeon Siege? Well...you might like Arkadian Warriors. This new Action RPG on the Xbox Live Arcade (and PC) seems to have an interesting premise, but there is little here to warrant that much fun. There was very little thought put into the game and it turns out to be the most generic RPG in recent memory.

You are basically given a town as your hub for your gear and missions, but the town is quite small and has little to offer you other than quests and upgrades. From here, you are treated to 19 seemingly identical missions that get boring after a while. Basically you are retrieving something and killing the boss of each dungeon in every map. No variety in an RPG is just plain wrong!

The game handles pretty well despite its lacking gameplay. You have one button for attacks, one for a transformation attack, and a third for magic abilities. It is hack and slash gameplay at its finest, with little difficulty for the most part. There are secret rooms and chests that should excite you for a little bit, but it really does not seem to have much lasting appeal at all.

What makes matters worse is how there is slowdown each time a level loads. This is more prevalent in online gameplay where we all know lag can be extremely annoying. Levels also use repeating environments which make you feel like you are scrolling the same dungeon over and over again. There is no split screen online so you and your friend will share the same camera angle. One cannot venture off while the other battles all the enemies.

What is funny is how there are 3 classes in the game, but you can only play with two players at a time...kind of ironic. But you should not expect Oblivion out of an arcade title. Arkadian Warriors might be a decent pickup for those who like dungeon crawlers, but there are plenty of better games out in the arcade that are more worth your time.