Xena Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate
Published By: Titus
NINTENDO 64
Reviewed by Circe
4/3/2000

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First Impressions:

Polish off your chakram and practice your "aiiiiiyeeeeaaaa" warrior death shriek 'cause Xena is back! As part of my research on Warrior Women, I deemed it necessary to watch Xena Warrior Princess on TV (yeah, that was it : "research"). OK I admit, I think Xena is pretty cool as far as warrior women go, so when I was offered the chance to review the The Talisman of Fate starring the characters of the show, I jumped at the opportunity.

Gameplay:

Up to 4 players can fight simultaneously choosing from 11 combatants. The characters include Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, Ares, Callisto and even Lao Ma. Each character uses the same taunts and weapons that you would find in the TV show making the experience even more enjoyable (especially if you are a fan). In addition, each character has a unique ending, which adds some incentive for gamers to ascend the tournament ladder with different warriors. Like most fighting games, Xena is most fun when playing against other people vs the computer. Of course it takes some time to learn the special attack sequences that are available in almost every fighting game but the basic moves were really easy to learn although they did seem a bit awkward and slow to use. However, this handicap is something that you can hardly notice when you are playing in a 4 player free-for-all death match. The characters in the game were also quite easy to manipulate using the control pad. Instead of using strafe buttons to incorporate 3D space, players can move their fighters freely throughout the environments simply by moving the Control Stick.

Graphics:

Titus really tried to closely match the TV series when developing this game including hiring motion-captured stunt performers from the TV show itself. Although they have done an excellent job producing authentic representations of Xena's cast, the graphics were rather blockish and pixellated.

Sound:

The character scripts in the game also ran along the same lines as the TV show. I am told that a writer from the show was hired to write the text for the game, and voice samples were taken straight from the Xena archives. The music was hardly noticeable (which in my mind equals 2 thumbs up) but the game was peppered with the typically annoying grunts, shrieks and gasps.

Overall Impression:

My overall impression of Titus' Xena Warrior Princess: The Talisman of Fate was good. I was most especially impressed at how close to the TV series the developers modeled the game.